Resawing burls?

[Andrew]

Okay, so this isnt specifically instrument related, but Ive been asking around about this for a while without any good answers so Ill try here.. Plus if the result is good it will become instrument related.

Basically about 8 years ago I rescued a couple burls from the stump of a large sugar (rock) maple across the street before the stump grinder could get its teeth into them, and theyve been sitting in my reasonably dry garage since. Id like to do something with them soonish, but Im not certain about how to slice them up. What Id like to know is if there is a difference in the grain pattern of a burl depending on how you cut it, i.e.: on a tangent to the centre of the tree (as if to get quarter sawn lumber from a normal log), or in a slab sawn manner, or somewhere in between, or should I just cut it so as to render the largest pieces. Obviously burls have no specific grain direction, but I have a feeling there must be some difference, at least in the appearance of the wood. Also I realize they should have been resawn before drying, but thats moot now.

Anyone here have experience with this or some info that might be useful? Also Ill take pics if thatll help.

[Thomas James]

Have you tried Youtube?  I just got a new 14" band saw and have been cruising through videos. There are some good videos that touch on this subject. Cheers. Tom

[Andrew]

I just had a look and unfortunately could only find videos where the burls being resawn had already been cut into slabs. I also saw a bunch of bandsaws that made me green with envy lol. Ill be doing my resawing with my chainsaw equipped with a rip chain. I have access to a 14" bandsaw but its not up to much resawing, even if it were big enough to handle the larger burl (its rougly two feet in diameter by three feet long). Also I dont really feel like lifting it that high lol.

[Ned Knepp]

I think it might be more in your favor to use your chain saw to cut the burl into manageable pieces then find  another way to get the wood cut into plates.  You're going to turn a lot of your material into sawdust if you try to resaw the whole thing  with a chainsaw. Resaw bandsaw blades are usually in the neighborhood of .025" thick or even a bit less and NARROW chain saw blades kerfs are 10 to 20 time this thick.  If you're going to resaw for instrument use, you may ultimately loose half of your material to sawdust by the time you smooth and flatten thing to usable dimensions. 

 One option may be to use your chainsaw to cut the burl into manageable blocks then look around your area for a shop that can resaw them for you. If the burl contains good material, there's a chance that the extra material could be sold to recoup at least part of your investment in paying for their services. 

[Andrew]

Yes that is basically the plan Ned, I failed to mention that. Also, the material lost to flattening and squaring a piece resawn completely with a chainsaw would add up even further, especially since I wont be using one of those fancy chainsaw fences.

[Ned Knepp]

I'm actually glad to hear that, Andrew. A chainsaw is one of a very short list of power tools that truly scare me.  

[Andrew]

Theyre not so bad if you know what techniques are safe and what is risky, same as any other tool. Of course mines not one of those beastly huge things, but still.

[Mark Fogleman]

If you're able to get it slabbed with the chainsaw and 4 squared with a jointer and planer, you can resaw with a tablesaw and a standard carpenter's saw.  Run the slab on edge against a tall rip fence on a tablesaw and create a kerf on both long edges. Raise the blade ~1" per cut until the max height is reached.  Take a carpenter's saw and use the kerfs as a blade guide to re-saw your way through the slab. You'll need to plane the bump in the middle even with the edges.  If you don't have a tablesaw you can accomplish the same result with a kerfing plane and Carpenter's saw.  Tom Fidgen has a excellent explanation on how to make a kerfing saw here: http://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/the-kerfing-plane-part-one.html

[Russell Vance]

Hi Andrew,

8 years of air drying should be OK, they are burls after all and some collapse ain't no biggy.  If I may offer a leaf from the Recovery trade - advertise the burl in the "woodies news" around your state/county/city and co-partner the cutting with someone who has the heavy gear and knowledge to slice up your burl - they get half you get half and you get a professional clean cut set of burls.  

Yes, the grain orientation, if anything remains of it) will follow the tree roughly but this depends on how the burl is attached oriented to the original trunk.  

Remember to wax/paint/tape the exposed faces as soon as they come off the saw regardless of how you slice them.  Continue to age them in a dark, draught free corner (your wifes/girlfriends en-suite is perfect) - also, some dudes like to throw a bucket of green sawdust over them to slow the final drying process (works better with green wood).   But wrapping them in plastic seems popular as well.

Rusty.