# Platypus burl "carved" by termites...!



## robutacion (Jan 9, 2012)

Hi peoples,

I haven't much active in here lately as all these new eBay listings I have been adding this last couple of weeks, have been driving me mad so I decided that was time to have a brake and get a bit of chainsaw work, after my Carpel tunnel surgery last 13 of December.

I have been gathering some small jobs, trying to do a couple at the time, saving me time, travelling and dollars so, yesterday I started by removing this medium(ish) Platypus Gum burl that I found inside of of a near by hospital car-park, with the small tree being dead for some time...!

It took me some effort to get the correct permissions to get this burl but, nothing comes to me free hand so, nothing is new there.
A bit of digging in the middle of a damn unexpected storm that soaked us in seconds, before we had time to run for cover but in the end, the weather did allow us to finish the job and get this burl in the trailer.

The problem was, the damn thing was hollow (of burl but, full of mud, instead...!).  Chainsaw chains just don't last long of this termite mud so, after 6 chains changes, I got it out, by extremely disappointed...!:frown:

It was a lot of work just to get the OK to get it, and after so many chains buggered, I was expecting a lot better but, the termites have built a nest on and under that burl, was only the hard shell of the burl that kept that small tree from falling over.

Interestingly, the very same thing that kept that tree standing up, has shown to be of extreme beauty, after I got hole all clean/washed all the mud out.  The extremely hard/dense edge of the Platypus burl, of which the termites had to work a lot harder to eat, has created a meticulous "carved" surface on the burl by these termites.

Going a little further, and taking a piece to the bandsaw, has proven to be quite of a pleasant surprise.  No amount of washing seemed to stop the bandsaw blade to throw sparks every so often, taking the "life" out of the blade teeth in no time but, I saw how I can make some blanks that will be completed with resin casting where the termite carvings will be the primordial focus, completed with the stunning burl wood attached...!

The 6 long months of waiting to be able to get this burl, still are a bit of a disappointment, as I would prefer if the burl was intact but, considering that I could have done all this worth for absolutely nothing, if the burl was "totally" eaten or, the permission to get it out, have been denied, what I endup with is not as bad as it could be, huh...! modesty sometimes helps in these situations...!:wink::biggrin:

So, is not going to be long before, I have some samples of what I have in mind done, and if they just came out half as good as I have them picture in my head, is going to be OK...!

PS: I also got yesterday, from the old fellow that we got the Almond burl from, 2 very old Almond stumps that are/were large for a Almond tree.  The tops were cut decades ago, and when question the nature of those stumps, I was immediately told that, no other trees than Almonds, were ever planted in that yard, and if wasn't enough what he said, he took me around the back, that I couldn't see from the road and he pointed at a humongous tree 30 meters away and said, yeah...! those were like this...!
I didn't have the camera with me, at that point and I know that I will see that tree again soon, in fact he said " you may endup with it, also...!":biggrin:
This is a still alive, Almond tree that stands up 15 meters or so, and the base of its trunk, which is full a burls, is about 2+ meters all around, something that I will confirm and show to everyone, next time I'm in that way...!
Today, I got a 40 year old true Christmas tree that died in the beginning of 2011...!:beat-up::bulgy-eyes::yawn:

Cheers
George


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## robutacion (Jan 9, 2012)

Hi Folks,

I obviously make the wrong selection of the forum that this thread should have been posted on (market research, in my view...!), even tough I would be limited to 5 pics on the OP which could have been addressed by one or more follow- up posts but, the reason for this second post is to pic your brains out, in regards to your thoughts on uses for this burl cap/shell/edge, what would you make out of it...???

I'm glad that I got involved with the pen turning world some years back, allowing to certainly utilize pieces of wood that otherwise would be very difficult to utilize.  Pen blanks, do allow the use of small pieces of wood but particularly, those small pieces that have a lot to go for them.

One other crucial addition to the pen blank making, was the resin casting, complementing perfectly the use of those small woods bits that still didn't make it to the full size or even, pen blanks shorts.

