# Willow burl questions



## JoshfromPA (Jun 6, 2019)

Anyone have much experience with willow burl? I gained access to a stump thats about 6' tall and about 55 gallon drum size in diameter. The entire stump is essentially a big burl. 

I have only seen it from 50 yards away so I dont know what kind of shape its in as far as if its punky or not. The tree blew over in a storm last year so I hope at least some of it is still salvageable. 

I did a google search and searched here but I'm having trouble finding info on willow specifically. 

Assuming the wood isnt punky , is willow burl any good to work with? Pretty? Obviously every burl is different but from what ive seen over the years, willow seems to be especially prone to rot so intuition is telling me that theres a good chance the burls are going to be barky, likely punky etc. 

Anyone offer any insight? I will be going to take a look at it one of the evenings soon but with its location it will take a bit of work to get a saw to where its at etc, I dont want to waste time on it .....if I would be wasting time on it lol!!


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## Mr. Peet (Jun 6, 2019)

What kind of willow? Most of the burl like bumps on 'Black willow' are actually gulls, but in the craft world, its all burl. Most of the time willow "burls" are onion burls, lacking eyes but having a sunburst of chatoyance. The weeping species I've cut can have growth ring separation, and shrinkage is high. 

Get going and beat the rot race....

Reactions: Informative 2


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## Bob Ireland (Jun 6, 2019)

Not sure how you plan on using it but if you plan on turning it, expect it to be stringy with a fair amount of tear out. Also expect it to warp greatly and thus end up with some tears around any type of grain change. It can create interesting art pieces but difficult for utility pieces. But nothing to lose except time so try it.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1 | Useful 1


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## Tim Carter (Jun 6, 2019)

If it turns out that it is an onion type burl and the wood itself is a very light tan or yellow, you might want to try dying the piece. I have used the technique on spruce burls and the grain really pops!

Reactions: Informative 1


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## gman2431 (Jun 7, 2019)

Tim Carter said:


> If it turns out that it is an onion type burl and the wood itself is a very light tan or yellow, you might want to try dying the piece. I have used the technique on spruce burls and the grain really pops!



Are you the one who was turning the willow burls and dying them? Someone here awhile back was and they looked great. 

A member here also used to sell em for like a buck a pound and he had alot of em. I personally wouldn't mind turning some one day to try it out.


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## Tim Carter (Jun 7, 2019)

No, they were spruce burls. One of the WB members had a huge pile of them and ended up selling them all before I could get some. Here's what one of them looked like.

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 3


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## DKMD (Jun 7, 2019)

Someone sent me a chunk several years back... pretty stuff but turned like cottonwood(soft and stringy). The stuff I got smelled terrible, but I think it was growing near a horse barn. Worth the effort in my opinion.


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## JoshfromPA (Jun 9, 2019)

Thank you all for the responses. I'm gonna swing by there as soon as I get a chance and checknit out a little better. Hopefully its not all rotted.

As a zide note, that spruce burl is absolutely beautiful! I'm on my phone so the effect may be because of that but I had to look really close at it for a minute to be able to tell what was what, the way the reflection from the deck boards runs into the waves of the grain ,had my brain disagreeing with my eyes there for a minute lol!!


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## norman vandyke (Jul 17, 2019)

Any update on this? I've run across some very small willow burl(eye burl) and it was gorgeous! Bright orange and full of figure. It was a bunch of them about fist sized growing up a deadfallen diamond willow tree. The "tree" only got to about 10" in diameter which is very common with diamond willow. I don't know what species of willow becomes diamond willow or if it's unique to a specific one but I also don't know which species it is. Lol


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## JoshfromPA (Jul 18, 2019)

Norman, I actually did go check it out. Looked great...until I touched it. Damn thing was a mix between sawdust and rot...all held together by a nice layer of bark lol. 

I guess the bark stayed on it so well because of it being all burl knots. Was quite a disappointment. 

That all being said, I did look it iver pretty good out of curiosity and it loomed like it would have been neat if it hadnt been ruined.


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## norman vandyke (Jul 18, 2019)

JoshfromPA said:


> Norman, I actually did go check it out. Looked great...until I touched it. Damn thing was a mix between sawdust and rot...all held together by a nice layer of bark lol.
> 
> I guess the bark stayed on it so well because of it being all burl knots. Was quite a disappointment.
> 
> That all being said, I did look it iver pretty good out of curiosity and it loomed like it would have been neat if it hadnt been ruined.


I've run into a lot of box elder burl that ends up that way. It's a damn shame. I wonder if a large chunk rotted, not eaten, could be transported for stabilization. Assuming it's not full of big holes and didn't crack while drying, it could work.


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