Wood Burl Question

[treechick]

I have heard that it is wrong / unethical to cut burls off of live, healthy trees. This makes perfect sense, as it is an injury to the tree. But does it cause more injury than a regular pruning cut ? On some burls the attachment point is relatively small and it would seem that it would compartmentalize fairly quick as compared to burls with very wide attachment point(s) ??? Also, since most burls are on the trunkwood, it may be more injurious ??? My sister has a patch of woods on the back of her property and I spied a nice maple burl. Angel on one shoulder saying, "Sweet. Now leave it." Voice from the dark side saying, "Sweet. Take it. It won't really hurt anything." Input ? Thanx

 

[dayman]

Don't listen to the dark side. You already know the reasons.

Branch cuts are less injurious because the branch collar is there with it's special tissues to wall off injuries. No branch collars on trunks...

 

[Ekka]

we get huge ones here on Eucs, I wonder what causes them?

 

[P_woozel]

Cut them off without a care, if its profitable its pure, wood was put on thhis earth for our use. We are at the top of the food chain, gods as it were.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Lessen it's some prize tree somebody crazy over, I say the same thing.

Kinda like cattle, or fish, or tomatoes.

 

[trimmmed]

Well, lets look at that cattle example for a second...

Would it be ok if you wanted to just go up to the cow and cut off one steak? :Eye:

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I'm sorta in the middle of the argument.

what is the life expectncy of the tree, it's location....

If it's a straight and true red oak with 100 years of good life ahaead of it, or a sweeping box elder....

 

[treechick]

If it were a sugar maple, the voice from the dark side would've been a muffled nothingness... but it's a silver about 4' dbh, maybe 80 yrs. old? There's plenty more silvers out there (rationalizing) and the attachment point of the burl is about 9" dia. (burl about 24"). Is it just me, or do burls from an irritation seem to have shorter attachment points (reminds me of a pearl) than those caused by disease or injury ? Also, there's a sick side of me that would rather cut a burl off of an easement tree in town in the middle of the night ? (sound of chainsaw breaking the silence) Hey, if I'm gonna be unethical, might as well pull out all the stops ! LOL

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi Treechick,here's what the Burl expert Scully says about burls, however note what he says in the bottom right.
John