Burls - drying questions

[Joanna]

I've been fortunate enough to have a husband that's been bringing me home a bunch of different burls (cherry, maple, oak). I do intarsia so the useful sizes for me are around 1 inch thick, so what we've been doing is slicing most of them with the chainsaw ( I do have one large enough for his band mill, when he starts that up again - yippee!) In the past, when we would so this there would be a good amount of warping and cracking here and there. I've heard it helps to coat the ends with something so it slows down the drying and cracking - What is recommended? would plain old paint work? I'm thinking it must be important to dry them really slow so probably storing them in a dark cool spot would be best right? Do you sticker them when drying, like regular green lumber? or would that make them dry too fast? Any other useful tips would be very appreciated.


My husband figured out that bringing me home burls beats flowers, jewelry and such. Only thing is I know for a fact his holding back on me and has a big stash he saving for when I'm down, in a bad mood or bribing me for something. He admitted he had the back end of his pick up full after his last clearing job. I've only seen 4 or 5 so far. He won't let me snoop in his shop either.

[Paul S WI]

Hi Johanna, Your best bet here is to seal the ends immediately after slicing them up. Paint is okay and many people have had decent/good results using latex paint. However, recommended is Anchor Sealer, Green Wood End Sealer, and there are others. Depending on how thick you cut them the rule of thumb is one year for every inch thick plus one year. Wood should then be stickered with about an inch between layers. It does not have to be in a cool place. I keep mine outside. Sides should be open and unobstructed to allow air circulation. Cover the top and weigh down to prevent the top layer from warping.

[Lois from Mississauga]

Joanne, I would take burls over flowers any day. You are very lucky.

The only thing I would add to Paul's is to be sure to cut the layers a bit thicker than you need. That will allow you to plane the dry piece back to flat. Burls will warp some even when you take precautions, so it is just an added bit of insurance to be sure you have a workable piece at the end.

[Dragon]

I do Christmas crafts with slabs of birch and after they are sliced with the chainsaw I bring them in and stand them on end to let them air dry. This way they don't crack while drying. It is a long process so you need to have the extra room to wait it out.
Diane

[Joanna]

Thanks for the replies. I'll have to look into the Greenwood sealer and Anchor Sealer. I'm a cheapskate, so that's why I was thinking cheap, old latex.

They have been cut around 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 thick. It take a few extra passes with the planer to get the chainsaw marks out so I made sure they are fairly thick.

Most important, I guess, is to get these slices prepared (End coated) and stickered and out of site so I can forget about them for a while. And lots of weight on them. Most of the lumber I work with is air dried or solar kilned, so I know about the patience thing. (Like I mentioned, they need to be out of my sight). Sure would hate to look at the a half year later and see them cracking and twisting.

I had some smaller slices in the past and they still cupped and twisted on me with the stickers, maybe I needed more weight on top (cinder blocks?), but then again it sounds like you can do everything right and the twisting and cracking still happens, the nature of the burls.

[William Young]

Joanna.
You have got some great advice here on what to do with them but I have one more little piece of advice.
Package them all up and send them to me for safe keeping I promise that I won't use any more than 90 % of them for turning beautiful pens and other small to large turnings on my lathe and I will send the rest back to you all nice and dry and warp and crack free .

OK . . so you didn't like that idea. In that case I congratulate you on your great find of burls and I wish you all the best in curing them in a way that they will be of most use to you.
Do you know what those burls are worth ? In case you don't go on ebay and see what burls sell for . You are a lucky person to have them.
W.Y.

[lucky788scroller]

If shipping is to high to be able to send them all the way to Canada to bill, you could just send them here, I am a lot closer!!!!! :P Dale

[Joanna]

I imagine you have plenty of room to store them for me, after all I did say I needed them out of my sight (So I could resist the temptation of working with them before they are dried down)

Funny you should mention ebay. Last month, I was splurging on a few exotic woods, something I rarely do (Most the wood I use is domestic, off my husband's band mill). I told him "I can buy woods from all over the world, but there is no way I can afford to buy burls" Little tiny pieces at were $$$$!! If I were to purchase a one on ebay, it would go straight to my display shelf in the house, not cut up in the shop.

I've always been fascinated with turnings and all lathe work, something I always told myself I'll do someday in the far future, too many irons in the fire right now.

[Joanna]

Dale, where about in Wisconsin? Maybe my husband found these in your neck of the woods. We live up by the big Lake, but he got a lot of these in the Green Bay area.