red oak burl

[Scott Austin]

Hello everyone. The other day a friend of mine who is a logger brought me an enormous red oak burl. It is green of course. I am kind of lost on a course of action to take here. He didn't just bring the burl, it is a 3' section of the log. I have not had much luck with turning red oak bowls. Seems like no matter what steps I take to dry them they split. Not crack, split. Anyways, I hate to waste a burl of this size, but I'm not sure how I need to handle it. Should I rough turn bowls out of it and let them dry? Should I just store the whole chunk and let it dry a bit? Should I saw it up into blanks and let it dry? I don't know. Any of you who have experience with wet red oak I'd love some input. Thanks

 

[Dennis Ford]

I have successfully turned several pieces from wet red oak. The trick is to get it turned while it is wet and not let it dry until after it is turned. Burl is a little more forgiving that straight grain. Trying to dry thick straight grained red oak is asking for trouble. It is sometimes possible to dry large pieces of red oak burl but will take years and there will be lots of checks.
My recommendation is to cut and turn it as soon as possible and then carefully control the drying rate.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I agree with Dennis. Turn it green. watch it while it is drying and use CA to stop any cracks.

 

[Scott Austin]

thanks guys. I would say the tree was probably cut 7-10 days ago, so I will start butchering it up and turning it this weekend. Thanks for the advice

 

[Ian Thorn]

Hi google Ron Kent and have a look at the way he dose it,works for me,

Cheers Ian

 

[MichaelMouse]

thanks guys. I would say the tree was probably cut 7-10 days ago, so I will start butchering it up and turning it this weekend. Thanks for the advice

Cover everything in the shop that's made of iron. Any stray shaving takes only a couple hours for major rust. Your hands can be returned to their normal color with some lemon juice, your tools with a WD40 wipe.