briar burls

[pipeguy]

Just a question, I have the opportunity to buy briar burls at a very attractive price for obvious reasons. Can the be cut on a commercial band saw ? I don't have mimmos saw . Is it worth alittle work or is it a impractical fools erand? thanx Bob Clark.

[Leus]

It should be possible, providing you use a bandsaw sled. There is a lot more to briar than just cutting it, thought.

[Sasquatch]

Cut, boil, cure.... what could possibly go wrong??

I would buy them just because it would be fun, and if I got something good after a year of drying, then awesome, and if not.... I had fun playing.

[LexKY_Pipe]

Your in for lotsa work if the burls have not bee cured.

[glycerine]

Your in for lotsa work if the burls have not bee cured.

I am a total newb. This is my first post and I know there is lots to learn. How exactly do you cure the burl?

[Sasquatch]

I let someone else cure my briar, but it's boiled for a long time to remove resins and then dried real slow.

[ckr]

Chances are what you are buying are not fresh burls and also not cured. Boiling dried out burls will likely result in nothing but cracked blocks from the re-hydration and subsequent slow drying. Too much stress on the structure of the wood.

[DMI]

Based on my experiance earlier this year I would say it would only be worthwhile if the burls are coming straight from a briar mill and have been kept damp. Once it begins to dry out the burl will start to shrink and crack, from the one I had I thought I had four nice pieces of plateau until I started working with them and found small cracks inside.

From talking to two briar suppliers they reccomend at least three years for drying.

I do have lots of briar for making tampers though.

David.

[ToddJohnson]

Fun as a novelty, but pretty well worthless for making pipes.

TJ