# FBE Burl Cutting Help



## Bigdrowdy1 (Aug 6, 2015)

This is some Curly Burly FBE with spalting , critter caves and voids. Need some insight into cutting up a FBE Burl for stabilizing. This came from @davduckman2010 and I am use to doing blanks but not cutting up the slabs myself. This has a lot of natural edge and some voids as well. I want to get the most out of it I can. The slab is roughly 16"x13"x 2".Any help would be greatly appreciated from those who cut these type materials up. No I wont send it too you for you to do and then you send it back to Duck! I might have been born recently but not yesterday. 





















Thanks for your help and advice. I will probably try and tackle this this weekend.

Rodney

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 3


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Aug 6, 2015)

My measurements I stated are off as you can tell by the tapes marking. Actually I cant remember things from yesterday!

Reactions: Funny 2


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## JR Custom Calls (Aug 6, 2015)

I would cut it with a saw

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 2


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Aug 6, 2015)

Well I guess that is a good starting point!


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## JR Custom Calls (Aug 6, 2015)

I suck at picking a way to cut. I just do it now. I've decided I'm never going to be completely happy with my decisions when I make cuts, and there are often surprises inside that would have changed my cuts had I known about them.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## DKMD (Aug 6, 2015)

What are you making with it?

I generally cut the largest blanks I can and then cut the scraps down for smaller blanks... Think quality not quantity.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 4


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## DavidDobbs (Aug 6, 2015)

Without it in hand it is a rough call.
I agree with both of them. Try to get what you want as in blank size. And the rest is bonus blanks.

That's why I burn wood.......so I can hide my mistakes.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1 | Funny 1


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## Mike1950 (Aug 6, 2015)

Just start cutting- sure as hell are going to get it done lookin at it. I would cut an 1 5/8- off of the straight side if you are looking for duck calls for a start. probably just continue cutting unless the wood tells different. I cut a lot of blocks- usually what determines how I cut is how can I cut a 15" block with a 12" cut capability.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Funny 1


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## manbuckwal (Aug 6, 2015)

If I were strictly going for figure ( this chunk has a ton of it, so I dont think you can go wrong) I would probably cut like this on this side. But like was already stated, hard to say for sure not having it in hand . 








If I were going for yield, I might make my first cuf along this void and work out toward the edge 




 


Lots of possiibilities ..........

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## Sprung (Aug 6, 2015)

My thoughts are the same as Tom's, and I'm glad to see someone else thought of it and illustrated it before I got to the bottom of the thread, because I'm too tired and lazy tonight to have made such illustrations.


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## GeorgeS (Aug 7, 2015)

I would start with a nicer beer, sit back and let the wood talk to me. Take legible beer notes on the wood as it talks then cut it in the morning after said beer is done talking to the wood! Honestly Tom gives great advice, I would listen to him.

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## justallan (Aug 7, 2015)

I feel both the pics that Tom posted are spot on and I also would make the cut in the second pic first to see where your voids, cracks and bark inclusions are.
On large pieces I generally cut right down the cracks and voids so I can better see where the better wood starts and go from there. This way I'm not cutting a certain size blank just to find out it has a major problem that I didn't see.
As Doc said, look at quality rather than quantity. Sometimes 3 jaw dropping blanks of one thing are worth well more than 1 pretty nice blank of another.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Kevin (Aug 7, 2015)

GeorgeS said:


> I would start with a nicer beer



That's a good point. When I drank beer I found that I could drink the really expensive stuff on a cheap beer budget. What I would do is drink the first 3 or 4 Lowenbrau Dark or one of my other favorites, then the next 12 could be PBR for all I cared because after the first few it all tastes pretty much the same anyway.

Reactions: Agree 6 | Great Post 1


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## GeorgeS (Aug 7, 2015)

@Kevin My wife laughs at me because I check the alcohol content before opening a bottle. Depending on what I'm doing one beer may be my limit. I shared a bottle of Imperial Stout with a buddy of mine at the beach that was 13.2% and about half way through a 750ml he said "man this beer is really kicking my ass". It wasn't until I checked the bottle that I realized why. I was on vacation, who cares!

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## Bigdrowdy1 (Aug 8, 2015)

OK so I took everybody's advice and set down with the and thought what the heck if better beer would help I figured liquor would be quicker. So I set and talked some turkey to see what I could figure out. So this morning I started cutting and this is what I came up with. The 2 longest blanks are 1 3/4" sq. x8 1/12. The others are 2"sq x6" down to 4". They have some side inclusions but should turn out without any problem. 














These Blanks will need to be cast because of the inclusions. They will make some cool looking calls I believe. I tried to not waste anything and found inclusion that were exposed. These blanks are 2"sq.x 6" and down to 4".










Everything was misted with water to show color and grain.
Hope these are acceptable @davduckman2010 . 
The last to pictures are pot blanks from the wormy area. They're 4"x4"x 1 1/8 or thicker. 1 blank has very little worm damage but should turn out.









This thang even though was dead started to check some so I had to do this this morning. Everything is in the oven drying for the next 24 hrs. Then I will start stabilizing It nerve racking for me to cut someone else's wood. If it mine that just a learning lesson if it's some one else's it's a screwup. I didn't post pictures but there is some pretty nice pen blanks coming from this as well. Now that this is over I might talk a little Turkey with my pot blanks!

Rodney

Reactions: Like 4 | EyeCandy! 4 | Funny 1


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Aug 8, 2015)

Thanks everyone for your advice and help.


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## manbuckwal (Aug 8, 2015)

Looks like you got quite a bit out of it Rodney . I didn't realize you were cutting it up for Dave lol .

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## davduckman2010 (Aug 8, 2015)

THOSE LOOK FANTASTIC RODNEY GREAT JOB

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## GeorgeS (Aug 9, 2015)

Nicely done sir and I'm not talkin Turkey!

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## Bigdrowdy1 (Aug 15, 2015)

@davduckman2010 well I finished stabilizing the blanks and here is how they turned out. Thirsty critters for sure over gallon of juice. I dyed a few with red dye. The pen blanks are not all real square as I was trying to use everything possible. I believe some are thin but can be used in slimlines. The wood is just cool as can be. Hope you like them. They will almost fill a MFRB full and I will get them in the mail next week and PM you a tracking number.

The first set of pictures are the call blanks and they have some awesome rays going through them along with everything else.













These blanks will need to be cast but have been stabilized and are ready to cast. These some look really awesome as the have live edges and worm holes going in all directions.









These are the 4 pot blanks as you can see the have eyes, curl, spalting and worm holes. They need cast as well because of the worm holes. I can 't wait to see these are they have been turned after they are casted.










and finally some pen blanks in clear and a few dyed right. These will be just as awesome as everything above I am sure.





Let me know what you think C&C welcome. Everything misted with water to show color and grain.

Rodney

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 6


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## Kevin (Aug 15, 2015)

Great job Rodney!

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## davduckman2010 (Aug 15, 2015)

absoultly awesome Rodney you did that chunk justice. feel free to keep what you need out of them great job thanks my friend dave

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## GeorgeS (Aug 15, 2015)

You did a great job with that chunk of wood sir!

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## ironman123 (Aug 15, 2015)

Good going Rodney.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## NYWoodturner (Aug 16, 2015)

Wow - You did very well Rodney! Those are amazing.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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