A question for those who buy burls????

Re: A question for those who buy burls????

mikeee12345

Don't get too carried away with the price, every burl is different some have really

nice grain to work with while other burls have plenty of voids which can take away

from the amount of wood you can harvest. You need to look at the outside bark on

the burl to get an educated idea on what is underneath, you also want to become

familiar with the different species of trees that the burls come from. That will take time

and experience to get to that level of knowledge to know the true value. You will need

to negotiate price with your logger on a routine basis. Some burl species are sought

after more then others.

Re: A question for those who buy burls????

dick hines

Barry I use a lot of Australian burls. The price of those will make you heard spin. Big leaf maple is pricey also

Re: A question for those who buy burls????

mikeee12345

You can do a search on Ebay for wood burls and get an idea on the retail value of the burls that have sold.

It is a lot of work to process the burls into different sized blanks, every burl is different, so you need to take a little time to maximize the quality and or quantity of wood blanks you harvest.

It also takes a lot of time to stabilize the wood blanks if you are looking to do that.

Many burls need to be stabilized before you can turn them on the lathe.

Are you buying them by the pound?

I've never stabilized a burl in 30 years.

Ask him about a barter.

Dick Coers

He gives you 3 burls, you give him one nice hollow form or big bowl back as payment. You should core out the blanks so you still get at least 6 bowls. Just about every time I go to the arborist's to cut wood, I take a turning. Sometimes bigger bowls, sometimes a hollow form. If it's near the holidays, a bag of Christmas ornaments and spinning tops for his kids. It's worked just fine like that for years!

never buy wet wood by the pound ;-)

Give me 2 lbs please

john lucas

I was at an AAW symposium and guy was selling very expensive maple burls. I asked how much it was he said X dollars a pound. I said give me 2lbs and he just walked off. Guess it wasn't funny to him. Those burls were wet and probably weighted 50 60 lbs.

Re: Give me 2 lbs please

Barry Irby

I like it. I am just trying to get a grip on what people are paying. I want to make it worth his while to bring them in but don't want to over pay.

I would turn it around

john lucas

Ask him what he thinks they are worth. It could easily go either way. Either he will want a really cheap price or think they are worth a ton of gold. Would be worth finding out. Either that or low ball an offer and see what happens.

Re: Are you buying them by the pound?

Ralph Lindberg

We buy wet "raw" burl from a couple loggers that know what turners look for. For Big-Leaf Maple and Madrone this year we paid $1.25 a pound.

This a fairly raw burl, wet and cut into slabs or large chunks. It can include even some rocks and dirt (eg root).

Dry, process, stable burl is lots more.

Re: A question for those who buy burls????

John Jordan

I don't know where you live, but the odds of a "local tree guy" having any idea of a value is as unlikely as him showing up with an actual, usable burl. If he does come up with something, pay him what its worth to you to have it. Most people are happy with firewood prices, and some think you're a sucker for giving them anything as he would have to pay to dump it.

John