Big Leaf Maple burl...worth saving/using?

[billyO]

Hello all.  Hope nobody's upset about Punxsutawney Phil's reaction yesterday...

 

I was walking my property today and noticed this burl about 9 inches off the ground on a stump of a maple I cut down about 4 years ago.  (Don't ask me why I didn't notice this when I cut the tree down.  It's quite possible I did and just forgot to do something about it...)  As you can see, there is some punky wood at the back of the chunk.  Do y'all think it's worth doing something with, and if so, what should I do next? 

In my search on the forum here it seems as if I should seal the end grain (I have an old (5-6 y/o) bucket of Anchorseal somewhere in my shop.  Should I use this or something else?  Should I de-bark?  Should I cut it up smaller, and if so where/how should I do that?

Thanks in advance. 

[ThomasPowers]

slab it and stabilize it

[Frosty]

Ditto Thomas. It seems to have some nice spalting it aught to make pretty things when finished.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[njanvilman]

As you decide what you will ultimately do with the slab, get it sealed up with wax/glue/paint, and store it in a cool, unheated, dark place.  Air drying will take quite a while.  If you recut it, be sure to reseal all of the cut sides.

[billyO]

Thanks for the replies. 

 

Any suggestions on how to slab it?  It looks like the Good Lord guided my hand when I took the pics to have the ruler along x-y-z planes (going from left to right), so how would y'all cut it?  How thick should I make the slabs?  Should I de-bark first?

[arftist]

Thanks for the replies. 

 

Any suggestions on how to slab it?  It looks like the Good Lord guided my hand when I took the pics to have the ruler along x-y-z planes (going from left to right), so how would y'all cut it?  How thick should I make the slabs?  Should I de-bark first?

Debark asap.

slab with the grain, size would depend upon intended use. 

Traditionally berles (bowls) are used for bowl turning, the crooked grain lending strength. Today's main use would be for knife scales. If you are not into making knives, probably not much value to you, but knifemakers do buy burles.

[Steve Sells]

This just about sum up me feelings about the  rodent

 

 

 as for slabbing, I cut it a hair over 2 inch thick, then allow to air dry for knife handles, then stabilize after its dry

[njanvilman]

I turn big leaf maple burl into wine bottle stoppers.  Any burl that I buy is sealed in wax, as though it was dipped.  I usually leave them until I need to increase inventory, then slice them into roughly 2" x 2" x 2" blocks.  These are then set aside for more drying in an unheated dark place for many months.  I then rough turn them round, then allow for more months of drying.  It is not a fast process, but worth it in the end.

 

As artfist said:  What do you want to do with the finished pieces?  That will determine your cut size.

[Stash]

Don't throw way the 'punky' bits- the one photo showed spalting- basically the early stages of rot. If the wood is a little soft there, you can stabilize with CA glue and keep those nice patterns. Like was already said, de-bark and look for bug holes under the bark.  Slab it up, paint or wax (I usually use any latex paint I have laying around) , sticker with 1/2" or so  sq wood sticks and put somewhere to dry slowly.

 

Steve

[ThomasPowers]

njanvilman; wax or PEG that leaves a waxy feel and is often used to prevent wood from cracking?

As for slicing my woodworking friends use large bandsaws; my knifemaking friends use whatever they have to hand including hand saws or even chainsaws---you lose a lot of wood using a chainsaw though.

[billyO]

Thanks for all the replies and info.  Probably will cut them for knife handles as I've dipped my toe in the stream to "the dark side".

 

Stash - thanks for the advice on the CA for the soft wood.

 

Thomas - I plan o using one of my Japanese pull saws to minimize the kerf size and waste.

[billyO]

arftist suggested cutting with the grain, but it looks like cutting with the grain will yield 3 chunks, the largest being about 4" and 2 smaller ones (not sure if these are long enough for knife scales), whereas cutting across the grain will yield one 4+" and one at 6".  What to do?? 

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

[ThomasPowers]

Generally you are more interested in getting pieces with the wildest grain than in the number of pieces you can get.  I would evaluate cutting with that in mind.  With a good burl with and against the grain is a bit of a misnomer anyway.

[arftist]

Gonna stay out of this other than to suggest that cutting with the grain is the only practical way. 

Since I don't actually make knife scales will stay out, but as a lifelong woodworker I can't see any other way. 

[billyO]

arftist - could you please elaborate/explain the thinking/reasoning behind your statement "cutting with the grain is the only practical way"?

 

in post #11, I mentioned my hand saw that is really sharp with a crosscut side and a rip side, and it's a small enough piece that shouldn't be to difficult to manage either way.

[billyO]

Well, hopefully I didn't screw up too much.  Here're pics of the chunks (slightly larger then 2" sq/slabs) before painting with the Anchorseal^tm I had laying around. 

 

I really like the spalted piece, so I think tomorrow I may cut the rest of the stump up and get some more...

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

With the grain is stronger, and yields better visible grain.

Think of wood a a bundle of straws, with the grain representing the grain of the wood.

