Ugly wood

Kevin McGovern

Kevin McGovern

Joined
Jul 31, 2015
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3,118
I was out hiking today and came upon this on a downed red oak. It's hideous. Will it make good firewood?

7b64ebb3aea342da4b5e896d5e6cf1eb.jpg
 
yeah. I need to take it to work where we have a really big Dayton band saw. My 9" table top won't be doing this.
 
I'm not really sure how to slice it. I checked out Ben Greenberg's tutorial, but since this thing is pretty much shaped like a brain that was just growing on a hollowed out trunk, I'm not sure what direction to cut it (if there even is a grain direction). There is discernable grain on the cut end, as I cut the trunk part not the burl to separate it. hopefully someone with more burl expertise than I (read that "any") will chime in.
 
On an upnote, I sent this picture to my buddy who runs several sawmills. He said if I want little Burl's like this, hell get me a bunch
 
Mark at "its a burl" says to lay them flat, in other words if its a brain shape lay it on the bottom.
Then cut through it horizontally.
Ken.
 
I hate to tell you this, but I think you picked up somebody's discarded pretzel roll...

Have you taste tested it?
 
So, the figure you will get depends completely on the angle that you slice it. One of these days I have to photograph my process from burl to block, I know Mark has before.

That does not look like an eye burl. An eye burl produces a pattern like this when cut parallel to flat side "That is to say, if you had a half sphere shaped burl, you started taking slices parallel to the flat side, starting at the end of the semi-sphere"

jcjxHH4.jpg



You can often "not always" tell an eye burl because the surface will be covered in small pins that show the remnants of the failed buds that formed it.


A curly burl will produce a pattern more like this block here and is less effected by the direction of cut, though in theroy you would still get the most interest out of cutting paralell to the flat, that would be an incredibly high waste cut.

twGBkrZ.jpg
 
Since I have to square it up anyway, I guess I can take a slice off both ways to get an idea of what I have?
 
Looks like door number two. I took a thin slice off the perpendicular side to the flat. 80 grit and wet. What say ye?
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I think I'd keep slicing it that way.

The last cherry one I slabbed up with the chain saw because it had a rotten hollow, I just cut it how I'd get the most useful pieces out of it.
 
Thanks for the advice kuraki. I may do just that. I don't think it will matter really since it's pretty random. It's measuring 25% moisture. You think I should go with 1" slices? shooting for 3/8" scales after drying a stabilizing?
 
Greenberg Woods said:
So, the figure you will get depends completely on the angle that you slice it. One of these days I have to photograph my process from burl to block, I know Mark has before.

That does not look like an eye burl. An eye burl produces a pattern like this when cut parallel to flat side "That is to say, if you had a half sphere shaped burl, you started taking slices parallel to the flat side, starting at the end of the semi-sphere"

jcjxHH4.jpg



You can often "not always" tell an eye burl because the surface will be covered in small pins that show the remnants of the failed buds that formed it.


A curly burl will produce a pattern more like this block here and is less effected by the direction of cut, though in theroy you would still get the most interest out of cutting paralell to the flat, that would be an incredibly high waste cut.

twGBkrZ.jpg
Click to expand...

thanks for the lesson Ben.
 
I tend to go thick. I'd rather get two good flat scales from a 1.5" piece than have a 1" piece warp too much to get two usable scales. I also like having blocks anyway so I tend to cut 1.5-2" thick. Sometimes I get lucky and can cut 4 scales from a block. Sometimes only 2. Last edit- the batch I just got back from K&G had blocks I cut out of a cherry burl that had been in a basement for 15-20 years. It was a single cross section slice that was 2" thick. It was bone dry and had warped up on the exposed side. I slabbed it up and sanded everything flat. Every piece came back warped from stabilizing. Not badly, but noticeably. I didn't mark them so I don't know if they warped back or in the same direction, but just throwing that out there.
 
Oooh, that's pretty ugly man. Not sure if I would keep it. If you want, I'll dispose of it for you :D
Seriously though, That stuff is going to look sweet if you get some usable slabs from it. Great find!
 
Kevin McGovern said:
On an upnote, I sent this picture to my buddy who runs several sawmills. He said if I want little Burl's like this, hell get me a bunch
Click to expand...

Well if you can get a bunch, I would love to obtain a few from you--just let me know what you think!

That looks really cool, I'm also very curious to see what you end up with.
 
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