I scavenged the pictured wood from a weeping cherry being cut down. The trunk is roughly 14" in dia. and a section of it is very gnarly. Could that be burl? If so, should I give it any special treatment?
That is the section where the weeping cherry was grafted to a non-weeping trunk to give it some straight trunk before it started to weep. The best way to see if it has burl figure is to cut into it. I've had my eye on some of those trees on my drive home from work. post more photos when you get a look at the wood, please.
It also looks like some branches were taken off and healed over. You can get some interesting grain, but usually there is also some rot from the old dead branch. Always worth some "exploratory surgery". [] My first cut would be on the centerline of the two small branches on top.