So, give us your thoughts and possibilities for this strange burl shell...!:wink:

Cheers
George


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## keandkafu (Jan 9, 2012)

Nice find even if it was hollow!  How come you Aussies have such stunning looking wood in those trees?  I just may have to move there!  I think the blanks will make awesome high end pens!

Kevin


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## David Keller (Jan 9, 2012)

It's cool looking stuff, George!  Lots of ways you could go with something like that...  If you're into carving with an angle grinder, you could get a sizable bowl from one of those shells.  Parts of the burl look fairly thick, so hollow forms could be taken from those areas.  On the topic of casting, it would be interesting to cut a section say 6x6" and cast the 'termite' surface.  After the resin setup, you could cut blanks from the surface...  I think that might help preserve as much of the termite work as possible.  In fact, if you cast the bug eaten surface of a chunk, you could then turn a hollow form with the resin/bug area near the top of the form...  You'd end up with something along the line of the stuff that Alan Trout does.  Anyway, that's what pops into my head when I look at those pictures.


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## robutacion (Jan 10, 2012)

keandkafu said:


> Nice find even if it was hollow!  How come you Aussies have such stunning looking wood in those trees?  I just may have to move there!  I think the blanks will make awesome high end pens!
> 
> Kevin



Yes Kevin, most Australia is rich in tree species native and introduced but, doing what I do, is not as easy and free of troubles, as you may thing.  Where this these treasurers are, a large variety of creatures that can make you sick or or even kill you. They are the natural habitants of our bush as sometimes you pat a dear price for what you get.  However, a life without risks is a life without excitement, and I get plenty of it...!:wink:

On the other hand, you can just stay where you are and have any of these treasures sent to you, without the risks of getting bitten by the nasty stuff...!  A very cost wise and risk free...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George


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## robutacion (Jan 10, 2012)

David Keller said:


> It's cool looking stuff, George!  Lots of ways you could go with something like that...  If you're into carving with an angle grinder, you could get a sizable bowl from one of those shells.  Parts of the burl look fairly thick, so hollow forms could be taken from those areas.  On the topic of casting, it would be interesting to cut a section say 6x6" and cast the 'termite' surface.  After the resin setup, you could cut blanks from the surface...  I think that might help preserve as much of the termite work as possible.  In fact, if you cast the bug eaten surface of a chunk, you could then turn a hollow form with the resin/bug area near the top of the form...  You'd end up with something along the line of the stuff that Alan Trout does.  Anyway, that's what pops into my head when I look at those pictures.



Thanks Kevin,

I knew you would say something and your idea of the small bowl blank cast, is a very interesting idea, that I will certainly try.  I may even try to cast with clear so that the resin, which will become the bowls "natural edge", allow the wood underneath to still be visible, colour resin may spoil that aspect of the termite carving.

I've cut a few blanks yesterday from a piece of the burl shell and the termite edge was cut so that I could cast, with the most termite handy work as part of the blanks, dried 13 in the microwave and this evening I pour some coloured resin into them.  They will stay overnight in the pressure pot at 80PSI and tomorrow I will see what I've got in there...!:wink::biggrin:

Cut also all the burls from the 2' trunk and I just couldn't believe how hard these burls are.  Al the ones I have found so far, have been at the butt/root base, half buried and when I cut a piece of the hollow burl I notice the extra hardness as it gets close to the very burl cap/skin but, these smaller burls to grown on the trunk, have became far too hard from the tree being dead/dry for a while but, that ain't stopping me to make beautiful pen blanks from...!

I got check that Alan Trout fellow, and see what he does...!

Cheers
George


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## robutacion (Jan 11, 2012)

Hi folks,

I've got the blanks out of the 2 molds (one 7 the other 6 blanks) and I got the finished this evening with, enough time to turn one of the blue and green(ish) group.  Actually, my wife was the one to pic one of each group for me to turn into a sample, her first choice did come up good, will see how the second one will come up...!

