# Sealing burls



## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Hi all,

I had asked this over in the turning section, but thought you would know a good answer to this.

I've been reading a number of articles on cutting and sealing burls, but I'm confused when they just say to seal the end grain. Isn't most of the burl end grain? Are they just referring to the section of the log above and below the burl? What if you slice the burl off the tree? I read a few articles of people who "farm" the burls since they sometimes grow back after they've been sliced off. What if you cut blanks from the burl while it's still green?

Thanks in advance, -SW


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

I seal all cut faces, most often. Burl is such a mess of grain (why they are so pretty) yea you are right most of it is/can be endgrain, or at least react like it while drying. For sure slices of burl like up and down off the tree are tricky, the little burl eyes (for the lack of a better term) like to open up/split while drying.

The only cut that doesn't cause me much trouble is lets say a burl sliced in half, like this:









And if you notice technically your are seeing endgrain lumber (you can see growth rings), but crossgrain burl bud growth. Make sense ?


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Ah, many thanks.

I'm going to my dad's property in a few weeks and will be hunting for some burls. I'll have to ship them back, so I'll probably be cutting them up to minimize space. Thanks for the tips. I also just picked up an (small) avocado burl today and will be cutting it this afternoon.


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Booya. Found quite a few, as well as many that were too big for me to cut.

Any idea what these are? Should be all the same species.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Cherry









.


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks. That's what I thought.


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