# Big leaf



## Mike1950 (Jul 13, 2021)

We were on the road again until late last night. Trailer full of big leaf maple burl. Had to split, it was too wide to fit in 6' trailer. Headed to mill Sunday.

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 3 | Way Cool 6


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## Nature Man (Jul 13, 2021)

THAT is a beautiful sight! Chuck

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## T. Ben (Jul 13, 2021)



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## Wildthings (Jul 13, 2021)

I wanna see them on the tree. I bet it's a sight to behold!!

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## Mike1950 (Jul 13, 2021)

Wildthings said:


> I wanna see them on the tree. I bet it's a sight to behold!!


Big one are right at ground level just a big round base.

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## Mike1950 (Jul 13, 2021)

That one was 136" across

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## Karl_TN (Jul 13, 2021)

I see there’s still gold to be found in those hills. Good gosh that’s one mighty nice load that most of us Easterners can only dream about. I’ve never seen a burl tree anywhere like the one you posted in these parts.

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## Mike1950 (Jul 13, 2021)

Karl_TN said:


> I see there’s still gold to be found in those hills. Good gosh that’s one mighty nice load that most of us Easterners can only dream about. I’ve never seen a burl tree anywhere like the one you posted in these parts.


There is a lot of maple burl. Probably better than half goes to chipper and 25% rots in woods


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## Tom Smart (Jul 13, 2021)

Mike1950 said:


> There is a lot of maple burl. Probably better than half goes to chipper and 25% rots in woods


Holy crap! Where is the burl police? Have they been de-funded?

Reactions: Funny 4


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## Karl_TN (Jul 13, 2021)

Mike1950 said:


> There is a lot of maple burl. Probably better than half goes to chipper and 25% rots in woods


I thought overseas buyers were buying up all they could get there hands on. Did COVID-19 stop this?

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mike1950 (Jul 14, 2021)

Karl_TN said:


> I thought overseas buyers were buying up all they could get there hands on. Did COVID-19 stop this?


absolutely not. I have thought about my wild guess. guess adjustment. 60% rots. 25% chipper and 15% harvested. 
Last year probably most of it burnt. this year probably the same.
Biggest burls are in ground. Half exposed-or less. If you have a 30" maple in your yard with a 5' root burl and determine tree has to go. you have 2 options. 1. remove tree and cut stump low and leave burl. thus maybe recovering 20-40% of burl. To do this option you need a tree cutter that cooperates with wood buyer. and a buyer that is prompt. Most homeowners just want tree and cutters gone. probably less than 30 % of these get salvaged. Or stump gets removed by equipment. you get full burl- very low %.
2. the whole tree gets turned into firewood. stump/burl gets stump grinder treatment and buried. Most get this.
in the woods- loggers are there to get Fir and cedar the big leaf are just pesky problem trees. most get burnt. or left.
3. cutting and selling burl is like any other biz- Hard work and 95% fail. Why? most do not have all the pieces. May have the access to burl- the hardwork but not self motivated- or personality of a rabid pit bull or way too many spendy bad habits or......... and in the end once the thrill and glitter of starting and building biz wears off even if you are very successful you have to transform into a business person of which definition is a worker with long hours and huge responsibility. I have found this definition applies to almost no one cutting burls in woods... Thus most of the resource rots one way or another. My picture of load- those are 500-1000+lb pieces. they came from a 10,000 plus lb log.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 2


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## Mike1950 (Jul 14, 2021)

Karl_TN said:


> I thought overseas buyers were buying up all they could get there hands on. Did COVID-19 stop this?


and most buyers here and overseas do not want whole burl. Too much waste and guessing. hard to ship giant balls. you are only guessing until cut open. wet wood packed into container and shipped to Korea in summer would look like a science experiment gone bad by the time it gets there. so it has to be harvested- cut dried graded packed and shipped. process means up to 75% waste 25% end product for figured wood and much smaller end %% for super figured wood. There is a reason for 5AAAAA quilted Booked 21x7.5x.25 selling for 2-$300 retail.


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## DLJeffs (Jul 14, 2021)

One of those "if it were easy everyone would do it" things, huh?

