Harvesting Burl Wood

[Alan Rutherford]

I'm not clear on what's there. If it's a chunk of wood not attached to a tree and not buried in the ground, you can haul it off. I don't believe olive trees grow huge. If it's part of a root (sounds like it) then I would start with a pick axe and shovel and excavate around it. Two reaons: First to clear the dirt so you do less damage to whatever tool you use. More important: most root balls get small very quickly and you might find that by severing a few root branches, the problem is greatly reduced. You might find you could remove it with a bow saw.

As for an axe: a sharp axe in the hands of someone who knows how to use it is a marvelous tool but will still destroy the wood in a 90-degree cut. It will be damaged by the dirt and if I had to choose between digging dirt with a chainsaw or one of my carefully-sharpened axes, it would not be an easy choice.

Is chainsawing lead a good idea? ....

Only if you tell the rental shop what you intend to do. Seriously - with a good dust mask and eye protection I would do it again. It left over 100 pounds of chips which I swept up and kept. I doubt that any of the dust was light enough to go anywhere This was in a boatyard where they applied bottom paint containing mercury and did all kinds of things which you probably cannot do today, but I don't think the lead made things any different.

[Judson Green]

An Axe might be useful to fell the tree but to make boards out of a burl I don't think it'll be very helpful.

Could one rive a root burl?

My guess is that the wood, of nearly any species, in this location (root and or burl) would not lend itself to riving.

Matthew, if you got it out of the ground (with picks, shovels, axe and might) could you hand saw it with an aggressive rip saw? How big is this?

[Yusuke Heller]

If you're going to invest in a chainsaw don't even look at the electrics. You'll be glad you went with a gas motor. And the higher cc's the better within budget. Try to get the most power that you can afford. You'll be glad you did when you come across that awesome downed tree that's going to need it. The other reason for higher cc's... If you're looking to try and hunt for burls... why stop there? Burls are great when you come across one every now and then. More likely than not though will be finding nice downed trees without burls. Highly figured logs pay dollars. And slabbing such logs can be a fairly lucrative side job. If you're going to slab logs you'll want the power and you'll need to be set up with a ripping chain. Most likely the blade that comes with any chainsaw is going to be for cross cutting. That would be fine for slabbing off a burl, but not for slabbing the length of a log.

And as others have mentioned... If you're going to cut into a root ball with a chainsaw... be prepared to have A LOT of down time sitting there resharpening your chain. Try not to ever hit the ground with the blade running. When you see small sparks flying, you'll know you're hitting dirt/ small rocks (hell maybe big ones). You'll see how fast you can dull a chain or completely trash it.

Typically if you're going to cut up a root, you dig it out and haul it back to wherever your shop or house is... Get yourself a power washer and spray the hell out of it to try and get as much of the mud/rocks out of the roots. This is very dirty work and expect to be covered in mud. But once the root is prepped you'll be able to rip through it with far less damage to your chain than you would otherwise incur by just going right at it uncleaned.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thanks Yushuke!

I finally found some time today to take a pic. this is the forementioned root section PC190365 (1280x960).jpg

[Alan Rutherford]

I can see from the pictures you posted what you hope is in this piece. I have 2 small olive-wood camels which I bought in Jerusalem a long time ago. They were being made on an "assembly line" of about 6 people sitting around a table. They have no surface finish but were delicately carved and are very nice. My wife gets them out with the seasonal stuff this month every year.

A chainsaw doesn't look like the solution to that problem unless that's all you have - and it's not. I hope you'll let us know what you do.

[Judson Green]

Matthew, have you cut this open yet?

[Matthew N. Masail]

I can see from the pictures you posted what you hope is in this piece. I have 2 small olive-wood camels which I bought in Jerusalem a long time ago. They were being made on an "assembly line" of about 6 people sitting around a table. They have no surface finish but were delicately carved and are very nice. My wife gets them out with the seasonal stuff this month every year.

A chainsaw doesn't look like the solution to that problem unless that's all you have - and it's not. I hope you'll let us know what you do.

Hi Alan, I will indeed update you guys but I'm not really sure what to do with it. I don't have anything at the moment but I'm leaning towards a chainsaw and checking other options like a friend with a mill or somthing, then I'd collect a larg amount of stuff and do it all at once. the bottom picture is a small log I cut up with my small bandsaw. but the other piece is burl, so yes I'm hoping it will be something beautiful!

[Matthew N. Masail]

Matthew, have you cut this open yet?

Not yet.... wish I had though