I've seen many burl veneers used on limbs but not a solid burl for a riser. Anyone ever seen this done? Does the burl wood have enough strength to work?

I ask as there is no real "lateral" grain going top to bottom to give strength.

The only way you could make it work is by stabilizing the burl before building the riser.I looked into this and its quite expensive.

I shelled out some big bucks for a beautiful piece of camphor burl and put it into one of my Striker risers.  When I went to tiller the limbs, CRAAACK!  I won't be using burl again.  I think it really depends on the design of your riser.  If you have a piece of flat sawn wood of solid structure that runs end to end and will bear the bulk of the weight, with the burl on the belly, you would probably be all right.  If you look at my Stealth model, I have put wood of questionable strength on the belly side and haven't had any problems.

I agree with Bivyhunter. Burl is pretty, but with the grain running so wildy, you just can't trust it. It tends to be quite brittle in my experience. Use it for adornment. Leave other woods and materials for structure.

If you are going to use burl, you have to make an I-beam riser with a good strong core. It can be done!