# Cherry burl, project of the day



## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

This burl has been in my way for a couple of months. Today was the day... 3 different views of this Burl so you can get an idea of how I cut it. 

First picture shows where most of the burling is. Almost all burl on this side but there's a few barks sleeves that seem to run deep. 

Second picture is a side view showing a deep bark sleeve that runs between two nice Burl sections. This was a must cut area. 

The back side had a nice space between the two outer burls so I figured that this would be my largest piece.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

I cut the burl log in two right down the middle of the bark sleeve in picture two above. Beauty wood inside! All of this is going to be live edge work so I started with a worm screw mounting directly in between the two outer burls in this first picture.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

Photo 1 - Mounted it, roughed the backside. 
Photo 2 - Cored the inside, made another bowl.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

The other half of the log/burl was a judgement call. Too many bark sleeves that made me hesitate to turn this one as a big bowl too. Elected to cut it into 3 following fault lines


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

The upper right section was coming along fine. The outside was roughed so I started coring a smaller bowl from the interior. A hidden bark sleeve had other plans. I finished coring anyway and shifted my worm screw hole over 2" to make a small bowl from this.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

The upper left hand burl was a beauty! Nice globe shape with nice burling inside. Was able to core the core as well. Bonus!


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

That's it! Done for today. Got 8 various sized live edged bowls out of this burl.


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## Jim Beam (Oct 10, 2012)

Way to go!


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## red (Sep 30, 2008)

Sweet! Nice job.

Red


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## Ben M (Apr 19, 2012)

Beautiful results and I appreciate the lesson in planning/discovering the best approach to a log.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

That is some beautiful wood and a great job, that has got to be a lot of fun.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

Ben M said:


> Beautiful results and I appreciate the lesson in planning/discovering the best approach to a log.


One thing you'll find out quickly. It's very hard to get a good read on a burl if it has any crevasses at all. It's always a guess trying to figure out how deep they go unless you strip all the bark off which on a live edge piece wouldn't make sense. Only good thing is the more burls you see the easier it gets. That being said, I've screwed up my share of burls too by guessing wrong. I kick myself sometimes for cutting pieces too small when I see a sleeve and then finding out its not deep at all. On a positive note, I can always tell myself that it's OK because nothing flew apart either.


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## bond3737 (Nov 13, 2009)

Nnnnnice!! Appreciate the walkthrough of the cutting process as well. Often the most untouched and unteachable part of the process always helps good to watch how others read the wood. Got a few burls cherry burls from wisc a while back cant wait to crack into em. Gorgeous wood and a great lookin end product! Happy turnin,
Bond


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## David Delo (Aug 22, 2013)

Woodychips,

Love cherry burls. You did a nice job unlocking that one for sure. Thought you might get a kick out of seeing one that was just gifted to me for Christmas. Log is 4' long and the burl is 24" at the widest point. Found out it's 5-6 years old but still dog heavy. Thinking if it's somewhat dry and still that heavy, there's some very dense beauty just waiting to be discovered.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

Nice present David! You'll have fun with this one for sure. Before you get started I must caution you that because it has sat for an extended period of time that you should give it a very good look over for cracking. I've found that cherry burl cracks can run quite deep. I also can see quite a lot of hills and valleys which can indicate that dreaded bark sleeve. 

A few things to look out for but I'm sure that you'll enjoy the challenge. Good luck!


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