Now, there are methods like quarter sawing that yield beautiful patterns in wood like oak, but you get quite a bit of loss. Quarter sawing is also with the grain, it is the relationship of the blade to grain that changes.

[billyO]

Thanks for the assistance, but y'all aren't done yet, I'm trying as hard as I can to make you guys sick of me, what do I have to do??? ;)

 

I know the advice most of you gave/give is cut it and seal as soon as possible, and I understand the reasons (I think). BUT....

for those of you not familiar with the Evergreen State, there's a reason it's called that, at least here on the West side (or Wet side as it's sometimes referred to).  Where I live, the moss grows on ALL sides of the trees, and my property and shop rarely sees the sun from October through March due to all the lovely huge Cedars on my property (on that note, I've been eyeing an approx. 16" dia burl on one of them that will get cut ONLY if it falls on it's own accord.  That would most likely destroy my house, so I don't think it's worth it).  Quick internet research shows the average ambient humidity in my locale is above 90% year round in the morning and drops to the national average in the afternoons only from June-Sept.

You may have noticed the grey color to the burl cuts, and that was from all the moisture in the wood as I was cutting it on my saw.  I actually saw water on the blade and in the kerf as it was cutting.  It seems as if sealing it will hold all that moisture in, and instead of 2 years, it may take 5-10 to get it down to 9%.

 

Anyone living in similar climes have any suggestions?

[njanvilman]

I would at least seal the ends that have the end grain.  Let the wood stabilize, then you might want to research using a microwave on defrost cycle to aid in drying the wood.  Or keep the blocks in an airtight container with a low heat source, like a 40w light bulb.  You have to get the environment that they are in to a lower moisture than the ambient surroundings.  It will still take a while, given the wetness of the wood.

[Frosty]

There's another trick to help drying or keeping things dry. If you put some old drywall in the oven at 240f for an hour or so it becomes hydrophilic, absorbs water. It's a good thing to put in tool drawers to prevent rust, etc. It'll also suck the moisture out of anything less hydrophilic, like say wood.

 

There is something I don't understand in the advice so far and it's something you see often. If you're trying to dry a piece of wood, isn't sealing the end grain sort of defeating the effort? The cell structure of wood is more porous in line with the grain, that's how trees get water from the roots to the leaves. Isn't sealing the natural route of water flow like plugging the drain?

 

Drying wood cross grain just seams like a much slower process. OR does drying wood too quickly cause shrink checking?

 

Sure, once the wood's dried sealing it makes sense, wood is hydrophilic and will absorb moisture from the air.

 

I'm not trying to stir anything up I've just been wondering about this for years.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

You are correct Frosty, if it dries too fast it will check, and split. The outside dries faster than the middle does. My Dad used to just seal the ends.

[njanvilman]

I have always only sealed the end grain, then air dried slowly over time.  After a while, you will have lots of good dry wood.  One tip:  use a Sharpie marker and date the blanks once you start the drying process.  It is very easy to forget how long they have been drying. 

[bigfootnampa]

The thing that seems to be missing here in the discussion of grain direction, is that burls characteristically have wild swirling, mixed up grain! Sure I'd slab most woods by splitting but don't try that with a burl! You MUST slab burls with saws... and most any direction is fair game. You cannot seal the end grain of a burl either... It doesn't have any such thing! IMO slightly sealing the surfaces would be good as even burls will sometimes check if they dry too fast... by slowing the drying of the outside you allow the moisture to migrate from the inside before the outside dries too much and cracks. Slow drying is almost always the best way to keep the most wood useable.

[Frosty]

Thanks guys, that makes sense.

 

Okay, this is from old family stories and may have zero relevance to high end woods. My family pioneered the Pac NW and were  involved in Logging, Millwright, saw mills, lumber, shipwrights, etc.

 

One family story about logging for ship building involves how long they had to let logs float to clear the sap so ship's masts wouldn't check. A checked mast or boom timber was a lot more likely to shiver in rough seas. There were rafts of logs floating in Lake Washington for an average of 2 years before going to the mills and that wasn't for masts and booms.

 

Well, a great great, great, ?X, grand uncle who was the boiler man for a logging camp, round house, high line, etc. built a steamer for logs using the exhaust from the engines. His theory was steam would clean the sap faster than floating in a cold lake. Family claims were it worked. In a week or so logs were sap free and didn't check when milled or dried for masts and booms. Logging operations use a lot of masts and booms. Unfortunately for the company, no ship builders were willing to experiment so the technique was never used outside a couple logging camps.

 

The wood is Douglas Fir and the technique may not apply to hardwoods. the story led me to try boiling green: Spruce, birch burls, willow and alder and it dried fast without checking.

 

So there you go, Frosty suggesting a possible technique with nothing but an OLD family story and his limited knowledge and experiments to back it. Definitely a FWIW moment. If anybody gives it a shot, PLEASE let me know how it works.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[billyO]

I may take you up on that, Frosty.  I decided to cut down/up the stump and here's what I came up with.