Willow Burl?

[Paul Downes]

Anyone ever turn willow burl? I was driveing the back roads and saw 2 stumps in a guys yard with burls all over them and discovered that he wants them both removed. One is about 5' high x 3' dia. and the other about 4' x 2.5' Dia. I thought for a second that they might be boxelder burl but on closer inspection I had to lower my excitment down to mere willow.

[Chris Barton]

Hi Paul,

The only drawback I see is that willow tends to be so wet. I would expect a lot of distortion and wood movement.

[George Tokarev]

Turns like any other burl, except is seems to have more brittle bark components to peck out than nicer stuff like maple or cherry. Sort of like black ash. Green is the way to minimize the difference. Random grain means random direction as it dries, so if sound, it'll retain pretty well the shape you gave it, only smaller. If it has long grain or bark pockets and cracks included, things get less predictible. Reinforce them prior to drying with CA and fills.

Willow stinks. My family would rather I turned elm than willow, which gives you an idea of how bad it can get.

[Curt Fuller]

I'd sure grab it up and try it. Willow is stringy and fuzzy like aspen and cottonwood when it's straight grained. But burl usually changes that in most woods because the grain is going every which way. It will probably be some great looking wood.