If I remember correctly. Lew had asked the members here to post their burl wood. Here's a couple that I have. The first one is shown next to a 3" face plate and I wonder if it can be turned??? The last two photos show the another burl from different sides. Both are red oak!

Awesome looking pieces, Rick. Sure looks like they could all be turned. It's amazing how ugly they can be on the outside and beauty hidden inside!

Have to take pics of the uncut cherry I have in shop but here are a couple completed bowls. 

this was a commission. Lady in NOLA cut this from a tree in her yard. I could not see a way to turn without really cutting it up p and it had beautiful swirls under the bark. Turned a bit yo hollow and then power carved. I found it to have 3 ways to display. This is the one I like best. This one is live oak. 
 

Forgot about this one. It came apart and had to glue it back together so is a little thick. 
 

I call this one Jeremy’s Bowl as my oldest ga e me the burl he discovered in a workshop. This was only half of the burl with the tree min the middle. 

 

A friend gave me a gigantic cherry burl plus two more smaller but still good sized ones. I mad this bowl for him. Had no problem with bark coming off and it did not break.Just maybe I am getting better

Edited January 6Jan 6 by Gerald

11 minutes ago, Gerald said:

Have to take pics of the uncut cherry I have in shop but here are a couple completed bowls. 

this was a commission. Lady in NOLA cut this from a tree in her yard. I could not see a way to turn without really cutting it up p and it had beautiful swirls under the bark. Turned a bit yo hollow and then power carved. I found it to have 3 ways to display. This is the one I like best. This one is live oak. 
 

Forgot about this one. It came apart and had to glue it back together so is a little thick. 
 

I call this one Jeremy’s Bowl as my oldest ga e me the burl he discovered in a workshop. This was only half of the burl with the tree min the middle. 

 

A friend gave me a gigantic cherry burl plus two more smaller but still good sized ones. I mad this bowl for him. Had no problem with bark coming off and it did not break.Just maybe I am getting better

 

 

Gorgeous pieces, @Gerald

Burl #1 is turned and finished. I was afraid to make the walls any thinner because of the inclusions. My wife wanted the spigot left on... I can remove it any time. Finish is linseed oil.

That sure is beautiful!!

 

I think leaving the natural inclusions really accents the work of Mother Nature.

I leave mine a little thick also , especially when I have to glue it back together. Is it not funny that there are so many patterns in a burl?

I like the shape of it and for the thickness that's up to what a person likes. Nicely done.

Beautiful piece of art Rick. Well done.

I'm in the process of cutting down my big red oak burl into smaller, turnable, chunks of wood that will fit on my lathe(16"). I've used a screwed-in-place 2X4, to be able to hold things in place while I use a handsaw to take off the extra wood to balance the pieces. We'll see where this goes!

Burls cut down to manageable sizes. In order to have them fit the lathe, I had to use a hatchet to knock off the sharp corners. These things are HARD wood.This allowed them to spin without the corners clipping the banjo or tool rest. Things are still somewhat unbalanced but 10 minutes, with a roughing gouge, should smooth things out considerably. Now, for what lies within!!!

Understand I'm not an experienced turner, but didn't I pick up somewhere that a rouging gouge on a burl is bad juju??? just curious.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Understand I'm not an experienced turner, but didn't I pick up somewhere that a rouging gouge on a burl is bad juju??? just curious.

Bowl gouge???? The angles of the edges are just about the same.

Spindle roughing gouges are not for use on bowls. It was once called a roughing gouge but so many people used it on bowls the name was changed to reduce the chances of that.

The outside of the larger of the two burls is turned and I'll do the inside tomorrow. May the inclusions not cause me a problem.

1 hour ago, FrederickH said:

The outside of the larger of the two burls is turned and I'll do the inside tomorrow. May the inclusions not cause me a problem.

 

Love the shape!

Here's the parent of my burls. Taken down in June 2025.

 

Edited January 19Jan 19 by FrederickH

On 1/17/2026 at 2:46 PM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Understand I'm not an experienced turner, but didn't I pick up somewhere that a rouging gouge on a burl is bad juju??? just curious.

Thanks. I've used the roughing gouges on the outsides of the burls, not the insides. I'll use bowl gouges and scrapers for the insides.

Here's the progress on that large red oak burl. A piece of the spigot collapsed and the bowl was sent flying across the shop(held in place by a chuck). I cut off the spigot, planed a 3" flat on the bottom , and now am using  3" face plate to hold things in place. I'm also encountering motor problems with my lathe. The motor will shut down when I'm working on the inside of the bowl. Any suggestions as to why the motor is quitting on me? I'm able to restart motor after hitting the off button.

7 minutes ago, FrederickH said:

Any suggestions as to why the motor is quitting on me? I'm able to restart motor after hitting the off button.

Just guessing. Does it have open end frames? Maybe full of dust? Is that a magnetic power switch? If so perhaps it's full of dust too or wires have loosened on terminals causing it to cycle and that's why shutting off/ restart works.

 

Maybe @DuckSoupor @Artie can chime in ideas.