Wild looking grain on this piece of oak

[gman1001]

Was splitting a massive stump piece of Pinoak a few months ago and came across the following. My 27 ton splitter strained against this stump... NO WONDER... The grain goes in circles!

Anyone ever seen this?

I'm going to take this piece, sand it down, dry it out and tung oil it to make the grain pop and make book ends...

The grain your looking at was just under the bark, no pictured is the thickness, its about 4"

Anyone seen this kind of thing before?

 

[Hogwildz]

Yeap had a few pcs of oak & maple like that.
Burns long cause its dense & packed tightly.

 

[Malatesta]

Ive seen maple do that alot but never Oak.

 

[savageactor7]

No, never ran across anything like that...pretty incredible if you ask me almost looks like coral.

 

[smokinj]

curly Oak never seen it that curly!

 

[67ref]

Strange, never seen anything like that before.
very wierd looking.

 

[oldmilwaukee]

Thanks for sharing - that's amazing - wonder what it looks like sawn flat? I would love to see another picture after you polish it! I have a walnut tree with a heck of a knot/burl on it, just begging to be opened up some day. for now, the tree is alive and I have too many other projects!.

 

[Jags]

I believe that the woodworkers refer to that as a "burl". Pretty highly sought after for woodworking projects.

 

[billb3]

I've seen those growths on oak.
Some of them can get quite big.
Like yours, usually around the stump, at ground level, but I've seen them up higher 6 to 10 feet up .
The few I've seen were more round.

Don't recall ever seing one that was 100% defective like that. Never really paid attention, just cursed another strange worthless piece of wood that wouldn't split.

I always cut them and burned them as defective wood in the fireplace or fire pit. .


Today, I'd save something like that or some of my odd cherry for my niece who is getting into carving with a small chain saw.


Bookends sounds nice if it doesn't have to be epoxied coated when it dries out.

 

[Adabiviak]

Nice find - it's like a scar or burl in the wood - I have a piece or two laying around that are just neat to look at. It'll burn like a champ in a pinch too.

 

[firefighterjake]

Neat looking piece of wood.

 

[BJ64]

I believe that the woodworkers refer to that as a "burl". Pretty highly sought after for woodworking projects.

That is true. There is a small sawmill near my house that specializes in burl wood and sells it on Ebay. They call themselves Grand River Hardwoods. I am not sure that I have seen any oak that squirreled up. That should be pretty when finished up.

 

[ctarborist]

looks like a bowl full of ramen noodles...cool piece

 

[fyrwoodguy]

here's one from the lusto forestry museum in finland.

sure would have like to have seen what this baby looks like,would'nt you?