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Maple burls

Started by gilnv, December 04, 2006, 07:21:14 PM

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gilnv

Hi all,
Does anyone know if there is a market for the big knots or burls that occassionally occur in Maple trees? I thin my forest a little each year and sell the pulp, sawlogs and veneer of the hard maple, soft red maple, and yellow birch the western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
If so, any info on how the burls would be sold, for example would I just cut below and above the burls or would they want an 8 foot log with the burl in it?
Thanks for any info, Gil.

Ironwood

  Gil,

Good luck on the burls. I tried to sell some really high quality cherry at very reasonable prices and found no takers. Reid

                 
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

metalspinner

Gilnv,
Welcome to the Forum!

If you want to sell direct, Woodturning clubs are a good start.  Also, retail outlets like Woodcraft may take things on consignment.  Our local store let's you set your price and you just negotiate with the store owner on a percentage of the sale.

Ebay is a possibility, but I don't like the format very much.

As far as how to process it... As large as you can handle would be a good starting place.  If you cut things into smalller pieces, that would limit the creative possibilities of that particular piece of wood.  Turners like things thick - 3"-4" is a good starting point, and as wide as possible.

Whole logs with plenty of burl would be really nice as slabs.  Custom furniture makers would be very interested in that.  An ad in a magazine like Fine Woodworking will give the target customer there.  Or any of the "Specialty" wood dealers in the back of that magazine could be interested as a wholesale customer to you.
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

JimBuis

Definitely woodturners.  If there are any schools around with Industrial Arts programs still going on, they are a possible customer.

I am in Tokyo at a school.  I'd love to get a couple of burls here.  What are you selling them for and will you ship by air overseas?  Depending upon the price and whether or not you'll ship, I'd be interested.

I'd be using them for pen blanks.

Jim
Jim Buis                             Peterson 10" WPF swingmill

gilnv


Thanks for the replies, I'll talk it over with the logger that I help out on my property each afternoon.
Hopefully, I've posted an image of the hard maple burl here. There is also a pic of some hard maple curl that isn't veneer or even nice sawlogs but I've never noticed curl in my hard maple, only in my soft maple or yellow birch.
Gil.

low_48

Woodturners will buy just the burl section. Cut above and below the burl a few inches. They willl want the burls in the wet. Most will say the wetter the better. There are several local chapters of the Association of American Woodturner up your way. There is a contact phone number for each chapter. I bet you will have some takers from them. I would make a trip up there myself if it was about 6 months from now. Of course we have lots of our own snow this year. It looks about like your photo here in Central IL.

http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/members.pl?submit=Chapter+List#MI

Burls are usually sold by the pound, around $3 to $5 a pound is probably in the ballpark. The top photo shows a really nice burl, I can't see them on the bottom photo.

Welcome to the group :)

beenthere

Welcome to the forum. Don't find your images in your gallery, which would be great if you would (Forum rules, ya know).  :)  And you can post them larger like 400 pixels on the long side. Easier to see the detail.

One of our members, Burlkraft, likes to get ahold of burls. He does a lot with them, as do many of the members.

south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

gilnv

We are still checking around this part of Michigan but the burls don't seem to be worth much here so in a month or so I may wax up the ends and keep them awhile.
They each probably weigh a couple hundred pounds so shipping them wouldn't be profitable. If I had time to get them sawed somewhere it might be possible but for now we are working on other things.
I added pictures to my gallery including a curly soft maple log. It is a nice logand photo  that will be sold later this month, maybe to violin maker.
Thanks for the replies, Gil.

Phorester


I get questions like this every couple years or so.  A storm will come through and blow a bunch of trees down in people's yards and they think they're sitting on a gold mine to sell a burl-laden tree to woodworkers.  #1, there is suddenly a bunch of those trees on the market, #2, a woodworker can buy one tree and saw enough pieces out of it for 5 years worth of projects.

There is a demand here for those, but sometimes a woodworker will just offer to clean it up and haul all the debris from the tree out of the yard for nothing and the homeowner is happy, after checking out how much it will cost him to get a tree service company to do it.

turningfool

being a wood turner ,i can never find enough maple burls..gnarly and hard to cut but well worth the effort..I'd take them in a minute!

turningfool

sound to me that if the weather holds i might have to come and visit you..whats a 14 hour drive to a burl crazy woodturner like me anyway ;D

Riles

turningfool, you're going to fit in well here. Welcome to the forum.
Knowledge is good -- Faber College

Furby

It's only 9.5 hours of road time to Ontonagon, if that's what you are talking about. ;)

Mooseherder

Forbes magazine December issue on page 79 has an article of how gnarly, knotted burl top tables are becoming very popular with the studio furniture movement. One from George Nakashima is featured. Looks okay, but have seen alot nicer stuff made from forum members who posted their pictures here. One of his coffee tables sold for 180,000 at Sollo Rago in October. He had sold  similiar work for 10,200 in 2001.
The featured masterpiece( :D) called the Arlyn table is expected to go for 500,000 at Sotheby's this month.  :o

Phorester


Now we see the kind of money you woodturners make  ;D

Burlkraft

That's true....... ;D ;D ;D

As a matter of fact the Brinks truck is just backing in the driveway now..... :D :D :D :D
Why not just 1 pain free day?

turningfool

find a buyer for those burls yet?

pasbuild

I have loggers from the Baraga, Marquette and Newberry areas GIVE me the burls they come across because there is no market for them up here, there is also no market for the finished product up here either. :(
If it can't be nailed or glued then screw it

JimBuis

I'd be interested in knowing how much one of you burl owners would charge me for one with shipping to Tokyo included.  No, I'm not joking. I'd love to get my hands on one or two and would not mind paying for it.

Jim
Jim Buis                             Peterson 10" WPF swingmill

turningfool

no market huh?..burls are usually one of a kinds woods,you never know what the next cut will bring..one of the reasons i like them so much,I love being surprised,of the hundred s of items i have made..i dare say i have given the majority of them away..just to bring a smile to someones face..and besides! turnings fun! :(

gilnv

We've been busy selling pulp, sawlogs and veneer to different places and taking bids on a curly soft maple veneer. We have some low-grade very curly hard maple but it may not sell.
So we will probably keep the burls since we thought they might be worth 1 or 2 or 3 hundred each. Since they don't seem to be worth that, I'll probably keep them and get around to getting them sawn in the next year or two when I have time (I need to build a house first). I did that last year with a curly soft maple and make various little things out of it.
Maybe I'll build a burl table and sell it for 180k or invite you all over for tea and beers. Please use the coasters.
Regards, Gil.

Ironwood

Gil,

I am with you. I let the cherry ones I had go for pennies. The guy had just bought a lathe from me and hadn't haggled so he got a good deal (I told him so, just so he knew I knew). Shame noone seems to want to spend money on them. I DUNNO. Big leaf maple from out west is half the density and hence 1/2 the cost, and then there are the IMPORTED burls. Yes, that's right imported. YOI!



They don't get any better with density, pin knot, and fully encased. This guy is going to be in heaven. Least they're gone.

                               Reid
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

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