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sbwertz

sbwertz

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Joined
May 11, 2010
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Location
Phoenix, AZ
I've been turning some very flashy pens from the knobs on the ends of polled mulberry trees (people cut off all the branches back to a few major limbs every year to keep the trees from getting too big and sprawling. As a result, the constant pruning produces burl-like knobs on the ends of the limbs.)

Yesterday I noticed a dead polled mulberry in a yard down the street. The house had been foreclosed and stood empty for about 3 years and the tree had died from lack of water. I stopped and talked to the new owner yesterday. The upshot is, I traded her the turquoise and mulberry pen I made yesterday for her tree....all of it. We took off about a third of the limbs last night and ran out of light. Cut up one of them this morning and the wood is beautiful. The trunk is only about a foot in diameter so I can take it down to just above ground level and make bowls from the heartwood.

Christmas in September.

Sharon
 
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DSC01316.JPG

This is about a third of the limbs from the tree

Here are the blanks I have already cut. I can rarely get longer than a 3" blank out of one of these burls

DSC01317.JPG


And here are some of the 3/4" slabs, ready to cut into blanks

DSC01320.JPG
 
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Sharon,

I think you did real good and you've got a lovely bunch of timber for turning but
the scar tissue formed when a branch is pruned is not a burl.
It's just that -- scar tissue. Please don't call 'em burls.
 
GaryMGg said:
Sharon,

I think you did real good and you've got a lovely bunch of timber for turning but
the scar tissue formed when a branch is pruned is not a burl.
It's just that -- scar tissue. Please don't call 'em burls.
Click to expand...

Yes, I realize that. In my initial post I specified that they were "burl-like knobs." In my captions I just shortened it to "burls" having already explained that they were not really burls.
 
Sharon,
I cut a small mulberry off my property a couple of years ago... it does have a tendency - or at least mine did - to crack... cutting into pen blanks may prevent that, but watch your bowl blanks... it's really nice wood and I like the color and grain of the wood...
 
I love mulberry its a very pretty wood.I have very large(26" at base,that's huge around my parts anyways) log in my back yard waiting its turn at the sawmill.Nice score and I think the home owner thinks they got a great deal as well.Victor
 
TellicoTurning said:
Sharon,
I cut a small mulberry off my property a couple of years ago... it does have a tendency - or at least mine did - to crack... cutting into pen blanks may prevent that, but watch your bowl blanks... it's really nice wood and I like the color and grain of the wood...
Click to expand...


Since this has been dead for about 3 years, I think it has done most all the cracking it is going to. But it is HARD. Turning a bowl is going to be an aerobic activity!
 
I would like some of this wood enough for several, maybe 6 pens, and a few bottle stoppers. I can do a pay pal or send you the money. Thank you Jerry 402-571-4665 or 402-943-6104 at 9011 Timberline Dr, Omaha NE 68152
 
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Sure thing, Jerry. It is still green, so it will have to dry before you can turn it. I will get some cut up this week and send it. PM me with your address.

Sharon
 
sbwertz said:
TellicoTurning said:
Sharon,
I cut a small mulberry off my property a couple of years ago... it does have a tendency - or at least mine did - to crack... cutting into pen blanks may prevent that, but watch your bowl blanks... it's really nice wood and I like the color and grain of the wood...
Click to expand...

Since this has been dead for about 3 years, I think it has done most all the cracking it is goi
ng to. But it is HARD. Turning a bowl is going to be an aerobic activity!
Click to expand...

sbwertz said:
Sure thing, Jerry. It is still green, so it will have to dry before you can turn it. I will get some cut up this week and send it. PM me with your address.

Sharon
Click to expand...

Can't be both, be careful as Mulberry WILL crack if not dried properly and the larger the "blank", the larger the cracks. :eek::wink:
 
This thread is an old thread that I linked to from a current thread to show the pictures. Someone accidentally replied to the old thread instead of the current one. This wood, in the pictures, is old wood.

The wood I got today, is green. See the thread SCORE! in casual conversations.

Sharon
 
I thought I was losing my mind.
First I see a thread about where's Dr. Strangefart, then I'm reading this and he's replying, and I'm replying BUT it's more than 2 years ago.....WTH?@!?!!!?
I think I need a drink.
:biggrin:

Still great wood! :smile:
 
Didn't mean to cause such confusion. I was just trying to avoid posting the same pictures in two different threads, so I referred to this thread in a current post.

Sharon
 
Can't be both, be careful as Mulberry WILL crack if not dried properly and the larger the "blank", the larger the cracks. :eek::wink:[/quote]


Actually, the straight grain mulberry will crack and split, but because of the nature of these knobs, they are all scar tissue and have no straight grain.

They can have voids (for infilling with turquoise, of course:biggrin:) but since the grain goes every whichaway, it doesn't seem to crack or split.

Sharon
 

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