briar burl

[wisemanpipes]

holy shit.... i bought a 6 lbs briar burl a couple days ago. it looked great and is nice. i know the whole shpeel on how to boil it and dry it. ive never been to a cutter before although that would be so cool i cant describe. i now appreciate the talents the guys like mimmo et al have at cutting up the briar burls. its quite amazing to get nice cuts and follow grain. so back to the story.

i bought this burl as kind of a side project. i have plenty of briar ready but needed something to occupy me because im an antsy freak. so i split er down the middle with a recipricating saw and to my suprise and an ohhh shit, thers a large crack running the opposite way throught the piece. it looks salvagable so i continue cutting. i get the bad boy into 4 smaller blocks. i take the pieces to my bandsaw that isnt very good and throw a new blade on. shes cutting away and then stops and grumble for a second. the rest of the cut was slower than swimming through chocolate pudding..?!? upon further inspection i cut through a large rock that the burl had grown around and "swallowed". this completely ruined the blade of course but found this very interesting. turns out its common, so i wish i knew that before hand.
any way i got it all cut up and theyre cooking on the coleman stove as i type. i need to let it age for 6 monthes in a damp place i guess then air dry.

just posting this to ask you if anyone else has tried this and if its worth the time. i also want to know if anyone has been to a cutter and if so how big are the burls the cut. i will probablty do this again because 1. its super cheap. the burl cost like 20 bucks. 2. if i get 2 blocks out of it its worth it. 3. i can cut it into whatever dimension i please. 4. i have a future supply of briar 5. its sooooooo fun

FWIW i thought it was loads of fun and would recommend it as a side project. i got about 8 - 9 blocks depending if i want to cut up a large plateau or not. hopefully none crack in the drying process. wanted to share with everyone.
evan

[DMI]

I did this a few years ago but I'll be damned if I can find the briar now, put it somewhere out of the way to dry. The last time I remember seeing it it was wearing a lovely white fur coat which is probably not a good sign.

David.

[pipeguy]

the burl you got Im guessing was already dry( several years old or more perhaps) Burls are cut green then boiled and dried. When the burl is leftto dry by itself it cracks. Boiling a dreid burl is a waste of time. Unless I got this all wrong with the kind of burl you got.

[Sasquatch]

the burl you got Im guessing was already dry( several years old or more perhaps) Burls are cut green then boiled and dried. When the burl is leftto dry by itself it cracks. Boiling a dreid burl is a waste of time. Unless I got this all wrong with the kind of burl you got.

Agreed.

[wisemanpipes]

the burl you got Im guessing was already dry( several years old or more perhaps) Burls are cut green then boiled and dried. When the burl is leftto dry by itself it cracks. Boiling a dreid burl is a waste of time. Unless I got this all wrong with the kind of burl you got.

you know i think your right. i was confused as to why it was cracked. if it was boiled and dried years ago do you think all the sap or tanin or whatever its called was removed. is she good to smoke i mean. can i buy that burl and then just cut my own blocks and immmediately shape bowls?
the grain is pretty magnificent on the blocks it yielded. to bad i wasted 15 bucks on propane to keep the water boiling for 18 hours.
oh and btw david that is a good sign. means you need to take it out of moist drying?! and slowly get it to a lower humidity.

i kinda wish i had the real deal now id love to get a green burl. anyone no where they sell em in canada lol

anyway it was really fun thats why i posted it.
cheers
evan

[Sasquatch]

My suspicion is that the burl was deemed defective, too small, polluted, whatever, a long, long time ago, and never treated at all except thrown in a corner to dry. The fact that you hit a rock in cutting it bears out this assumption.

I'd say cut pipes from it, see how it tastes. But in terms of making pipes for sale, you are way better off leaving the cutting and curing in the hands of pros.

[wisemanpipes]

i would never sell pipes from which i cut, but it would be fun to smoke something you cut from a tree root and not a preshaped block. thanks todd