The Patient:  Another beautiful burl.  Here the decayed area goes to within 1" of the bottom. This is a 30lb piece 22" by 16" by 5' deep.  Click on the picture to get another view of the  termite devastation.

The Surgeon:  And now its off to battle.  Note the sawdust shoe protection and sleeve on my left arm as well as the welding gloves.  The sleeve protects me from debris thrown back by the Arbor Tech. 

 Starting to cut with the Arbor Tech. Most mass removal is done with the cutter in this position.  Vertical!  Then the grinder is moved left to right (90 degrees to the rotation of the wheel).  See arrows.  When the surface is flat (like when you start) that's the hardest cutting.  As the sides of the form slope more towards vertical the cutting gets easier.

The cutter slides down the sloped sides ( see arrows) of the form cutting easily.

Note that I hold my left arm tight to my body for support.  When reaching out on the form I will lay my left forearm on the piece for additional support and steadiness.  A frequent question is..."how do you hold the burl while your working on it?"  I use a very hi-tech and expensive system...sandbags. 

The surface produced by the Arbor Tech while doing mass demolition.