Buckeye Burl is one of the best woods for turning once you get past the
smell. Kind of like urine when the wood is a bit green. It has a great
color combination of blue and yellows mostly and is about 3 times as
hard as cork I would say. It can be turned when green and doesn't
shrink much and takes a polish very nicely. I see it as large turnings
like bowls and small items like pens. You can turn it green and finish
it off with a heatgun for about 2 minutes per sq ft and then you can
sand away. No smell lingers after the pieces dry and they show some of
the most striking figure in burl. http://www.walnutwoods.net/
I have some great pieces on my website if you are interested just go to
the above url. I don't claim to be an expert but I do enjoy working
with wood and like talking about it.