What does naturally finished buckeye burl look like?

[bradleyheathhays]

I have my first turning project coming up where I'm considering using maple burl vs. buckeye burl. I'm going for neutral colors and I think the Maple would work well, but the dark bluish? colors I'm seeing on some of the buckeye burl on ebay look intriguing as well.

Does anyone have a picture of finished buckeye burl that started from a piece that looked something like this? ...

 

[wimkluck]

I think you have a hard time to turn it without stabilization. When it's stabelized it becomes darker.

 

[bradleyheathhays]

Yes, thank you for that info!

 

[bradleyheathhays]

I'm seeing a good number of Maple burl caps for sale on ebay that are described as green. What's the best way to quickly dry one of these that's say 6" x 9" x 3" thick? Or is there a good way to quickly dry these things? I've see microwaving for 30 sec at a time for many times. I've also seen the idea to soak the piece in 100% alcohol for about a week, which makes it dry out much faster

 

[wimkluck]

I cutter the maple to sizes. Most of the time penblanks and put them in the oven. Temperature 105 Celsius. Measured with a bbq temp.
For how long? Put a blank on a scale and see how many grams it is. After an hour you do it again. And so on.

 

[derekdd]

Most guys I see on YT who are stabilizing and or dying burls use a small toaster oven and bake the wood at 200 F for a few hours checking with either a moisture meter or scale. Once they hit a low moisture point, into zip lock baggies or tightly wrapped in plastic to keep them from drawing in moisture again until ready to stabilize.

Don't want to put them in Cactus Juice or the like hot as heat triggers the resin to set.

Good luck and be sure and post what you come up with.

 

[wimkluck]

You can not use a moisture meter. The ones I know of here in europe do not measure under 5% And you need a lower%.
The lower scale is for stone, plaster etc.