My Next Project - a huge Birch root burl

[Brmorgan]

I dug this monster out of the ground two years ago out behind my dad's house. It was growing on top of a pile of rocks, but it was still a real b!tch of a job. Dad and I pretty much dug around it and chopped all the radial roots off, then got a Jack-All and a 15-ton railroad jack under it and jacked it up off of the bottom roots we couldn't get to. Actually worked pretty well. It looks like a bomb went off in the middle of the woods now though. Getting it onto the trailer behind the quad, and up the hills to dad's place, wasn't any easier. Took the winch to get it up the one hill. I figure it's the better part of 500lb.

I got my 395/28" and dog to stand in to give an idea of size.

Took the pressure washer to it to get rid of all the moss and dirt.

I don't know what these birch root balls look like farther south, but the ones we get in the Paper Birches up here are virtually solid bird's-eye. I've made a couple bowls and spoons from smaller softball-sized ones.

 

[Brmorgan]

Fortunately flipping it on its side wasn't that difficult. Lots of dry, hard dirt caked to the bottom of it, along with quite a few stones including one big one (top center).

Took a while, but the pressure washer got the job done. I think I got all the mud and rocks out, but who knows what it might have completely grown around.I'm pretty much resigned to destroying at least one chain cutting this one in half. I have an old ripping chain with a couple broken cutters (spike) that I'd use for it.

I was hoping to make a coffee table or something similar out of this, so I plan on cutting the bottom off, perpendicular to the trunks coming out. Those aren't rocks at the front edge of the base, just dirty root ends.

So, any tips on how to rig something up to split this? My longest bars are 33", and this thing is close to 4' wide. I was thinking of building a 2X6 box around it and securing it to the bottom to-be-cut-off part of the stump, and then running my mini-mill around it, making a ring cut. Provided that I end up with something usable, I'll be using a router sled with a bottom-cutting bowl bit to "plane" it down flat.

 

[excess650]

You can expect that it will eat your chain, but your idea of the 2x6 box and mini mill sounds good. I'll be curious to see what is inside that mess.

 

[goblin]

Find yourself an old two man hand saw and have a go at it the old-fashioned way.

 

[woodshop]

Looks like you found a treasure there, can't wait to see the thing opened up. I too like the 2x6 box idea, coming from all sides with your big bar. You can always clean it up dead flat later with the box and sliding router method. Nice find, looks like it was worth the effort to get it out of the ground and back to base.

 

[ironman_gq]

hurry up and cut that thing open!!!:greenchainsaw:

 

[Brmorgan]

Find yourself an old two man hand saw and have a go at it the old-fashioned way.

Well, my dad does have an antique one-man 5' whipsaw that we used to use up at the cottage in Ontario to buck firewood years ago, but I don't feel like putting myself through that. Depending on the weather this Friday, I might give it a crack then. I do have the bottom 20 feet of a 30" Douglas Fir on the ground down a back road near here though, and I'd like to get it at least canted so I can bring it back to the house before snowfall, else I risk someone snagging it for firewood. The stump I can do in the basement if I have to, so it might have to wait a while.

One question though - what can I do to prevent the cut face from cracking and checking? I was thinking of melting a coating of paraffin canning wax onto it with my heat gun. This burl wood can be very prone to cracking, and being that it's several inches thick it'll take some time to dry out. It does help that it's been inside my basement for the last year sitting near the woodstove. It's noticeably lighter now than it was 2 years ago.

 

[AndyR]

I'm no expert, but I think you would want to rough-cut, seal, and let it sit for a couple-few years. Then maybe any surface cracks will be planed out with the router planer...I think I've heard of others using melted parrafin. Seems like that would be better than anchorseal.

If you get any nice looking scraps from it, I would seal those too. Knifemakers love that stuff. They can be small pieces too. Birch burl is popular with Scandi/Finnish-style puukko makers.

Here's a pic of one I did a couple years ago with curly maple and maple burl for the handle...

 

[Brmorgan]

I'm no expert, but I think you would want to rough-cut, seal, and let it sit for a couple-few years. Then maybe any surface cracks will be planed out with the router planer...I think I've heard of others using melted parrafin. Seems like that would be better than anchorseal.

If you get any nice looking scraps from it, I would seal those too. Knifemakers love that stuff. They can be small pieces too. Birch burl is popular with Scandi/Finnish-style puukko makers.

Here's a pic of one I did a couple years ago with curly maple and maple burl for the handle...

Well, I've used paraffin for small pieces destined for the lathe, etc. but I was just wondering about how well it would work on something this large. I definitely plan on keeping any scrap pieces. I'd like to get into pen turning, and I have made a couple handles for scribing knives from spalted birch. I'd also like to get into knifemaking a bit too. Those are some pretty nice pieces you've done there. I have a virtually unlimited supply of free hardened steel, from worn out sawblades, planer knives, chipper knives, and all sorts of stuff like that from the mill I work at, so I'm not worried about buggering a few before I get it right.