I recently got my hands on a massive cherry burl off a tree that uprooted in an ice storm back in Dec. I live in NH. Roots were all still attached to the tree and it was still very much alive to the point where the roots were beginning to reroot themselves, albeit with the tree at a 45 degree angle to the ground. The burl is about 3 feet long and about 20 inches or so in diameter. Weighs in at a good 150 lbs!! When the tree was upright, I would bet this was off the ground by a good 8' or so and wrapped around about 8-9 inches of trunk. When we cut the tree, we stayed away from the burl by a good 3 feet in each direction and when I got it home, I sealed the fresh cut ends with a good exterior grade paint. I had no AnchorSeal in the house, so paint will have to do for now. I'm wondering about cutting into this thing. I plan to use it on my lathe, but I will have to make it small enough to spin on my 12" lathe. I've turned burls before, but they were bought as bowl blanks. I know about dealing with green wood, but I'm not sure how to deal with this. I have concerns about shrinking, cracking, drying, and all that good stuff being different from dealing with normal green wood. Not even sure if the LDD method would be any good on this? What about staying away from the center of the rings where shrinkage and cracks are most likely? Has anyone ever come across anything like this and what did you do? Is there a website out there anywhere that has any info on cutting up burls? I am not even sure if I should be cutting horizontal or vertical with this thing? I'm terrified of cutting into this and destroying it due to lack of knowledge and experience. Anyone have any advice???
- posted
15 years ago