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Mike1950 (Jul 14, 2021)

DLJeffs said:


> One of those "if it were easy everyone would do it" things, huh?


like many things- looks like glorious occupation until you do it for a couple years. I have mentored quite a few young men. Kathie calls it my calling. A young man that we gave a place to stay when he was 18 whom now is in mid 40's asked me what I thought of him buying a dump truck and backhoe and going into Biz. I told him it is a good time to do that and all the plus and minus but last question -Dave, do you have a passion for that kind of work? Cause if you do not the money will not be enough to make you successful. a few days later he was best man at sons wedding. He got me aside and thanked me. He had thought of what I said and talked over with his wife. He did not have passion for it. IMO most important piece is the passion- it powers you through the obstacles...

Reactions: Agree 1 | Great Post 3


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## phinds (Jul 14, 2021)

Mike1950 said:


> IMO most important piece is the passion- it powers you through the obstacles...


In this and in EVERYTHING in life.

Reactions: Agree 4


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## Karl_TN (Jul 14, 2021)

Mike1950 said:


> like many things- looks like glorious occupation until you do it for a couple years. I have mentored quite a few young men. Kathie calls it my calling. A young man that we gave a place to stay when he was 18 whom now is in mid 40's asked me what I thought of him buying a dump truck and backhoe and going into Biz. I told him it is a good time to do that and all the plus and minus but last question -Dave, do you have a passion for that kind of work? Cause if you do not the money will not be enough to make you successful. a few days later he was best man at sons wedding. He got me aside and thanked me. He had thought of what I said and talked over with his wife. He did not have passion for it. IMO most important piece is the passion- it powers you through the obstacles...


That’s some great advice, but passion doesn’t always pay the bills either. A good reason to have some knowledgeable friends like Mike to give you a reality check.

Still what horror thinking about all the beautiful burl going to waste for lack someone with the right passion and equipment In the area. Feels like I’m reading a horror story reading these posts.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mike1950 (Jul 14, 2021)

Karl_TN said:


> That’s some great advice, but passion doesn’t always pay the bills either. A good reason to have some knowledgeable friends like Mike to give you a reality check.
> 
> Still what horror thinking about all the beautiful burl going to waste for lack someone with the right passion and equipment In the area. Feels like I’m reading a horror story reading these posts.


Big leaf is the cheapest burl out there. Why? Extremely abundant. Big leaf is a weed. Grows in rain gutters, cracks in cement, everywhere and anywhere on coast. Long growing season fertile soil and lots of rain. No worries. Supply and demand. If supply goes does or demand goes up, price goes up and more will be salvaged. Just plain economics.


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## Mike1950 (Jul 16, 2021)

Headed to mill sunday. Pressure Washed and added a buckeye. Not in picture. Washing in 85 degree weather is much better than 40.

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## Mike1950 (Jul 18, 2021)

Mill

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Jul 18, 2021)

Nice ( could we get one with more eyes?)

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## Mike Hill (Jul 19, 2021)

Aye, Aye Captain! There's 2 more!

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Jul 23, 2021)

How much of this stump was rotten beyond being able to market it as spalted?

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## Mike1950 (Jul 24, 2021)

2feathers Creative Making said:


> How much of this stump was rotten beyond being able to market it as spalted?


much less than I would have guessed. most big leaf this big are hollow inside. this one sat on ground quite a while. If I were to guess before cuting-30-50% would have been possible. less than 10% was reality. and one block 30x30x20 that had no figure. pretty amazing tree. some beautiful giant slabs of solid spalted burl..

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Jul 24, 2021)

Glad for ya. I was looking at the mill pictures and noticed the heavy spalt. That was why I asked. It's rare that I run up on heavy spalt without at least some portion that is just potting soil.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Mike1950 (Jul 24, 2021)

2feathers Creative Making said:


> Glad for ya. I was looking at the mill pictures and noticed the heavy spalt. That was why I asked. It's rare that I run up on heavy spalt without at least some portion that is just potting soil.


Yes you are right. Mill guy and I commented on how small waste pile was. My guess is tree was dead or dying. Quite a bit of it is dry or close.

