# What to do with Red Oak Burl



## amalina (Apr 1, 2013)

My lumber guy dropped two loads of logs that will be cut up soon. He decided to give this to me. It is 42" wide, 28" deep and 17" tall.

I have used Maple Burl. This has been cut for about 45 days.

My questions? 

Cut into slabs? I was thinking cut like I will have logs cut

Save chunks for turning? Not planning on doing this

When to slab? How thick? I was going to cut in next 30 days.

Thanks for the input


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

If you cut it into slabs make sure it's thick slabs (2.5"-3"). 
It's still very wet , likely. Oak burl has a tendency to check and crack when drying. Burl has a tendency to want to warp so when cut, get it stickered and stacked with massive weight on top of it. The thickness will help and you will need to shave off some later to get the slabs level and straight.

I've made some nice bookmatched coffee table tops from oak burl stock. My stock sat for 10 years in 8" thick slabs before I got to it and it still needed kilned after we slabbed it, to get the m.c. down below 10% and kill suspected bugs.. After we slabbed it out into 2" pieces it tended to warp, so I backed it up immediately with bottom supports.The surface had some minor fracturing/checking but it actually added to it's appearance as live edge tops.


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