Questions about self harvested burl for knife handles...

[JGON]

Hi All,

I've got some questions about burled wood used for knife handles. I've seen a lot of great burls on trees while on some recent hikes in Wisconsin, and I'd like to provide the burled wood for the handle slabs on my next custom knife. Of course, I have a few questions...

If I am harvesting a burl myself, how big of a burl do I need to make the slabsl on a full-size bushcraft knife? Something in the 4.5"-5" handle range.

We've got lots of trees around here... what species of tree produces the best burls?

Do I need to harvest from a live or dead tree, or doesn't it matter?

Is there anything else I should be looking for inside the burl that would indicate it is not suitable for use as a knife handle?

Any other thoughts or feedback about something I didn't think about would be great...

Thanks,

JGON

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Mark at Burl Source will surely chime in soon.

I feel that the best burl wood is from the root burl. The lumps and bulges on branches and trunks have varying usefulness. Maple, walnut, and other hardwoods have good burls. The root burl may not be visible at all, as in Buckeye Burl. It looks like a 3-4" sapling, but may have a five foot round root burl.

Cut at least 12" on each side of the burl, coat all the cuts with paint, and dry for about a year an inch of burl diameter.

The wood near the outside of the burl is normally the most active pattern.

 

[james terrio]

Mark at Burl Source will surely chime in soon.

I hope so.

My personal approach to gathering interesting burls and crotches of known wood types is to seal the cut ends and leave them alone in a reasonably stable area for at least two years before cutting.

My personal approach to using exotic woods for knife handles is to buy select pieces from reputable people who've already done that.

 

[tryppyr]

Harvesting burls for your "next knife" isn't practical. The best way to harvest for the "next knife" is to get a piece of burl that has already been dried and stabilized.

 

[Bhamster]

Since you are in Wisconsin (I used to live in Minnesota) I bet at least half the burls you see are box elder. They require stabilization in order to be useful for knife handles as they are too soft. Burls need time to dry slowly as they tend to crack if dried too fast. Perhaps some here know ways to safely quick dry or cure a fresh burl but all the wood turners I know let them sit for a long time or work green. It can be quite a long process. So start gathering up burls now if you see them and can do it in a sound environmental way and follow directions to let them dry and in a few years you will have some ready to mess with. Look for a local wood turner (bowl makers etc,) and they can provide you with heaps of info on burls and there are plenty of wood workers in Wisconsin. You will often see lovely red swirls in box elder burl but that is a different story.

 

[quint]

Also make sure that the land owner knows you are harvesting the burl (if its your own land disregard) as you can get in some serious trouble trespassing and harvesting any type of wood. Also harvesting burl on state/federal/other lands from what I know is illegal as well atleast from the little I have read up on it.

I dont know all the rules but just a heads up to investigate so you atleast know the right answer.

 

[Tom Lewis]

If you can, harvest in winter while the sap is down.
You have been given some good advice, but if you want to hurry up the process and have lots of burl to try, I would cut a few pieces oversize to allow for warping, then keep an eye on them and if they start to crack, immediatly put super glue on to stop the crack. If you try this you will need to check the wood at least twice a day for a few weeks. I also use accellerator with the super glue to cause it to harden quickly. The accellerator can be purchased from WoodCraft, or most any wood working store.
I have some fresh cut box elder burl that I am curing this way and it is coming along nicely.

 

[Burl Source]

It would be best to find out what type of trees you are seeing the burls growing on before you even think about harvesting any.
Some are easier to process into usable handle material than others. Box Elder is one of the easiest. No matter what type of wood you have to give it plenty of time to dry before sending it in to be stabilize.

Also like mentioned above make sure you have permission before cutting anything.
Otherwise it is considered poaching. Not sure about the laws where you are but you can be subject to fines or jail as well as seizure of your saw and vehicle.

With that said, here is a link to an old thread where I show how I process a Maple Burl cap. If what you are seeing where you live is Box Elder, it would be a lot like this Maple.

I hope this helps.