Burl Top Box

That’s a beautiful burr Blake.

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business.

Blake. That burl is suburb. Do you have any Mandrone burl on your property. It is outstanding also.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Nice! I really like the burl!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Outstanding piece of burl. The box is also very nice.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Oh man….that’s some beautiful burl put to good use.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

the smoothness of that top is amazing! Very …. inviting to the senses.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

that is amazing. I’ve never seen a piece of wood that looked quite like that before. It looks almost artificial, alien, beautifully finished.

I counted about six different colors in the burl. Green, yellow, orange, red, light and dark brown, and even a hint of blue.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Another great box blake. Love the madrone. Have a little in my shop that my uncle milled.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Blake – very cool… how did you join the corners of the madrone?

I just moved some madrone crotchwood I slabbed March/April to the indoors before we get any more humid. Also, I have a 35-40year old pear bole from a friend’s property that had to be cut it down for a drainfield. It’s about 12” diameter. It’s laying on the side of my house under the deck – I need to mill it up yet! Luckily I was able to paint the ends the same day I cut it and it has not developed any cracks.

Thanks for the pear and madrone inspiration!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Now that is a box! And some of the nicest lumber I have ever seen. Good to take one of Mother Nature’s glories an extra step.
Blake you are one serious Boxhound.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

The box sides are just rabbited. With certain woods, glues, and sizes, this works fine, I think.

-- Dust collectors suck.

I am a Boxhound? I am honored. Who else is in the club?

-- Dust collectors suck.

Ok, I really liked this when I saw the thumbnail but I have to tell ya the joinery dissappointed me. So far your boxes have been a masterful combination of design and craftsmanship and I guess with this beautiful wood I just wanted to see the intricate level of joinery to match it. I hear ya on the rabbits being fine but…

Don’t get me wrong though. Your work is always superb and a real joy to look at. Thanks for sharing.

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

What a chunk of wood!

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Hey, go easy, I have my reasons. The burl top is the star here. I thought fancy joinery would only take away from that, this time. I am a strong believer in simplicity.

Besides, the box sides were relatively thin so there wasn’t many options. I had a very small piece of the madrone to work with which I re-sawed into four pieces. I make a lot of small lumber from chunks of firewood. It’s free and usually yields very interesting wood.

I think I have one more piece of the burl left. I will be sure to dazzle you with that box’s joinery.

-- Dust collectors suck.

CORRECTION: The burl for the box top is not pear, it is PECAN. My mistake.

-- Dust collectors suck.

This falls directly into the catigory of beautiful craftsmanship Blake.

-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,

Thanks a lot.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Blake to answer your question about are you a boxhound, it really was a graphic that followed from an idea that Don should preside over a group of box-makers because he “just loves small wooden boxes.”
While playing with it I came up an explanation of who might be in the “club”.

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Radish/blog/1925

Truth told, you’re in if you wish to be, and as there are no dues, rules, meetings…
Wish the graphic was big enough for print well, but I snuck it from a AltaVista image search and cleaned it up and filtered it in Photoshop. Otherwise I think it would be a fun T-shirt.

Hey, the fact that that burl isn’t catching dust on a shelf, or spalting to nothingness on the ground, is a step forward. Rabbeting edges hold up okay on small boxes, and as Chip pointed out you might have poisoned the well by blowing everyone away early on with tour-de-force joinery (the claw…). Frankly I think this is a splendid box, and I’m glad you shared it.

I hope know one ever feels cowed about sharing their handiwork here for fear that they will get flamed for how it might have been done. And the fact that you milled it out from firewood really makes it all the more special.
I think the Moon has been in Aries (or some other odd disputatious influence has been afoot) this whole week on LJs…

Bottom line: Thumbs up, Blake.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Quite a beauty!

-- The opposite of war isn't peace. It's creation. -- Wood T's: http://www.printfection.com/snbcreative

Wow! What a cool piece of burl. (And work!) Looks like it soaked up just the right amount of finish. Nice job!

For the record, I like and welcome criticism. I had no problem at all with Chip’s comment. He reacted honestly to my box and I only reacted back. I was not trying to be as defensive as it sounded. We are not just here to pat each other on the back, but to push ourselves and grow. Chip had a good point, it’s not that often that you come across a piece of wood that nice. You may as well treat it like a king.

No hard feelings at all, really. Feel free to speak candidly about my work any time, anybody. It opens much more interesting conversation, and is sometimes more genuine than the usual “hey, looks neat!”

Chip, thank you for saying what you really felt. I wish more people would do that, and I wish I didn’t feel like I had to walk on eggshells with my own responses sometimes.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Wow! Is there any wonder why I just love small wooden boxes?

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/

Blake,this one stunning pice of wood.I like how you displayed it in the simple lines of this box.Nice workmanship.

-- " Stubborn tenacity substitutes for natural ability" ANDY

Better pictures are up! I finally invested in a large sheet of black velvet for taking pictures on. I am re-taking all the shots of my projects.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Blake, I think your box is great! I have a pecan burl about 9 inches in diameter that was cut from a native pecan tree (not grafted) here in the North Texas It came from a tree about 48 inches in diameter. The log it was cut from had been on the ground for about six months, but the burl itself had been face down in soft, moist earth for that time. I immediately painted the entire thing in several coats of unthinned latex paint, hoping it will be enough, soon enough. It was about six inches from point where it was cut off from thentrunk to the outside of the bark, so I’m hopeful I will get some usable wood from it. Thanks for the inspiration!

-- North Texas