My neighbour finally dug the apple stump out of the ground. This is about 2ft in diameter and weighs about 160 lb. I've heard several ways to dry out the burled wood without cracking, but I've never tried one before.
Has anyone ever done a dry out on a stump burl without it cracking?
Should get some nice turnings out of this thing.
P
I have sawed up a fair amount for my woodturnings, as well as for small veneer hobby type projects.
It takes a very long time for this stuff to dry out properly.
My personal suggestion would be to cut it into the rough size of blocks you want to turn or to use for other projects, the cover with a couple of coats of this stuff:
As will most turners, I prefer to turn at least slightly green so I don't try to get down to furniture/fine woodworking dryness of 8 - 10% moisture.
A good tip would be that when you are turning, keep your sealer where you can reach it and seal it again if you have to leave it. That burl wood never dries straight and true and can knot itself up and crack badly in less than an hour. And the freshly exposed cut surfaces will most likely be wet causing a great deal of distortion in a short time, even if you are just stopping for lunch.
When I have wet, unstable wood on the lathe and need to stop, I always bury the piece faceplate and all in a garbage bag full of wet shavings created from shaping the piece. This method is a tremendous help in stabilizing the wood while you are still working.
I have seen some really gorgeous pieces turned from apple wood. I hope you post some pics!
Robert
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