# Who buys Burls?



## BostonBull (Sep 20, 2005)

Does anyone know of nayone in the New England area (prefferably MA, NH, ME) that buys burled hardwood? Also tigerstriped grains of Maple?


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## trimmmed (Sep 20, 2005)

Find some woodturners. Also, alot of burl gets sold on Ebay for decent $$.

Got any pics?


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## John Paul Sanborn (Sep 22, 2005)

Call around to the local small mills. As with all timmber products, the cured end item is mor valuable then the raw material. Big burles ttake a long time to dry hence a big investment in storage.


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## fmueller (Sep 22, 2005)

Guys who turn bowls on lathes like to buy those. Ditto the e-bay.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Sep 22, 2005)

Most turners are looking for something free.

As with any niche market, online auction is great. 

It takes several months to slow dry a 1/2 inch rough turned bowl, and a solid burle takes much longer.

You need to put it in a controled environment (paperbag in the back of the garage, or face down on the concrete) and let it sit for a long time.

Even if KD, they have to go in a low temp kiln or they explode (sometimes literally).

Though I like green burles to, because part of the fun is to see how they move (warp and cup in a board) on the lathe.

Get a small lathe and a few gouges and scrapers and do it yourself.


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## trimmmed (Sep 22, 2005)

John Paul Sanborn said:


> Most turners are looking for something free.
> 
> As with any niche market, online auction is great.
> 
> ...




John, I have to disagree  True, every turner would love free burls, but the guys that are buying them regularly know they ain't free.

Also, as a turner, the burl is worth more to me, as is. Boards or drying not wanted for bowl turning, but in spindle orientation those would be fine. There is no real reason to kiln dry a burl, imo, as the organization of grain typical to regular wood, does not exist and hence the drying is not the same. A burl left alone will dry fine although it might develop small cracks, which are either acceptable or fillable. You might have more movement/ cracking in the burl if it's an open grainer like oak. But even if you get a severe crack, you can always cut it down for other uses.

Also another general thought in regards to selling burl. You really need to know how good it is if you sell it, because the better the more bucks you'll get for it.


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