climberjones
ArboristSite Guru
I recently dropped a pretty nice cherry tree that has some pretty nice burls on it are they worth anything or is the log its probably about 15 t0 18 inches across? Thanks for any input!
Cherry burls?
- Thread starter climberjones
- Start date
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qbilder
ArboristSite Guru
How big are the burls? Got any pics of the log? Might be gold or might be just another cherry, no way to know without checking it out. If the burls run deep then it'll be very pretty lumber. Unfortunately, most of the trees covered with small burls only have the figure at the surface, and the actual lumber inside is no different than a smooth tree.
climberjones
ArboristSite Guru
Well the log is at a job location i wont be back to till next week but ill find out then and try and take some pics ! Should i just cut the burls off flush and leave the log seems like they were any were from the size of a medium salad bowl to a ice cream dish in size! Thanks!
Burlhunter13
ArboristSite Operative
Cutting them flush is one method, them can be sold as "Caps".....but to me I consider it wasteful.
Think of Ice cream cones sticking horizontally out of the tree wherever a burl is located. The closer to the center of the log, the smaller the burl gets. If you were to cut them flush then you are still losing a lot of good figure. If the log is not worth taking and there are scattered burls on it. My usual approach is to cut the log as you would do for firewood, centering a burl in each piece (leaving about 2-4" on each side). Then slice the "chunk of firewood" in half.....this way all of the burl figure is now kept on one half of the smaller log. From there you should be able to study the piece to make additional cuts for best use.
The same can be done on larger burls that "Wrap" around the branch/trunk. By slicing the log in half, large stresses are released.....this will help the burl to dry without cracking to death (if waxed/etc). If left in full log form the piece may develop huge checks/fissures because the stress of the drying and shrinking wood has nowhere to go. It essentially "pulls" the outer surface apart as it shrinks.
Trying to make this as clear as possible......I can post pictures if you need me to.
Cheers and great score!
