Spruce Burls!

Jul 11, 2007 1 Replies

While I was at Summer Camp last week as spiritual director, my wife got a call from a fellow I have never met who had had some work done in his back yard. He had a "couple" of spruce burls if I was interested in them. He and his wife were going to their cottage for a while but they were in the back yard so I could just go get them if I wanted them. So I backed my van into the driveway this morning and looked. There were 29 burls ranging from 6" to about 24" by guess. I loaded them into the van and brought them home. It amazes me that I can back into someone's driveway, load the van, and leave with no one saying anything. These burls look like a lot of fun and I will see they get one back.



I put a picture up on my blog at

formatting link


As Leo says, spruce tends to makes blisters like birch, rather than burls like cherry. Free advice, get a gallon or two of mineral spirits to wipe everything ... over and over again. One kind of turning which requires a smock, because you're going to get sticky. Don't have any around now, but there was so much resin in the average lump that a burnished surface was actually "finished" with spruce resin.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required