Small Red Mallee Burl Gloat

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JimB

JimB

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Mar 18, 2008
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West Henrietta, NY, USA.
I won this at a Sorby Tool demonstation that was sponsored by Rockler. I've never even seen anything like it so now that I have it home I have no idea what to do with it. It's 4 inches thick at the thickest point. The red color doesn't show well in the picture and it is covered with a good coat of wax. What do you suggest? Bowls? Blanks? Send it to all of you?

Seriously though, what do I do and how do I do it? I do have a band saw.
 

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I'd make a picture frame and pen blanks with the cut outs. But that's just me.

very nice show.
 
JimB said:
Send it to all of you?
Click to expand...

Do you need my address? :wink:

On second thought, I can save you the trouble of packing and shipping it. My wife's relatives live near Rochester and will be coming down in a couple of weeks. I'll just have them swing by and pick it up :biggrin:
 
That is a fantastic hunk of wood you got there . I love Red Mallee burl , it makes beautiful pens .
A piece that size you could get some nice bowl and several pen blanks from the leftovers and cut offs , just plan it right .
 
Pen Maker - I think I'll need to pass on the photo frame

Stan - Sorry, but I don't think I can trust the USPS service with it. I would give it to your relatives but how can I REALLY be sure they are your relatives?:eek:

Butch - Thanks, it really is a great piece. You have also spotted my problem. I've never had to plan for cutting up a piece. I either have pen blanks or green logs for bowls. Never anything like this. Hey, but I'm not complaining:).
 
Jim , I would try to cut at least 2 or 3 6" bowl blanks from the thickest part and then use the rest for pen blanks . Just measure and cut out a few circles from a piece of cardboard then lay the cutouts on the burl to try and figure out how to maximize the cuts . Don't forget , any scraps that are left over can be cut up and cast as worthless wood as well . Waste not , want not .
 
keithkarl2007 said:
I'd turn one of those bowls where it resembles a drop of water hitting water, seen one in someone's gallery yesterday, can't remember who's but it looked really well and some of the outside of the burl was at the top of the splash
Click to expand...

That sounds like an awesome idea!

Jim: If your lathe is big enough, make a bowl out of it. If you're not sure what you want it to look like, check out the AAW website and look through the galleries there. Some beautiful works of art there for sure. Mallee burl caps like that are perfect for natural edge bowls.
 
I vote for part bowl and Part blanks

Bowls waste soooo much of that great wood that I would rather see many great pens vs 1 great bowl...
 
I'm going to vote for a bowl and pen blanks. That way, when you make the pens you will have a nice bowl to put them in for the photo you're going do display here.

Marc
 
Thanks for the ideas. At this point I really don't know what I'll do. The good news is I do have a lathe that can handle it. Right now I'm leaning towards a bowl and hopefully a bunch of blanks. I don't plan to do anything right away since I want to make the most of it. I'll also look at the AAW website to get some ideas.

Thanks for the help!
 
Here is an excellent link for "How to Suggestions" on working this type wood. I might suggest you get a big cup of coffee and look over his entire site as there are many amazing sights to be looked at here. His wood selection on the main page is breathtaking as to the size of some of these burls from "down under!"

http://www.australianburls.com/Tips.htm

I have had the pleasure of working just such a piece of this wood. I flattened a foot on the "spiked edge" and ground - carefully - the inside out and made a bowl for my mother. Finished it with some BLO from what I can remember ... it was a dark fire red afterwards. Flatten the entire 'top' prior to grinding out. The wood is hard to say the least so be prepared to work with the piece for some time.

As far as getting the wax off - if the entire burl is covered I would boil it off in BOILING water. Skim off the wax from the water and remove the burl. It will dry in a very short time as long as you don't let it sit in the water for too long. Just get all the wax off as best as possible.

If you do grind the interior out be very careful to not grins through the dark red burl portion. Take your time and measure frequently using a thickness gauge. A quarter inch - half inch would be better - thick interior looks absolutely amazing when oiled.

Round over the top edge just a bit. :biggrin:
 
Fred - Thanks for the Link and the tips. I didn't even know how to get the wax off so you can imagine how puzzled I am about what to actually do with the piece.

I hope I can do justice to this piece of wood.
 
blanks blanks and more blanks. Cut it all up into pen blanks, I say. Get as many full blanks as you can, and the rest can be cast into alumilite for worthless castings. That wouldn't waste a single bit of that beautiful wood.:biggrin:
 
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