[firehawkmph]

My godson stopped by today with a nice piece of elm burl. He's a tree cutter and occasionally brings me a chunk of nice wood. I told him to watch out for burls and he did. It's 14" x 16" x 8" tall. I sealed the cut face and set it aside for now. Looks like a nice piece.
Mike Hawkins

 

[firehawkmph]

Here's the other pic. For some reason, my iPad won't let me attach both of them to the first post.
Mike Hawkins

 

[BigJoe16]

Your godson's a fairy? Only kidding how long are you going to let it sit?

 

[cuerodoc]

Wow! Looks like an interesting piece of wood there. Think it's going to be hard to resist getting into it ( would be for me).
Maybe oughta start a pool on how long you can resist it???

 

[firehawkmph]

Good question. My first inclination is throw it on the lathe and see what happens. But I'm not going to do that. Might wait till first Saturday in December and talk to a few of the guys in the turning club that turn burls and see what they say. Looks to be pretty solid. It is fresh cut from about a week ago.
Mike Hawkins

 

[firehawkmph]

Your godson's a fairy? Only kidding how long are you going to let it sit?

Lol Joe. His full time job is working for a large painting company. He has a tree cutting business on the side. Recently he broke his ankle playing soccer and was back to climbing trees two weeks later with a cast on. Every once in awhile he calls me about a nice tree he has fresh logs from to see if I want any. Of it.
Mike Hawkins

 

[Dominick]

That's a nice burl mike.
Can't wait to see what you make of it.
Got any ideas?

 

[BigJoe16]

Lol Joe. His full time job is working for a large painting company. He has a tree cutting business on the side. Recently he broke his ankle playing soccer and was back to climbing trees two weeks later with a cast on. Every once in awhile he calls me about a nice tree he has fresh logs from to see if I want any. Of it. Mike Hawkins

That's a nice thing to have! Does he sell the wood he cuts or firewood? I've always kinda wanted to have a tree cutting buisness. How does he like doing it?

 

[Travico]

Whatever turns from it, is going to be NICE!

 

[bond3737]

worked for a tree trimmin business for a while and though it was a great way to learn a bunch about trees it is a TON of work. The competition is fierce (at least in the nashville area) in that industry and most of the people are not insured. The company I worked for was but it's just a tough way to make a living. Bad weather cancels everything and if you have equipment you can't go out there even a day after a solid rain because it's gonna rip up all the grass... lots of LONG days. Greatest advantage is- it's all the free wood you can shake a stick at. Keeping in touch with them has been amazing though. I give the owner a bowl per truckload of logs and we're set. No idea what he does with all those bowls but works out just fine for me. :yes:

 

[firehawkmph]

That's a nice thing to have! Does he sell the wood he cuts or firewood? I've always kinda wanted to have a tree cutting buisness. How does he like doing it?

Joe,
I don't think he keeps the wood. He makes his money mainly for cutting the trees down and grinding the stumps. He really enjoys it. He's a small, wiry type guy, wrestler and soccer player in high school, so he scoots up and down the trees like a monkey.
Mike Hawkins

 

[gus1962]

That's a nice burl! You should be planning projects to make out from that wood.