bowls |

A burl is a round growth that sticks out of a tree. Burls are beautiful and somewhat rare. The grain is crazy, filled with hundreds are dark ‘eyes’.

No one knows exactly what causes burls, but they know it has to do with the tree undergoing some kind of stress. It can be from an injury, bugs, virus, mold etc. Almost all burls are covered in bark. Burls can grow on branches, tree trunks, and even underground. One of the biggest known burls was found around 1984 in the small town of Tamworth, New South Wales. It stands 6.4 ft tall, and has a weird shape almost like a trombone.

I like turning with burls for the simple fact that they are beautiful. I bought this Black Ash burl from “the burl guy”, and turned it into a bowl. “The burl guy” comes to our woodturning club a few times each year with a pick-up load of burls.

This bowl was a challenging shape to turn, because it’s not totally round.

Even though it was challenging, I love the way this bowl turned out. If you set it on its side, you can imagine the tree trunk growing up with the burl sticking out of it. I love the natural look.