Thread: Burl For Scales/Don't know the wood

Hi All,

Well there is a tree that will be taken down very soon and it's right across the street from me.

It appears to have A Lot of Burls on it, but I haven't a clue as to what kind of tree it is or whether or not it would be worth my time and money to purchase some for making scales and perhaps brush handles out of.

I know nothing about trees so I hope that these simple pictures taken early this morning will be enough to identify the tree. I took pictures of the leaves and some of the Burls and Burl with the regular bark in hope that it will be enough for 'someone' in the know to identify the tree.

Thanks for looking.

Very Cool,no clue on the type of tree,but cut the burls off and season them for about 5 yrs,might be some great stuff.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Very Cool,no clue on the type of tree,but cut the burls off and season them for about 5 yrs,might be some great stuff.

DAMN IT BILL!!!! I thought that you knew Everything about Burls!!!

Thanks for the tip about storage. I would presume since the tree is 'semi' alive that the cut ends should be coated with varnish, paint etc to seal it while the wood slowly dries

Here's the tree/the 'Green' around it is from some shrubs/not the tree/the owners had cut the broken branches up and they were rotten in the core so this poor thing has been dying a slow death and the last windstorm sealed it's fate;



Anyway hopefully someone will stumble upon this and tell us what the wood is.

My best guess would be a maple or a sycamore

Gotta see these in a few years. Can you take pics before they are sealed for aging. I'm not a patient man.

Definitely maple.
Probably big leaf maple (acer macrophyllum) since you are in Washington state.
Less likely a vine maple (acer something I can't remember) judging from the bark.

Those leaves look like maple to me too. I would definitely try and get some of that to dry out for use later.

From what I can see of Cuda's leaves and googled pics i think it is a sycamore.
I am not a forest person so my guess should be taken with great caution

This is a sycamore tree showing the bark.



The bark says not sycamore, maybe large leaf maple like sugar maple.

Thanks for the help and ideas guys.

There is some dried wood stored right behind it that I'm sure came from the tree as it has some rotten centers and I'm going to ask if I can either have or buy a small piece and see what I can find for grain from the regular wood. Then maybe play with it a bit, get some sanded and then see what pops up with a clear coat and then maybe a very light oak stain just for S**t's and Giggles.

OK, I did some googling based on some of the ideas and it's Not a Sycamore/totally different kind of bark. Here's a picture of a Big Leaf Maple Tree's Bark, followed by my original picture.



And my picture;