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## Arn213 (Jul 24, 2021)

You guys can have all the sections with eyes. To me the more interesting maple are the spalted ones because it has “more character” where you have patches of browns, tans, yellows, greys, etc. with contrasting black ink lines. It is a bonus when you see curl figuring.

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Jul 24, 2021)

You



Mean



Like



This?




Just had to ask which kind you were talking about

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## Mike1950 (Jul 24, 2021)

My favorite is what I am looking at at the time. 42x22x2

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## Arn213 (Jul 24, 2021)

^That one is really nice Mike- that is what I am talking about! Reminds me a lot of a particular granite color and texture less the black line (you add that and it looks like a particular Italian marble). That will make a wonderful bass top as there are more surface area which will highlight all the different color patches……………oh forget that, a round diameter end table with that burl will fool anybody that it appears to be stone!

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## Mike1950 (Jul 24, 2021)

Arn213 said:


> ^That one is really nice Mike- that is what I am talking about! Reminds me a lot of a particular granite color and texture less the black line (you add that and it looks like a particular Italian marble). That will make a wonderful bass top as there are more surface area which will highlight all the different color patches……………oh forget that, a round diameter end table with that burl will fool anybody that it appears to be stone!


Stack of a dozen. This probably smallest. I never care what they make out of them.


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## Arn213 (Jul 24, 2021)

Mike1950 said:


> Stack of a dozen. This probably smallest. I never care what they make out of them.


You should- look up fine furniture made by Biedermeier and Ruhlmann. It is like an ideal pattern for many period furniture pieces- executive desk is what I am seeing for top surface and drawers. I can see a conference table or a special reception counter in a lobby (like a hotel). Let’s go above that- I can see a whole wall cladded with this properly lit. Of course it would be sliced to 1/16” or 1/8” thickness sequenced matched glued to a plywood substrate.

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Jul 24, 2021)

I like both aspects, the cutting and the making. I dont get to do much of either...


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## Mike1950 (Jul 24, 2021)

Arn213 said:


> You should- look up fine furniture made by Biedermeier and Ruhlmann. It is like an ideal pattern for many period furniture pieces- executive desk is what I am seeing for top surface and drawers. I can see a conference table or a special reception counter in a lobby (like a hotel). Let’s go above that- I can see a whole wall cladded with this properly lit. Of course it would be sliced to 1/16” or 1/8” thickness sequenced matched glued to a plywood substrate.


I have no trouble selling quality burl. And expansion is sorta not in my equation. Going to stay where I am at size wise.

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## Arn213 (Jul 24, 2021)

Mike1950 said:


> I have no trouble selling quality burl. And expansion is sorta not in my equation. Going to stay where I am at size wise.


I am a Designer by trade and I am kind of programmed visually to see the potential in a space and raw materials. I see the quality of the burl you have and you have sequential cuts. You have to “bark” at a fine furniture company that has access to or have an in-house facility to properly process these in veneer format. The furniture houses are not the only place, but specialty architectural paneling that does assembly halls, restaurants, hospitality, hotels, restaurants, resorts, boutiques, etc.

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## Arn213 (Jul 24, 2021)

This is what I see on that piece and book-matching it will render a beautiful round table with a pedestal base.

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 1


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## Arn213 (Jul 24, 2021)

Well Mike let me put this in for you and basically continuation from my last post of #34 & #35. I look for piece I can have multiple use and I see furniture and lots of guitar/bass tops out of these. Sorry the sketch is poor as I did it with my finger on the phone………..but you get the idea and if you post these on your site for luthiers, it will give them a visual for reference. I would pull a measuring tape out north and south, east and west for size…….

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Creative 1


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## Mike1950 (Jul 24, 2021)

Arn213 said:


> Well Mike let me put this in for you and basically continuation from my last post of #34 & #35. I look for piece I can have multiple use and I see furniture and lots of guitar/bass tops out of these. Sorry the sketch is poor as I did it with my finger on the phone………..but you get the idea and if you post these on your site for luthiers, it will give them a visual for reference. I would pull a measuring tape out north and south, east and west for size…….
> 
> View attachment 213000


I have no site. I post on instagram a little and FB mostly. But will think about it-Thank You


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