# burl wood



## cw log&veneer (Mar 7, 2011)

i don t know if this is the right place to post this,i have seen on wood barter,what do they mean when they ask if burl wood is stabilized or not can someone explain this to me?


----------



## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

They put the wood in a vacuum chamber and suck resins into the wood. If it is a little punky or rotten- soft - it hardens it up. I do not stabilize wood but have used it on knife handles.


----------



## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

Yeah what he said. It's resin impregnated. It's expensive to do, and even more expensive to buy. I pay $100/gallon for my resin and doing 1.5"sq by 12-18" pieces, a gallon lasts me about 20-30 turning squares. I can only do one square at a time but have been kicking around an idea to build a chamber large enough to do a dozen or so at a time. Once impregnated, you also have to bake the wood to cure the resin. It's a process for sure.


----------



## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

There is a guy in Minnesota that sells bigger chambers. He sells them on his website and woodbarter. I can get his name if you want.
I have made a few knife handles with stabilized wood. Polishs up very nice. Not cheap but for small pieces it is nice.


----------



## PSDkevin (Dec 18, 2010)

I find if the burl is dense and tight the resin doesn't penetrate well and it hasn't helped the burls I have tried to stabilize. It helps immensely for spalted, punky, soft etc.


----------



## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

PSDkevin said:


> I find if the burl is dense and tight the resin doesn't penetrate well and it hasn't helped the burls I have tried to stabilize. It helps immensely for spalted, punky, soft etc.


Have you tried letting the wood soak a bit longer? I sometimes have to soak it over night to get good penetration. I got hold of some curly redwood that won't soak up an ounce of the resin, and have had mesquite sponge it up like nothing. It's a science for sure, lots to learn.


----------



## BigJoe16 (Feb 20, 2012)

That's interesting stuff. 

Have you guys worked much or at all with willow burl? There are a whole truck load around my house. But mostly in the county park.


----------



## PSDkevin (Dec 18, 2010)

No haven't tried a long soak. Next time I'll give that a try. I have some crazy cherry burl and have had no problems using it unstabilized. Not sure it's worth the resin.


----------



## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

BigJoe16 said:


> That's interesting stuff.
> 
> Have you guys worked much or at all with willow burl? There are a whole truck load around my house. But mostly in the county park.


 
I have not myself but have seen some turned and it was beautiful


----------

