>I just found a Maple tree with a good number of burls around the base. The upper portion of the tree was damaged in this morning's storm and fell over. The owner was cutting up branches but hadn't taken the trunk or the burls down. So Ryan and I are heading there now.
Question: When we cut these burls off, do we coat them completely with anchorseal? Should we turn them green or bag and season them? I've cut a number of trees up but never burls. I would appreciate any guidance.
Chuck.
oh, BTW - this is another find for my Wood Huntress wife. She saw them working on it and called me. Have I mentioned lately how much I love her??? :-)
>You'll enjoy the burls. Coat the raw wood portion with anchorseal. Doesn't matter when you turn burl wood. Wet or dry or somewhere in between. Burl is quite stable.
We just got home with 8 nice burl chunks and 1 big cap that is at least 18 inch across.
One other thing, the leaf branches were still there. We ran it through the leaf index and it indicates that it is Boxelder. So I now have Boxelder burl.
Sorry to tune in so late, but I'll send my thoughts anyway...
Many burls go deep into the trunk (or branch) they grow on. In other words, they grow IN the tree as much as ON the tree. Boxelder burls usually have a beautiful cone of burled wood leading well down into the trunk, toward the pith. They show a sort of flame figure radiating out away from the pith. If you cut any burls off the trunk parallel to the side of the tree, you may have left quite a bit of good stuff behind.
Its also worth checking for root burls below ground level -- I have a Boxelder root burl about 4' by 6', and just a little was poking up above ground level -- I might have missed it if the trunk didn't have some small and medium sized burls, too.
The attached photo shows some rough-turned chunks of Boxelder burl and one burl head (~ 15") with the cone of burl wood below it (slightly tricky chainsaw cut). I would have to re-size pic.'s of the huge root burl to send.
I did go into (what was left) of the trunk, but not as deep as you. I can't wait to dig into these soon but have to prep for my first demonstration this weekend. I'll post some pics of the burls early next week.
