Any ideas of what to do these little pine burls?

[MountainGaurdian]

I have a mature pine tree around 38 to 40 inches diameter between my garden my sewer pond and one of my pond dams.  I am not sure what is attacking it, but it has hundreds and hundreds of these little 3-4 inch up 6-8 inch burls growing on the branches.  In the past I just considered them a pain as I was throwing 40 or 50 burled branches out of my garden each year.  

 

With my recent interest in lathe work I noticed that people specifically looking for burls for lathing due to the unique grain and pattern of the wood.  I went and collected maybe 50 or 60 of these burls up from beside the garden and under the tree and hauled them to the shop thinking I might try to turn them at some point.  I have been thinking about it for the last 3 days or so and I honestly find myself stymied as to how to go about doing anything with them.  They aren't going to make bowls cups or vases they simply aren't big enough for such things.  Not only that but I really am not sure how to go about putting them on the lathe to begin with.  I am assuming that almost certainly this will be a faceplate item but still trying to work out how to go about doing that yet.

 

I went ahead and cut one in half with the chopsaw earlier and realized by looking at the grain pattern that if want to show the unusual grain pattern I need to lathe the object perpendicular to the branch.  To mount to a faceplate I thought I may be able to cut a small flat spot on the rounded burl backside to mount the burl.  So far this is where I am....

 

 

Anyone have any ideas or advice?....   Let me rephrase that.. any "good" ideas or advice... lol...

[HandyDan]

You need a small turning.  Might make good looking Christmas ornaments,  Might turn eggs or balls with them.  You could slice some up and make pendants.  I'm sure they will have some nice character to them.  You have enough to slice some up in different directions to see where the grain looks best.

Edited November 26, 2019 by HandyDan

[Larry Buskirk]

...Might be a good candidate for using a spur drive center.

[MountainGaurdian]

I went ahead and turned it a bit with the faceplate and this is what I got...  I think these burls may have some potential...

 

[Gene Howe]

Nice looking little bowls, Ed.

[Larry Buskirk]

WoW Very Nice! 

[MountainGaurdian]

After turning the little burl I got to thinking about this one hanging around upstairs.  Not sure what it is exactly but it is certainly big and heavy...  lol...  I am nowhere near the knowledge or skill level to do anything with this yet, but someday....  

 

[JimM]

Beautiful!

Judging from your thumb, are they 3-4" in diameter?

Jim

[MountainGaurdian]

The small burls are about 3 to 4 inches in diameter, the bigger ones about 6 to 8 inches in diameter and the bigger ones are more football shaped than circular most of them.

 

Ohhhh wait, you meant the bowl/cup thing, it is exactly 3 inches in diameter and 1 9/16 inches tall.  And it is all the same thing just different views of it.

Edited November 27, 2019 by MountainGaurdian

[MountainGaurdian]

The wife wants me to make a top for this and shape the edges like an acorn and put an acorn stem on it as a handle.  Trying to think exactly "how" I would go about doing such a thing.

 

Was thinking I could put the bottom of the lid to the face plate and then tool in with a flat bit from the side and leave the central piece the same diameter as the inside of the first piece.  Then as I get toward the middle of the next burl I can leave an umbrella shape facing the faceplate.  Tool out the top almost smooth leaving some irregularities.  Then cut off the center piece attached to the faceplate and run the edges on the small table top scroll saw to get the acorn top shape and then do a little bit of hand carving.  I can carve a small acorn stem top out of a separate piece of wood and drill and glue that in as a handle set at a bit of an angle to the top maybe.  Then color the top a slightly darker color.  Still working it out in my head, to see if there are going to be any hidden surprises with that... lol...

[Gerald]

For a box you need to flatten the top of this piece. Make a top with the very to in the chuck or mount (faceplate) and set the tenon which goes inside the box a friction fit or if not you can use a paper towel to hold it tight. Now you say where is this going....

 

After turning the inside of the top fit it tightly to the bottom and put the box on the lathe between centers. Now you can shape the acorn as you think it should look. I have never done a acorn but you are just turning a box in a acorn shape.

[Cal]

Pretty cool looking little bowl Ed.  Good luck with the top

[Ron Altier]

 Thanks for posting.........I've never seen a pine burl. I did try to turn a 100 year old Yellow pine  once, it came from an old railway station. Big mistake, it was still sticky with pine sap, even that old. I think that these could turn down into a Christmas tree ornament. If you  cut and piece some of the more interesting burls together. It would be fun trying. However I know little about pine and perhaps the sap would not make for good glue joints.

[MountainGaurdian]

The wife wants me to make a top for this and shape the edges like an acorn and put an acorn stem on it as a handle.  Trying to think exactly "how" I would go about doing such a thing.

 

Was thinking I could put the bottom of the lid to the face plate and then tool in with a flat bit from the side and leave the central piece the same diameter as the inside of the first piece.  Then as I get toward the middle of the next burl I can leave an umbrella shape facing the faceplate.  Tool out the top almost smooth leaving some irregularities.  Then cut off the center piece attached to the faceplate and run the edges on the small table top scroll saw to get the acorn top shape and then do a little bit of hand carving.  I can carve a small acorn stem top out of a separate piece of wood and drill and glue that in as a handle set at a bit of an angle to the top maybe.  Then color the top a slightly darker color.  Still working it out in my head, to see if there are going to be any hidden surprises with that... lol...

2 hours ago, Ron Altier said:

 Thanks for posting.........I've never seen a pine burl. I did try to turn a 100 year old Yellow pine  once, it came from an old railway station. Big mistake, it was still sticky with pine sap, even that old. I think that these could turn down into a Christmas tree ornament. If you  cut and piece some of the more interesting burls together. It would be fun trying. However I know little about pine and perhaps the sap would not make for good glue joints.

Yes pine can be terribly sappy, the Scots pine I have growing here on the farm is so bad that as I am milling it you can see the sap literally "pouring out the side trailing the cutting blade.  After a day of milling that stuff I am literally covered from head to toe in sap.  The only thing I have ever found with even close to that much sap is a spruce that I cut up from the front yard.

 

These pine burls do not have a huge amount of pitch in them, though you can smell pitch strongly in them as you are turning and when they are done.  They remind me of a little hand carved frankincense box that I bought at a market in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, with the crazy and lasting strong scent of the wood.  I will have to experiment with different ideas on these, I certainly have no shortage of the things.

[FlGatorwood]

As suggested before, I would use a drive spur and turn between centers.  I think they would make fantastic ornaments.  I think you are on the right track and one day the magic will happen.  In the meantime, we are cheering you on.  We are looking for that one-of-a-kind of result.