Rescued from the burn pile

[Burl Source]

This was a chunk of old maple that came in with a load of wood a couple years back.
Looked like junk so it was tossed aside. During recent yard cleanup it went into the burn pile.
This wasn't a piece I would be willing to purchase but I wasn't going to let it get burned without checking to see what was inside.

Now to trim off the obvious waste and get some flat surfaces.

Not looking very good so far.

Looking better

Going to be a lot of waste but there is some good stuff here.

Junk piece. You don't want to try to stabilize the punky pieces because the blocks end up too porous and difficult to finish.

Marking obvious flawed areas to trim away.

Now the slabs are ready to be cut into strips.

Next trim away the flawed material.

Then sand a piece to see what the wood looks like.

Looks pretty good, so now I need to dry them and then send them in to be stabilized.
The chunk was about 75% waste but what I got out of this was more than worth the time spent cutting it up.

 

[erik markman]

Cool!

 

[richard j]

good save. i stole some more curly oak from my buddys firewood pile like what i sent you a few years ago. did you ever do anything with what you kept?

 

[Burl Source]

good save. i stole some more curly oak from my buddys firewood pile like what i sent you a few years ago. did you ever do anything with what you kept?

A few of the knife makers used it on their knives but I don't remember if anyone sent photos.

 

[Hengelo_77]

Nice WIP, interesting to see how blocks come to be

 

[tryppyr]

Fascinating. Thanks for posting, Mark.

 

[Salem Straub]

Cool post.

 

[Burl Source]

The blocks came back a short while ago.
Kind of unusual coloring. Here are what a few of them look like.

 

[Bruce Bump]

Very pretty. Good rescue Mark.
You have any of that in pen size?