Going to be traveling around Maine the second week of October. I know it's rare that someone wants to give up their sources but thought I would try anyway. Anyone have any suggestions on sources for reasonably priced burls?
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Maine wood source?
- Thread starter Ricc Havens
- Start date
I know there is a turning club that meets at the Woodcraft store in Portsmouth NH. Other than that, no clue. I was out there in May. Saw a lot of nice wood. Never did get to check out a guy down the road in Berwick who had a saw mill....
robo hippy
robo hippy
Reasonable and burl usually don't meet in the same sentence. Not an abundance of hardwoods in Maine. Huge rocks and pine trees are what the glacier left from scraping by. Some of the beaches aren't even sand since sand is scarce. Beautiful white pine back in the day. You could find 3' wide pieces slabs back in the early 1970s, but that stuff is rare now. My wife was born in Maine and we traveled there many times. Never bought a stick of wood there, but lots of antique flat woodworking tools. In California you could buy burl at roadside stands, in Maine you buy lobster at road side stands.
I've never seen burls for sale here.
Try Rare Woods USA. They are in Mexico Maine. Luke is great to work with and they have a lot of very rare woods. Not sure about burls.
for the viewing pleasure of those thinking the tree market in Maine is limited!
And saying abundance does not exist is hmmmmmmmm.
I googled "Maine tree species" and found a state sponsored listing and there was no shortage of types of hardwoods including walnut, maple, red oak, black-white -green ash. In the far north central part of Minnesota there is bog land that produces many black ash burls and I thought I had read where Maine has similar country. Here is an example of a Minnesota black ash burl bowl at about 12 inch diameter.
I didn't see anything about burls in your link. Did I miss something? Here is what I found interesting in the article: "The state of Maine is home to many different species of trees, but according to the forestry department, only about 11% of them are native. The majority of trees in Maine are non-native and were introduced for agricultural or ornamental purposes. Some common tree types found throughout the state include white pine, red oak, sugar maple, red maple and Norway spruce."
The state of Maine is home to many different species of trees, but according to the forestry department, only about 11% of them are native. The majority of trees in Maine are non-native and were introduced for agricultural or ornamental purposes. Some common tree types found throughout the state include white pine, red oak, sugar maple, red maple and Norway spruce.Since Minnesota has burls, Maine must have them too? Curious logic. That's like saying Illinois has lots of prairie grass and California should too since they both have areas of the same latitude. Also curious that the only response from Maine is different than from everyone else that doesn't live there.
I must say that I've not been completely been all over the state of Maine. But in the mountains and sea shore you sure don't see any oaks. But since those other species are only 11% of all the trees in Maine, I can understand why I never saw any.
I checked Rare Woods USA. The only burl they have on their website are Thuya Burl, Masur Birch, and Wild Olive. Pretty sure those aren't native species in Maine, but they are burls.
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There was not anything about "curious logic" just the possibility if there is similar country, but apparently that is beyond your understanding.
My understanding is just fine. If you read the other link article, The state of Maine is home to many different species of trees, but according to the forestry department, only about 11% of them are native. The majority of trees in Maine are non-native and were introduced for agricultural or ornamental purposes. Some common tree types found throughout the state include white pine, red oak, sugar maple, red maple and Norway spruce. Does that sound like Minnesota?
I also know that the ground in Maine during the ice age was an ice sheet and other permanent ice, while Minnesota's ground was a combination of polar and alpine desert and temperate steppe grasslands. That makes a different in top soil and tree species. Same thing happened in Europe. They have a lesser number of hardwood tree species because of the glaciers.
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