What to do with this burl ?

[Kristian Sharman]

I have this amazing Mulberry Burl and i want to turn it on the lathe but im not sure on what to do with it, Maybe cut it in half and make 2 large bowls. I donno, Help

The dimensions roughly are 420mm x 400mm x 330mm

Thanks

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A beauty. I think I would start by having a good prod with a kebab skewer to try to find any big voids to start with.

 

[Robbo3]

I have the same enviable dilemma. The silver birch burl on the left was kindly given to me by a forum member.

I thought about making two bowls because the burl doesn't go all the way round the stem but I may just mount it with the stem at 90° to the axis to produce an open hollow form.

Yours is harder to visualize because of the three (or perhaps four) branch stubs.

 

[MikeG.]

Burl? Surely you aren't all Americans. It's burr over here.

 

[woodbloke66]

Burl? Surely you aren't all Americans. It's burr over here.

Absolutely. Burr in the UK and we work in a workshop, not woodshop and use timber instead of lumber - Rob

 

[Chris152]

Someone who knows better will be along I'm sure, but if it were mine I'd cut it lengthways either side of the pith and turn a couple of bowls from it. From the little experience I have, you can't tell how deep toward the centre the interesting burr will go, but this way you won't lose any.

 

[CHJ]

Having tackled several large Burrs in the past and done my best to keep the maximum amount of bark on the finished form I'm not so sure I would not just slab another one into 70-80mm slabs and just revel in the internal figuring exposed in any piece that emerged from subsequent turnings, serendipity determining if natural surface texturing added to its charm.

 

[Lazurus]

Hollow form for me, to interesting a peice for simpl bowls.

 

[Dalboy]

Leave it as is for the time being. Not sure how experienced you are if a novice then wait until you have a little more experience and then look at it with fresh eyes.
I have burrs and other interesting pieces that are in my wood store just waiting for that inspiration before either cutting into what I want or an idea comes along which it would be just the ticket for

 

[Duncan A]

My advice would be to turn the burl into a burr!
Sorry, gotten a bit anal hete!

 

[Robbo3]

Burl? Surely you aren't all Americans. It's burr over here.

Absolutely. Burr in the UK and we work in a workshop, not woodshop and use timber instead of lumber - Rob

I thought burl & burr were the same thing.
Only the posh have workshops, the rest of us have to work in a shed.

 

[Dalboy]

Only the posh have workshops, the rest of us have to work in a shed.

I have been called many things but never been told I am posh as I refer to mine as a workshop, I suppose that the next step will be to add an extension and call that a gallery :twisted: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[woodbloke66]

Burl? Surely you aren't all Americans. It's burr over here.

Absolutely. Burr in the UK and we work in a workshop, not woodshop and use timber instead of lumber - Rob

I thought burl & burr were the same thing.
Only the posh have workshops, the rest of us have to work in a shed.

My first workshop was my parents 7'x5' garden shed; it was uninsulated, bitterly cold in winter, it had a leak (like most garden sheds) but it was still my workshop I remember I made a 5' long pine refectory table in it and a mahogany, leather upholstered dressing stool for my gran...still got the plan somewhere in one of my books. To stop tools going rusty, after every session I had to coat all steel surfaces with Vaseline - Rob