I have not had many aspen burls lately but one recently arrived and here it is before and after trimming and mounting on my lathe. The top bark part of the burl was attached to the head stock of the lathe. This will give a round bark edged bowl. Aspen burls usually have some decay inside so this was the safest choice. The log side of the burl was solid so it should provide a stable tenon for reverse mounting and hollowing. Aspen burl is tricky to turn due to decay, grain sepa

A customer brought me a sumac burl to turn into a bowl. I had never seen a sumac burl and had never turned sumac wood. The images below show the 6" diameter burl on its 3" diameter log. Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina, synonym: R. hirta) is a deciduous shrub to small tree in the Anacardiaceae or Cashew family, native to eastern North America. On doing some research, staghorn sumac burl is extremely rare. My goal was to make a bark edged bowl so I trimmed the burl and attached it