# how to price burl



## SarahFair

when y'all buy Burl how is it usually priced?


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## Razor Blade

Sarah , as for me , what i buy is mostly already stabilized and cut into blocks or slabs. When i buy it this way its from 35.00 per block 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 and 5 inches long an up depending on the wood.Sometimes i run across a piece of wood someone has that they cut and want to sell. Has lots to do with how much " figure" the wood has , what kind of burl wood it is. Its usually differant per the person selling the wood. Maybe someone else can chime in with how much that goes for.    Scott


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## bbs383ci

you can get on ebay to see what the going price is for the type of burl you have, then you can go to websites that sell burl wood and see what theirs is going for.


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## SarahFair

I saw nothing on eBay for water oak and everything else I'm seeing had been slabbed
I don't know how to slab,  stabilize, or anything about wood. 


I know water oak isn't really sought after. I've seen prices for different species from $3.00-$9.00/lb 
The SO thinks it's in the 300+ lb range.


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## JustUs4All

Sarah, I know little about the topic, but you are also going to have to allow for the the waste from sawing it up.  You will loose the width of the saw blade for each cut.  It does not sound like much but it will be cut into fairly small pieces.  That will be a lot of saw blade widths.


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## The Longhunter

Woodturners would be interested in the whole burl, you don't have to do anything for it.  In fact the less you do, the more desirable it will be to them.

You can contact a local turning club and get some guidance on selling it.   

http://www.classiccitywoodturners.com/
http://www.atlantawoodturnersguild.org/georigaguilds.html

Do a search on "turning red oak burl" and look at the pictures, and listings.


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## state159

The Longhunter said:


> Woodturners would be interested in the whole burl, you don't have to do anything for it.  In fact the less you do, the more desirable it will be to them.
> 
> You can contact a local turning club and get some guidance on selling it.
> 
> http://www.classiccitywoodturners.com/
> http://www.atlantawoodturnersguild.org/georigaguilds.html
> 
> Do a search on "turning red oak burl" and look at the pictures, and listings.



x2 on the woodturners use. If it's that big, it may take years to dry and be suitable to turn without splitting, warping, etc. I stopped at a woodturners shop in NC a few years ago and they showed me a set of bowls that came from the same big burl that they had found. They said that they waited several years before trying to turn it into bowls and they were beautiful. The first bowl was probably 2 feet in diameter.


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## Anvil Head

I've cut plenty of burls up for knife handle material in the past. Lot of work for minimal gain unless you have the right saws for the job. And....you like eating a lot of sawdust....
As stated, lot of waste even if the center is solid (quite often not). 
Longhunter and State are probably heading you in the best direction.....wood turners get hungry for the stuff.
I love oak burl, but have plenty on hand.


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## SarahFair

I contacted the president of the Athens club for advice. 
He told me to cut it down into 8x8x4 and two other x sizes,  one being a pen slab. 

I didn't send him a picture,  just told him it was a large piece. 

I am curious to see what's inside. The few pictures I've seen of water oak look like granite countertops.

In yalls opinion,  would it be best to sell whole,  or cut it up?


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## The Longhunter

I guess it's a question of how much you want to work, and how bad you need the money.  Me, I'd sell it as is.  You're going to need more saw than what you have in that picture.  That's a nice burl, but cutting that with a saw is probably more work than you want.

Also, it's sort of like a diamond in the rough. The ultimate consumer may want to do something different with it, and you have some fancy firewood.

Just my opinion, but the effort to mill it out (cut it up) is not going to be justified by the added value.  Now, you may want to cut it some for grins and giggles to see what it looks like, and nothing wrong with that, but I don't think you will get paid for the effort at the end of the day.

This is a family of turners known for their massive bowls.  They have the equipment to handle something like that.  Shoot them an email with a picture and see if they are interested.

contact@moulthropstudios.com

Here's a sample of their work, takes a little while to load.

http://www.moulthropstudios.com/moulthrop.pdf


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