score this weekend!

[The_cutting_edge]

Hey guys. haven't posted in awhile, Ive been super busy getting a bunch of knives made up for a show I'm doing at the end of september.

My wife's Aunt and Uncle are selling off their farm and moving to Hawaii, so I got roped into helping set up and move larger items. in return I was told I could pick anything I wanted before the sale. Got a whole milk crate full of assorted C clamps, a bunch of plate, square tube, and other misc. scrap steel. and the real prize. A huge maple burl!! This tree had been growing along the lane leading to the farm house and was cut down after it died about 7 years ago, my wifes uncle put it away planning to make some caffee tables or clocks from it. He never got around to it so 2 years ago he dragged it out of the shed it had been in and sstuck it in a brush pile to be burned. here's some pix of the burl and a couple shots of some of the slab faces.

here it is as we first saw it

after dragging it out with the tractor

hard to tell from the rough chainsaw cuts but there's deffinately some killer figure in there and alot of red spalting.

cant wait to start cutting this stuff into blocks!

 

[thegeek574]

That will probably have to be stabilized, but good haul.

 

[The_cutting_edge]

It will deffinately need to be stabilized. I need to get a moisture meter but it seems good and dry.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Definitely a good haul. After 7 years, I would think it's pretty dry.

 

[tryppyr]

So nice to see beauty like that saved from the fire.

 

[TheOTBalisong]

That's some beautiful maple you got there.

Treat it right

 

[The_cutting_edge]

I have, In fact been informed on another forum that this is more likely box elder not maple.

here's a little teaser of some of my small test pieces.

 

[Burl Source]

I agree on the Box Elder ID.
Maple and Box Elder are related but the bright red says "Box Elder".
Even though 8 years old it is not dry.
It is not green and has seasoned but I would guess the moisture content to be around 20%+.
You want it to be under 10%.
If you cut it into 1"+ thick blocks and set it somewhere out of direct sunlight it should be ready to use next year.
Great score, You got a real nice burl.

 

[HuntBomb]

When cutting pieces to dry them out...can they be cut too small?
And what happens if you process the burl with a moisture content over 10% ?
That's a beautiful piece of wood. The grain character is mesmerizing on my TAD slipjoint in box elder and I'd love to see how this turns out.