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Make the most of your burl

cindydrozda.com

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Re: Make the most of your burl

#21

Post by jumploops »

vvvv wrote: post #14
jumploops wrote: post #11

This is awesome. My wife wanted a wooden engagement ring, and so I fashioned one (well ~10) out of a Pacific madrone burl. Great material to work with, but wouldn’t recommend wooden bands unless your actual wedding is near!

Why not?

Unless you use an epoxy of some sort, they’re quite prone to breaking over time — I only used natural beeswax.

(Plus, quite a few broke while I was iterating on my technique…)

To be clear, this is one of the reasons my then-girlfriend wanted one, to ensure a speedy engagement!

Re: Make the most of your burl

#23

Post by bradly »

vvvv wrote: post #14
jumploops wrote: post #11

This is awesome. My wife wanted a wooden engagement ring, and so I fashioned one (well ~10) out of a Pacific madrone burl. Great material to work with, but wouldn’t recommend wooden bands unless your actual wedding is near!

Why not?

If they are made by cutting a ring shape out of wood, the grain is too weak for long term wear.

I more common method for wooden rings is to cut a long thin rip at 1/16th”. Soak it water for 30 minutes. Wrap it around something finger size, put a rubber band around it and let it dry. You can get a good imitation of a glossy epoxy finish with CA/super glue. This gives a lot more strength than a cutout.

Re: Make the most of your burl

#25

Post by Lammy »

echelon wrote: post #9

I can't watch the video, so I had to look this up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burl Woodworking with these. In a previous life I did genetic engineering with agrobacterium-mediated transfection. Agro causes galls. Good blast from the past.

I learned that word from Mastodon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMeAEBujd7w

Re: Make the most of your burl

#26

Post by quercusa »

Loughla wrote: post #8
csours wrote: post #4

I spent a week burl hunting with my uncle in Alaska. Good times! (except for the mosquitos)

I used to find burls with a neighbor. He was an amazing wood turner. He told me to do it for extra money, so one summer I went off on my own to start cutting them. And that's the story of how I learned that sometimes burls form when a tree grows around a fence post. Alternate title: Stihl chainsaws can't cut steel fencing.

There's that ever-so short moment between "Man, this wood is hard!" and "Oh, crap"

Re: Make the most of your burl

#27

Post by abeppu »

So the works Cindy displays are beautiful but is wood turning the way to "make the most of your burl"? I feel like there's a value that's related the surface area you can get out of a given burl. If you have a burl, are you better off trying to cut thin panels with parallel slices? With turning, though a skilled artisan can produce a beautiful result, don't you lose out on a lot of volume?

Re: Make the most of your burl

#29

Post by dyauspitr »

aczerepinski wrote: post #12

I adore burl. Burl coffee tables, cell phone cases, jewelry boxes, guitars, you name it. I should start taking classes now so that I’ll be ready to pivot to woodworking when AI replaces engineers.

Ha it’s already a severely impacted field. Every other computer programmer that doesn’t live in a city is a woodworker.

Re: Make the most of your burl

#30

Post by fragmede »

dyauspitr wrote: post #29
aczerepinski wrote: post #12

I adore burl. Burl coffee tables, cell phone cases, jewelry boxes, guitars, you name it. I should start taking classes now so that I’ll be ready to pivot to woodworking when AI replaces engineers.

Ha it’s already a severely impacted field. Every other computer programmer that doesn’t live in a city is a woodworker.

sounds like there's a market for a woodshop in the city, gym membership style.
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