Osage Burls

[osage outlaw]

I've been looking for osage burls for the last few years.  I've only found one small burl the size of a softball.  This morning I felt like enjoying the warm weather so I headed out to bring in all of our ladder stands.  I wondered through the woods on my way to the stands looking for shed antlers.  I find myself looking at trees instead of the ground.  Probably why I don't find many sheds.  I ended up finding 5 osage burls today.  Two of them were still living so I left them to grow some more.  The other three were on dead standing trees so I went ahead and cut them.  I'm hoping they have some cool grain patterns inside that I can use for knife scales.


The 2 I left growing










The big one looked like a giant snake head coming out of the tree.




The one on the right was on a limb.  It almost wraps around the entire trunk.
















The back of the snake head burl has some good rings starting to show.   




I stopped and got a picture of one of my favorite osage trees on my property.  It looks kind of spooky.

[Danzn Bar]

love the pictures Clint....can't wait to see what's inside those burls...
What's that I see in the background in the last pic ....an old deer stand?
Cool pic's.  love your property...enjoyed the time I was there, my head was spinning looking at all of the sites...hope to get a chance to be there again.
DBar

[Chippintuff]

I have been told that burl walnut was cut from the stumps of the trees including some from below the surface. Has anybody checked out osage stumps?

WA

[osage outlaw]

Thanks Bill.  That is a 2 seater deer stand.  It was a great opening day of archery season doe stand before we put our house in the field.  Now it overlooks our backyard.  You are welcome here anytime.  I want to have all you guys back here again sometime. 


Chippintuff,  I've seen a lot of osage root balls and I've never seen a burl on them.  Often the trees get to heavy for the roots to support them in our soft soil and they slowly fall.  I'm going to cut some roots to see what kind of grain patterns are inside.  I think they will make some good looking knife scales. 

[Badly Bent]

Those should make some handsome knife scales Clint. Have you ever thought of hollowing out one to make a wooden bowl?  I'd like to see one of those from osage.

[osage outlaw]

I'm not capable of making a bowl out of them...yet.  Maybe one day I'll start messing with a lathe.

[Spotted Dog]

 I understand a burl in a walnut stump is called crotch wood. Makes beautiful gun stocks.
That is a scary looking tree .

[stickbender]

     SCALES for a knife?!!!!   Sacrilege!!!!  A bowl!!! A vase, so many other options that a knife handle.  Maybe a scrap here and there, but not the whole burl for knife handles! That tree is not scary, it is awesome!  Talk nice to it, and it will bring a Big buck next year for you.   You need to get some druid pictures next to it.
Or put a garden gnome next to it.

                                   Wayne

                             

[Dakota Kid]

You might be better off squaring them up and selling or trading them. Wood turners go nuts for burls in a good quality hardwood. You can use the cut off pieces for knife scales. I know of an area where almost every black cherry tree for miles has at least one burl the size of a softball. I assume it was caused by some outbreak, be it fungal, insect, or unknown. I usually bring a couple home when I'm down that way. The driftwood on the beach however has been my go to for finding figured grain wood and there's a new inventory after every storm.

I like the old grizzled tree. It almost looks like its made of braided staves. Bring it the guts from the next time you clean some fish, one of a tree's favorite gifts.

[MWirwicki]

Cool pics, Clintster.  Can't wait to see what's inside of them burls.  Bet they'd make a beautiful knife.

[wizardgoat]

That's some nice wood, would make some really sweet looking furniture.
That tree look like a troll lives in it

[JacksonCash]

As I posted in the last osage burl thread, I'd be happy to take any scraps for pen blanks. I need a bit more bowl practice before I attempt a burl bowl though.

[Chippintuff]

How do any of you go about cutting a burl into usable blanks? Once upon a time I took a short (2 feet long) log of black walnut to several sawmills before I found one that would give it a try, and I had to tell him how to do it. These were family size sawmills. If I found a burl, I wouldn't go to that much trouble again.

WA

[osage outlaw]

J-Cash, I'll see what I get out of them and let you know.  What dimensions do you need for a pen blank?

Chippintuff, I plan on slicing it up on my bandsaw.  I'll have to cut the big one in half with a chainsaw to get it to fit on the band saw.

[Stringman]

I turned these this weekend from some of my burls. Cool stuff, hope  yours come out this nice.