Weeping willow burl?'s

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bedangerous

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Nov 21, 2013
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Fayetteville, NY
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During a storm the other night two large Weeping Willow trees probably at least 75 years old split down the road from me. I was lucky to trade some pens to the tree people for 3 burls today. One burl is at least 25 lbs. I sealed them and was wondering as I am new to this how long it will take for me to cut some blanks from them. Also will they need to be stabilized.

What are people's experiences working with this wood.

Thanks,
Mitch
 
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robutacion

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Aug 6, 2009
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Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
View attachment 163383

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During a storm the other night two large Weeping Willow trees probably at least 75 years old split down the road from me. I was lucky to trade some pens to the tree people for 3 burls today. One burl is at least 25 lbs. I sealed them and was wondering as I am new to this how long it will take for me to cut some blanks from them. Also will they need to be stabilized.

What are people's experiences working with this wood.

Thanks,
Mitch

G'day Mitch

From the pics, the wood/burl looks pretty old and I'm wondering if the trees were dead or still alive when they fell..?

I would suggest you cut it into small chunks and or blanks types you would want to use, cut them slight oversized if the wood is still green, that will dry the wood faster if you have a moisture meter make a reading and let us know if not, let us know about the wood condition dry/green...!

When dry/free of moisture, that wood will stabilise very well and produce magnificent blanks, you can use some dyes with the CJ (cactus juice) or clear, either would be fine.

Cheers
George
 

bedangerous

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Fayetteville, NY
The trees were very alive just split in high winds. At the edge of a parking lot and took out a light so the owners did not want to risk the liability of an accident at their store. The trees were green and leafed out.
Thanks,
Mitch


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Boss302

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Feb 4, 2006
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San Juan Bautista, CA.
Nice score! The best way to know when the wood is "dry" is to invest in a moisture meter. I've been using an inexpensive pin model for 20 years and view it as an invaluable tool. You can dry small blanks in the microwave but do this with short drying times. Congrats!
 

robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
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Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
The trees were very alive just split in high winds. At the edge of a parking lot and took out a light so the owners did not want to risk the liability of an accident at their store. The trees were green and leafed out.
Thanks,
Mitch


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OK, still, I suggest you cut them into small pieces, they would be easy to handle and store not mentioning the drying time. If the stored wood location is away from the weather and in a well-ventilated place, the smaller wood chunks will dry in about 6 months, the smaller they are the faster they will dry.

You can also consider dry some in the oven for using/turning soon and for that and in the case of pen blanks, cut them at 1" square and put them in a fan forced oven (better and faster drying ovens) weight one blanks before it goes in the oven, let them stay at no more than 60° celsius for at least 24 hours remove the marked/weighed blank and check weight, make a note of that and put it back in the oven for another 24 hours, repeat the weight process, keep doing that until the blank stops losing weight, that will mean it is ready to be worked on.

Don't seal any of the wood chunks you want to put in the oven.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

PS: This wood is of soft nature therefore, it will dry faster than hardwoods.

Cheers
George
 
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