Drying a Burl Bowl

[Ed Weingarden]

I have a drying box that I use for my rough turned bowls. I put Anchorseal on the end-grain before they go in the box. I cored a piece of cherry burl and put in the box, but without anchorseal. As the burl does not have a defined area of end-grain, I wouldn't know where to apply the anchorseal. For anyone that works with burls, do you apply anchorseal anywhere on the piece? Thanks.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I have switched to the brown paper bag, which works great and there is no anckor seal to remove at the final turning, which can be a problem when the wood distorts excessively. The bag creates a miniature humidity chamber and I don't bother to change the bag, since the idea is to slow down the drying so changing the bag just speeds up the drying.

 

[Ed Weingarden]

Thank you @Don Wattenhofer.

 

[robo hippy]

A method for drying madrone, taken from Christian Burshard, put the piece inside a paper bag, and then put that inside a plastic bag. Change out the paper bag every day till it no longer feels damp. Since I once turn my things, I would not seal it, but I do use stretch film around the rim, which is the most vulnerable part of a bowl. With the madrone, if the tree is not a spring harvest with the sap running, I get a lot more cracking than with the sap.... Just one of those "difficult" woods. The other choice would be to boil it, which I don't like to do because it is too much extra work, and it tends to muddle the colors together.

robo hippy

 

[Dean Center]

In our dry climate, I apply wax emulsion to the entire outside of the bowl. It seems to me that often burls comprise a portion, but not all, of the finished piece. It'll be interesting to find out how this works out with a fruitwood burl.

 

[Ed Weingarden]

@Dean Center : I'll try to remember to report back in a few months time.

 

[John K Jordan]

I'll try to remember to report back in a few months time.

I'm interested. I process a lot of wet log sections into blanks and dry them. I always coat the end grain of blanks, sides with a lot of figure, and other sides depending ring orientation. proximity to the pith, and for certain species (e.g., dogwood and privet), surfaces that contain both heartwood and sapwood. The species makes a huge difference. For rough-turned burled and turned pieces with a lot of figure I usually coat them all over.

I know people who, not specifically for burled wood, use the paper bag method, the plastic bag method (once a day invert the plastic bag), the pile of shavings method, the refrigerator kiln, etc. All use a method that has worked for them in the past. None are guaranteed for any one piece.

Controlling the moisture change is key, regardless of the method.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

consider boiling madrone, an opinion I’ve heard but never tried.

 

[John K Jordan]

consider boiling madrone, an opinion I’ve heard but never tried.

All the madrone I have, plain and figured, has been boiled and not one piece is cracked. (It’s a wonderful wood to turn!)

The late Jim King from Peru who exported exotic blanks to the US and a huge number of bowls, told me he always boiled the bowls - in 55 gal drums over wood fires. I got some large well-sealed blocks from him and his note said they MUST be boiled right away! (Instead, I cut them up into pieces for turning small things and air dried the pieces. That works too.)

One huge block was Pink Flamewood - amazing stuff:

pink flamewood

JKJ

 

[hughie]

I never try to dry out burls, turn them as they come. The thinking down here is that you can never really tell if the burl is dry until you turn it, It can be dry on the outside and still damp at the centre. Also as the grain goes every which away ,so conventional concerns about splitting dont seem to exist, a wet burl when turned will eventually have a leather look to the finish. If you want a slick glossy finish then have rough turn and dry it out.
I have several on the shelf that have been there for several years, the very thick ones will still be damp at the centre.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I never try to dry out burls, turn them as they come. The thinking down here is that you can never really tell if the burl is dry until you turn it, It can be dry on the outside and still damp at the centre. Also as the grain goes every which away ,so conventional concerns about splitting dont seem to exist, a wet burl when turned will eventually have a leather look to the finish. If you want a slick glossy finish then have rough turn and dry it out.
I have several on the shelf that have been there for several years, the very thick ones will still be damp at the center

Everything said here is absolutely true of burls and also applies to any non burl solid wood blank.