cutting/harvesting burls?

[sargey]

what's the best way to protect the tree if you cut a burl off of the side of it? i fancy a fancy noggin.

cheers, and.

[Ed]

Is it even ok to harvest a burl from a still living tree? I would have thought it better to get one from a recently felled tree.... ask a local tree surgeon to keep an eye out ;-)

:-)
Ed

[Tantalus]

there are several kinds of burls

some trees like elm and lime have large numbers of shoots every year coming out the same place , these burls tend to be live and if you remove one it will damage the tree, specially as they go deep into the centre

then there are bits that occur higher up in branches and tend to look like crows nests often in birch trees
you can lop off the offending branch and help yourself to these without doing too much damage, these i have heard called " tree cancers"
exactly what they are i am not sure

lastly burls caused by larger side branches that have died and broken off near the stem only to become overgrown by the tree stem
these will often go right to the heart of the tree and although sometimes they can have nice grain , sometimes all you will get is a rotted or at least very dry stick smothered with rings
i would leave these on a living tree as they will generally take too much out of the tree

keep an eye out for elm trees, they have lovely burls and are often standing tho dead due to dutch elm
this wood if the tree has been dead a while will be nicely seasoned all ready for attacking with a bushman or chainsaw

as for how to stop spreading dutch elm i believe the bark and outer layers should be burned
tho in the uk this is a lot like bolting the stable door after the horse has gone
dutch elm is already rampant

HTH
Tant

[Jamie]

Hey Sargey,

The 'noggins' as you know are formed by the tree as a protection against attack and taking one from a live tree opens it up to attack once again and that noggin could take a long time to re-establish enough to protect the tree.

I would suggest getting in contact with a local woodsman or some such and explain what you're looking for and ask if they can keep one for you during the normal course of their work.

All the best

[sargey]

i was thinking in terms of a lump off a birch tree. i'll have a look round, i know where there're a couple of fallen trees. it's all on a patch of scrubby wasteland.

cheers, and.

[alick]

I was looking at some burls on a fallen birch last night - How big do you think they should be (diameter) to give a worthwhile piece of timber - given that the bark tends to be pretty thick over a burl ?

And what would you cut them off with ? I was thinking a BIG bowsaw worked from edge to centre would probably be best.