Red Maple Burlwood

[Kerr the Walker]

I just acquired a couple of pieces of red maple burl wood. It’s got a really nice figure to it and I think it’ll look great polished up. My concern is that with no uniform grain to speak of, that it’ll work funny and I’ll end up messing it up.

I’ve never worked with burl wood of any kind, and figured with all the talent on the board, someone might have.

So here’s my question: Any one done any work with it before? If so, anything in particular I should look out for?

Thanks in advance.

[DWFII]

I don't think you'll have any problem with it but for small items, burl is often "stabilized." This means that it is soaked in some sort of plastic solution that when dry, effectively glues the various nodes together.

On some of the wood working forums it is often suggested that the piece be turned or shaped to close to the final dimensions and then given a liberal dousing of CA (thin super glue). This allows you to work to final dimensions without any problems and then the piece is given another liberal dose of CA to make sure it is stable. Allow to dry thoroughly between each application. Use quality CA.

The CA will not prevent a nice finish from being applied, although some take the piece down to the final stages (I sand all my stuff to 4000 grit in Abralon ) and then use CA as the "varnish." When done correctly the result is like glass but it is tricky to polish.

Just some thoughts...your mileage may vary.

[Kerr the Walker]

On some of the wood working forums it is often suggested that the piece be turned or shaped to close to the final dimensions and then given a liberal dousing of CA (thin super glue). This allows you to work to final dimensions without any problems and then the piece is given another liberal dose of CA to make sure it is stable. Allow to dry thoroughly between each application. Use quality CA.

In effect, stabilizing the piece yourself?

[DWFII]

In effect, stabilizing the piece yourself?

Yes and no. When a burl is stabilized the plastic/glue is forced deep into the fibers of the wood itself, as well as all the interstices between the various nodes that comprise a burl.

The CA will never do that. All it can do is harden the surface...maybe penetrating a mm or so into the wood...and create a matrix of sorts between adjacent nodes. That said, it does help to stabilize the burl but it's not really as extensive or the same.

That's the reason the piece is taken down very close to final form before the CA is applied.

[george7]

Use very sharp tools to reduce your chances of chipping, splitting, or cracking.

[Kerr the Walker]

For those that are interested, I did a bit of research yesterday, and found a method of "stabilizing" wood at home:

1.) Heat the piece at low temp (hair dryer, heat gun, toaster oven, etc) to get as much moisture out as possible.
2.) Place the piece of wood in a glass jar big enough so that the piece can lay flat when the jar is turned side-ways.
3.) Pour in enough wood-hardener to cover the piece. (I found a pint of MinWax Wood Hardener for around 10 bucks)
4.) Seal up the jar as tight as possible and let the piece soak in the wood-hardener until it is completely saturated (until it sinks to the bottom plus one day)
5.) Remove from solution and let dry in a brown paper bag for about a week, or until completely dry.

There were other ways to do it using vacuum pumps and pressure pots, and I'm guessing you could rig up quite the apparatus if you were planning on doing it all the time. But for a first crack, the Pickle-Jar-Soak Method seems to be ok.

I'll be sure and post on the results.

Enjoy!

[Carolina Kiltman]

I might also add to all the above. For something small and basically carved, I like to use wood rasps, files and sand-paper. Also scrapers are good too. It is always a challenge to work with burl, but if you abrade the surface to shape, there will be little if any tear-out. I use scrapers with inlay work all the time, and they do a good job.

[DWFII]

For those that are interested, I did a bit of research yesterday, and found a method of "stabilizing" wood at home:[snip]

When I was active on the woodworking forums, this came up now and again. As I recall it wasn't considered a satisfactory solution. For several reasons:

First, the wood hardener is meant for spalted or "punky" wood where you may want to preserve the character or colouration of a wood that might ordinarily be considered too far gone to use. In such cases the wood is very porous and soaks up the wood hardener like a thirsty sponge.

I did try it myself, however.

I used a nice piece of Big Leaf Maple (not burl or even hard maple) which exhibited a little "shake." After over a week in the solution, the wood was laying at the bottom of the jar. I pulled it out to let it dry and about a week later I tried sanding it. The hardener had soaked in but only "skin " deep. To this day, I am not sure why it didn't work...theoretically the solvent/carrier of the hardening agent should have carried the hardener as far into the wood as the solvent itself had penetrated. But it did not. And this was the same observation that others on the woodworking forums had. My only theory is that the hardening agent creates a barrier to any further penetration of anything but the solvent.

I guess that's why the people who do this professionally use vacuum pumps.

Still and all, even a slight penetration might make working the burl a little easier.

[ehiker]

My answer would be a question - what do you plan on using it for?

[Kerr the Walker]

My answer would be a question - what do you plan on using it for?

Plan is to turn it into a sgian dubh handle

When I was active on the woodworking forums, this came up now and again. As I recall it wasn't considered a satisfactory solution.

I did read that some folks found that this wasn't a good method. But in the absence of a vacuum pump, I figured I'd give it a shot.

Worst case scenario: it doesn't work and I have justification to rig up a vacuum pump