I didn't probably use the colours that I would have preferred as I'm out of casting stock and need to re-order another lot ($500.00, or just a little over...!) but the colours are OK, where I always try to give the emphasis to the wood and not the resins filling the spaces, just my way...!:wink::biggrin:

So here are some pics of what I got so far. The pics quality isn't that good as I was in a hurry and I was also running out of natural light...!

Enjoy...!

Cheers
George


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## nava1uni (Jan 11, 2012)

Those look very interesting.  I love how, even what others would consider waste, can make something interesting and beautiful.  I like the blanks.


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## David Keller (Jan 11, 2012)

Nicely done, George!  I think the blanks look great!


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## robutacion (Jan 12, 2012)

Yes Cindy, I little bit of work a some imagination can certainly, transform waste into treasures and while these first lot didn't come up terrible, I'm expecting to do better...!

Thanks David, they aren't too bad but, I'm experimenting...!

And now, I will attached the second sample pics that I finished today. Again, not happy with the way the pink come out, it became a almost solid colour when I used Pearlex and something else, that something else have spoiled the pearl effect on the colours, damn...!

Oh well, no big deal...!

Cheers
George


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## louie68 (Feb 9, 2012)

Nice looking wood there!!!
I was wondering our termites in the United States Northern Illinois when they eat the wood there pattern is straight perfect lines. What I see here shows different are your termites white there?


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## Buzzzz4 (Feb 9, 2012)

Wonderful. Nature helps us along in so many ways!


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## robutacion (Dec 24, 2012)

louie56 said:


> Nice looking wood there!!!
> I was wondering our termites in the United States Northern Illinois when they eat the wood there pattern is straight perfect lines. What I see here shows different are your termites white there?



Hi Louie56,

I'm so sorry that I din't realise that you were asking me a question about the termites/white ants as some call them...!

We have various species of Termites in Australia, and while a Google search will give you all the information you need, I can simplify it by saying that, there are big and small ones, all most white in colour, some are more "vicious" than others and they all tend to have different wood preferences however, they all are BAD news and causing millions of dollars damage, every year so, they are all nasty.

As for the nests and the way the way the eat wood or leave the left overs, it depend more on the wood than anything else, most trees the sweetest and softest part for them to feed on is the tree's heartwood however, some tree species have a very hard heartwood so, they eat the sapwood.

In the case of this particular burl type, the Platypus Gum has a very dense sapwood and in the burl formation, the 3 or 4" from the outer skin/bark, the wood gets really hard as it has a dyer content than the inside where is a lot softer and juicier.  The channels you see on this burl, have taken a lot of time to make and only the adult termites have strong enough teeth to eat through it.  Is the way the burl grain is formed that forces the Termites to swerve everywhere to follow the softer parts of the wood, leaving this beautifully carved caves/formations.

For 99% of those dealing with burls, this burl would be rubbish and they wouldn't make any effort to utilise it, as the yield left Vs the trouble of removing it, destroying their chains and any cutting tools they would use on it afterwards, such as the bandsaw, not counting the amount of time and effort to remove most of the soil and nasty stuff that would blunt anything just by looking at it (well, sort off...!:wink

Anyway, was by accident that I come to this thread and realise that I hadn't answered you question so, once again, my apologies...!

Merry Christmas

Cheers
George


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## louie68 (Jan 28, 2013)

gEORGE THANKS FOR ANSWER ME.  EVER THOUGH THIS LATE ANY ONE NAME GEORGE IS GREAT IN MY BOOK, CUZ MY DAD NAME WAS GEORGE. lol
wE HAVE THOSE LITTLE CRIITERS ALSO THEY TOOK OUT MY 5 FT CARVE WOOD BEAR NOW THERE WORKING ON MY 5FT BEAVER. i HATE THOSE TERMITES


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## scottsheapens (Jan 28, 2013)

I think they look stunning. Nice work!!!!


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