Woodturning - Biggest Burl I’ve Ever Worked With!

This was easily the most expensive piece of wood I’ve ever worked with to turn a bowl. It’s Manazanita burl and cost about $150 from a supplier on eBay. It was a monster to get turned into a basic round form because it was extremely heavy and very, very full of cracks and twists.
After casting it in epoxy resin, I got the basic shape of the bowl turned using both traditional tools and carbide tools. The problems started when I began to hollow it out and discovered that it was still very, very wet inside. I had tested it over and over again with a moisture meter before pouring the resin, but the water was hidden deep inside by the sheer size of this burl. There was just no way to get to where the water was. I put it into an oven for almost a week and still had some residual water, but I was eventually able to get the bowl hollowed out and shaped.
The woodturning techniques in this video aren’t anything fancy, just basic moves. It was the size and complexity of the piece of wood that made it so challenging that it took well over a month to get finalized.

[@nikolap.9963]

Nature's finest with a little bit of help from some well chosen color additives make it " POP" ... well done !!! I would be proud to own it !! Congrats ! You the MAN 😁👉✌

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@georgeshuttlesworth8347]

Stunningly Beautiful! That green gold really pops!❤️😋👌

[@duaneheadworth6275]

The color of this burl is so saturated. What a treasure. Great job as usual on the complementary color choice with the resin. You make it look so easy. Thanks for sharing!

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you so much! It definitely helps to have great raw material to work with!

[@team.9821]

Amazing artistry! I enjoyed watching your video and will look for more of your work😊

[@kelly9388]

STUNNING 😁

[@timtitus2532]

Looks like jade is infused into the burlwood. Well done. Thanks for the video.

[@thomasmason7939]

Excellent

[@schithead7]

Awesome work on that my friend , , , Wow ! That came out beautiful ..........

[@suesmith9202]

Beautiful job. Beautiful bowl.

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you so much 😀

[@lyndaowen2154]

I think it’s absolutely gorgeous! That red burl what type of tree is that off of? One big bowl any bigger you would have had a bathtub.😏

[@darrylbuckett5380]

Lovely burl, perfect choice of resin colour, top notch. Cheers

[@CASWoodcraft]

Glad you like it

[@markchester7584]

Wood turner’s skill is beyond doubt. That green…. where it mixes with the burl - superb. Where it’s on it’s own at the lip, not for me I’m afraid.

[@CASWoodcraft]

Fair enough. Generally speaking, I prefer wood all the way to the lip, but sometimes resin at the top makes sense for the piece and this was one of those for me.

[@JamesCouch777]

That was quite a project!👏

[@michaelfelixb1316]

Wau, die sieht aber Klasse aus 👌 Sehr schön gemacht

[@jkurbanski6475]

Wowsers 😮

[@CynthiaCulpepper-cy7es]

Beautiful....

[@carolriley8472]

Wow, that is so gorgeous!

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you! 😊

[@denisemurray412]

beautiful

[@ButtKoWitz]

Beautiful!

[@CASWoodcraft]

thank you!

[@bruce257]

That is so cool!

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you!

[@waltwhybrewwoodworking]

Really good combo of colors.

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thanks! I was thinking desert colors. The resin pigment was literally "cactus" green!

[@EdRaastad-rj6mi]

Amazing!

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you, Ed!

[@tanyalulu328]

Очень красивое сочетание : красное дерево и золотисто зеленая смола. Отличная работа.

[@CASWoodcraft]

большое спасибо

[@debradavis9331]

Beautiful

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you!

[@timponder7487]

Absolutely stunning 😍

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you!! 😊 The wood is the star of the show!

[@lindahollinrake1334]

@@CASWoodcraft that bowl came out beautiful those colors are very nice looks almost like a water melon bowl keep up the nice work and stay safe

[@robertcaparros9673]

Très joli ouvrage ! Bravo ! 👍🤩

[@MASI_forging]

This is a beautiful bowl. You did very well your project 😃😃

[@CASWoodcraft]

I appreciate the kind words. Thank you.

