Redwood Burl Rescue

Los Angeles

Los Angeles

Joined
Jul 4, 2009
Messages
1,201
Went to a flea market this weekend and came back with this 32" x 24" x 4" thick slab. I asked the seller what the deal was with it, and he said he's had it forever, it was at least 1960's or older and it used to be used as a table top before he took the base off and started using it for display. I gave it a good once-over and noticed that the top (with the outer burl texture) was crudely varnished while the underside (the flat side and inner part of the burl) was left unfinished. And sure enough, over the years it has warped into a pringle potato chip. But there only seemed to be checks going in about 5" from the edge. What very few bug holes I found are also right along the edge. The interior seemed super-solid.

I paid the man and took it home.

Today, I spent some time sanding the varnish off of the flats ov the "rounder" face (sadly, not much I can do with the textured portion). I also lightly sanded the roughest parts of the flat, unfinished side.

One thing that really concerned me was the screw holes I could see from when it had a table base attached. I took a needle and plunged it into each of the screw holes back there. The holes are no more than 3/4" deep! Yes!

Next up, to see what I really had after getting the varnish off of the end flats, I dampened it and watched the burl come alive. Uh Oh. I might be getting too excited here hate to slice it up and find a problem.

In fact, it would almost be a shame to chop it up, but then again, there's probably more than a few really good blocks in there somewhere. So, what the heck should I do with this thing? What should I look out for? How should I approach working with it? Any advice or comments are welcome!

Kent


Here's a few pics of what I have. Apologies if they are too big or not clear enough.

FORMERLY FINISHED SIDE, There's still laquer or varnish covering the textured skin of the burl, but the flat has been sanded clean and then wiped with a damp cloth.
4495332834_1bed6bc5d7_b.jpg


CLOSE UP - this is the formerly finished side and shows a lot of the potential of this piece:
4495271682_9b1fdfcb80_b.jpg


UNFINISHED SIDE, dry. Don't mind the rag in the corner. That was in my hand and got caught in the wind just as I clicked the pic.
4495313884_6253cbfa7f_b.jpg


UNFINISHED SIDE, lightly dampened:
4494652391_27e6eda41d_b.jpg


CLOSE UP of center portion of rough unfinished side. The former base seemed to have a 10" by 6" metal or wood plate that was screwed in around the edge of the plate.
4494646579_765108d5fb_b.jpg



SUPER CLOSE UP of rough unfinished side. Two of the screw holes are visible here.
4495281036_64fd1b1a68_b.jpg
 
Great find !!! That will keep you busy for a long time.

Hope to come across something like that myself.
 
A beauty of a find. There will be some nice handles in a nice seasoned burl like that .

Enjoy, Fred
 
Looks like you really scored!
Something really good about this slab is that there is still a lot of sapwood. On the old salvage pieces the sapwood usually rots away leaving only the red heartwood.
 
Burl Source said:
Looks like you really scored!
Something really good about this slab is that there is still a lot of sapwood. On the old salvage pieces the sapwood usually rots away leaving only the red heartwood.
Click to expand...

interesting. Considering that this is pretty much a "cap" piece, I imagine that this is mostly sap wood.

Any advice on cutting this bad boy?
 
I really miss the flea markets in Los Angeles. It's been many years however I still think about them fondly.
 
Los Angeles said:
interesting. Considering that this is pretty much a "cap" piece, I imagine that this is mostly sap wood.

Any advice on cutting this bad boy?
Click to expand...

I would start with the portion to the left in the first photo.
On a bandsaw I would cut that portion off following the natural depression between the portions of the burl.

After you have cut that portion from the bigger piece I would take the smaller piece and draw a straight line parallel to the edge just in from the cut.

Next I would cut into strips as wide as you want your blocks to be, example 2" wide. Your best figure will show on the faces of the blocks this way.

Next flip the strips on their side to cut into the thickness you want, example 1&1/4".

After that look at the strips and cut blocks to the length you want.

Judging by the photos there are some bug holes in the sapwood (yellow wood). Sometimes inside will have a lot more than shows from the outside.

By cutting off the smaller portion first you can still salvage the main portion of the slab if the blocks don't look good. A little shaping along the cut and it will look like a natural shaped slab again.

or... you could have the best of both worlds. Some real nice blocks and a real nice table top.

This is what I would do if I had this slab.
 
Good score there LA, just yesterday I was at the local Re-store and found an Ironwood burl clock for 5.00 awsome.. it is a new source and other stores like it will get my run through monthly.
 
In my hands, any where I could get a 7"X18" section would get re-sawn into 1/2" slaps and book-matched into guitar tops all the rest would become who knows how many knife handles.One 7"X18"X4" section would yield at least Three 1/2" guitar tops.


Color me green with envy...
 
Here is a photo of a Bass one of my customers (Tom Clement) made using some redwood burl with sapwood he got from me last year.

112%20body%20front.jpg


He bookmatched the wood with the sapwood making a contrasting band down the center. I thought it turned out real good.
 
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