A large oak limb fell on my Model A. My arch nemesis Sleepyhead suggested I make something out of the wood. I found this large burl.
I'd like to make some kind of ornament for my radiator cap.
That's all I know.
A large oak limb fell on my Model A. My arch nemesis Sleepyhead suggested I make something out of the wood. I found this large burl.
I'd like to make some kind of ornament for my radiator cap.
That's all I know.
Maybe a rasp and a lot of sandpaper?
In reply to hobiercr (FS)No! No! No!
keep a rasp or sandpaper as far away from the burls as possible.!
I realize you have to cut and shape the burl to make something useful but once it's roughed out use hand scrapers to smooth it. 
Because most burls are roughly roundish shapes Think along the bowl idea.
it also tends to make nice picture frames But the mill that cuts it for you has to really want to spend time so you can extract the best. 
I once acquired a giant white oak tree that was pure burl. Well the sawmill acquired it. It came in on a semi trailer and it was the only tree where they normally get 10-15 trees on.
way too big to fit on their mill so they quartered it with chainsaws. The big 6 foot long bar chainsaw. And even that didn't cut the tree 1/4 of the way through. So they took the forks of the loader, forced them into the saw cut and split it into 1/4's.
I got 9 6"x 6" 10 timbers out of it plus 10 22" wide x 10' long planks. and all sorts of delightful fun pieces.
TAKE YOUR TIME! Air dry it, it will take more than the 1 year per inch thickness that is standard. But that will allow time for the creative process to work.
Use extremely sharp cutting tools when do your finishing work and burls being burls will quickly dull your tools, so learn how to sharpen. There is a process called scary sharp. It involves a piece of glass, motor oil, emery paper down to at least 2000 grit and your ability to make fixtures. (It's actually pretty simple) best of all its cheap and fast.
You are gonna need to have it dry before you work it. I usually coat the cut face with yellow wood glue and then let it sit for a year, this has the moisture leave through the bark instead of end grain which helps prevent checking.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Glue or old paint, grease, anything to seal up the ends. But it really slows the drying process
Normal air drying is 1 inch per year. With burls more than double that. And if you seal up the ends double it again.
In reply to frenchyd :
Which is why I don't work with wood. Lol.
Thanks for the correction and the education.
Stampie, Dad has a full wood shop at his place. Once it is dried we can probably work something out to go do something with it.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Sorry yesterday evening got busy. I'll doi the glue thing. Might be best to cut it down more to size before? My thought is a flying goddess type thing but I know I don't have the skills to do that. I may look for a local wood carver to make it for me.
In reply to Stampie (FS) :
Save as much as you can. Even the original straight grain wood. I've seen wonderful pieces created where the straight grain works into the burl making birds in flight, or the trail of a dragon etc.
It's the eye of the artist. That person can easily remove unneeded wood but you can't add it back without it looking like Oops!
Like anything, carving takes practice. You have a good while before the wood is ready to cut, why not work on your skills?
Back in high school I used to whittle while sitting with a large shallow basket in my lap to catch all the shavings.
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