[@joesony5196]

i appreciated your successful project , thank you for sharing this video and good luck to your channel.

[@CASWoodcraft]

thanks, Joe!

[@stephensurowitz331]

Nice!

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thanks!

[@RichardWestWoodturner]

wow very expensive piece of wood, but hopefully you will have no problem selling it, niece piece.

[@sabines.5181]

Einfach nur großartig!

[@mariacandidarochamorroni101]

LINDISIMA...MARAVILHOSA...!!!!!👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍👍

[@CASWoodcraft]

Obrigado!

[@mariateresalatte5208]

muy bello!!!!!!!

[@CASWoodcraft]

gracias

[@snidecommenter7117]

ooooo beautiful raw material!!!!

[@CASWoodcraft]

yes, it was a beautiful burl!

[@xlisax99-ou7pw]

It's a Watermelon!! 😁

[@gitaseldiy9525]

Good job sir 🖐🖐🇮🇩🇮🇩🇮🇩

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you very much!

[@ari01e]

mantap

[@CASWoodcraft]

terima kasih

[@stevebloch3184]

Awesome, was that epoxy you applied at the end?

[@MsSittinTall]

Absolutely beautiful, sorry you had so much trouble with it, but it turned out great. God blesses our efforts, doesn't He (st least part of the time). 😊

[@CASWoodcraft]

Sometimes the effort is what makes the result worth it!

[@drferry]

Beautiful burl, nice job with casting, fantastic result!

[@CASWoodcraft]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@King-Ghidora]

Looks like a flower.

[@STMwoodturning]

Nice job. Sorry it was so much work to get completed. Stuart

[@CASWoodcraft]

thanks. it would have been much easier if it hadn’t been wet, but there was no way to know it was wet until I was well into the project

[@lobonegroypanteranegraparanorm]

Like 👍👍👍👍

[@marycatherinelebouef-op4hf]

Absolutely gorgeous! Your talent shines through this awesome vase!

[@CASWoodcraft]

that's very kind, thank you!

[@ericcleland817]

I have a question for you on this burl video. On a scale of 1 to 10, how nervous were you feeling when starting to turn this large burl in the idea of a chunk flying off, or the burl being hard to carve?

[@CASWoodcraft]

Good question. Probably a 4, but only because the wood was extremely hard. Sometimes, as you're cleaning a piece you get a feeling that it's not very solid, but in this case, cleaning gave me a lot of confidence.

[@dogwedl1167]

[@user-pz9rp2nj4u]

Русский комментарий есть?

[@beverlym5465]

That green makes the piece reminiscent of a watermelon. I’m sorry

[@garyhadley9352]

My opinion...the color selection was terrible. The green destroyed the natural red color! Is that the only color you had to choose from?

[@jimmeer3442]

Such a waste of a beautiful piece of expensive. The glowing ring on top is horrendous. If you would have taken it down to the wood, you might have gotten away with it.

[@williamswhistlepipes]

Don’t hold back old boy will you……

[@user-hx5et5qp7t]

The colors were bad.Made it look like a watermelon.

[@holzweg666]

The worst, no, the very worst I've seen so far in terms of shape, color scheme, design and disfigurement of a beautiful piece of wood. You spent $150 to make a kid piss spot with an ugly rim made of yellow toxic resin? And to top it all off, you also smear this “thing” with gloss varnish at the end. If the wood weren't so wonderful, expensive and exotic, one could laugh. But my laughter gets stuck in my throat with horror.

[@CASWoodcraft]

Excellent! I'm so excited to be #1 in your estimation! :)

[@kelly9388]

LOOKS LIKE A WOODEN WATERMELON...

[@binkolney196]

and of course you had to encase it in plastic

[@CASWoodcraft]

I did, thanks for the encouragement!

[@hswing11]

BEWARE BEWARE YOU NEVER USE EXPANDING CHUCK ON CRACKED OR SPLIT WOOD LOOKS LIKE GREEN SLIME ON BOWL EDGE🤮