Burl wood

Caden_Vekk said:
What's the difference between curly, burl, and other forms of wood?
Click to expand...

Many names are regional, some are specific to certain species.

Curly refers to a the ripple pattern exhibited by the grain in woods such as maple, ash, cherry or any of the hardwoods.

Fiddle back, usually found in maple, refers to the stripped pattern running across the grain.

Burl, such as crotch burl,[found at the forks or junctions of trees]

Root burls, obvious.

Birds eye, refers to woods that produce round eyelets in their surface

when they are sanded to finish.

I work with many different species of figured woods from around the

world. Some of them are hard to describe the figure is so complex.

So, when you are talking beautiful woods, with someone, you will

always be correct if you stick with; " that is a fine figured wood "

Fred :D
 
Curly is a grain structure that causes the ripply stripe pattern and things like fiddle back.The conditions of the growth of the tree determine if it will be curly. Maple is the most common curly wood (often called Tiger Maple)
Burl is a term for wood that grows with a twisted grain. It comes from two different things. The root ball ,where the grain changes direction in all kinds of places due to the roots, and on the trunk and limb where the wood was damaged or diseased.
There are all kinds of special grain patterns like flame,spalt (caused by a fungus), wood that has had insect damage (Masur Birch) ,etc.
Plain old straight grain is from the main trunk and larger limbs. It is great for furniture, but lacks pizzazz for knife handles.
Stacy
 
Burl often, I think nearly always, has to be stabilized to be, well, stable. Grindable, not liable to cracking and all that. The wood itself is inconsistant, twisted, may be rotted in parts, etc. It looks really cool, though, so it's worth the effort.

Curl, stripes and birdseyes can be found in straight pieces of wood, and are generally just as stable as the "regular" wood; some claim more so. In my experience, birdseye maple is every bit as resistant to wear, rot and warpage as "clear" maple is. It is somewhat harder to work; I feel the "eyes" like a tiny knot when I chisel or draw-knife on it.

This site has some nice examples on it; google a bit and I'm sure you can find lots more. :)

http://www.bellforestproducts.com/guitar_neck.html
 
Here in Upper Michigan Birdseye Maple is king. There are some loggers up here that have sold 8' bolts for many thousands of dollars. I understand that many of the buyers are from Japan ?? The answers posted prior to my comments pretty much covered your question, now, does anyone know what causes the "Birdseye" or "Curly" phenomenon. I've heard it could be everything from early insect damage to nutrients in the soil. Very beautiful effect, whatever causes it. It looks stunning Double Dyed & Stabilized as does the Curly, Fiddleback and other Figured Woods ;)
 
David, I'm not sure anyone knows exactly why curly or birdseye gets that way. Trees with beautiful figure are found literally right next to trees with normal grain.

This is a little off-topic... but being in Michigan, you may have heard of salvage divers getting fantastic prices for wood they've found at the bottom of Lake Superior. High-grade lumber that was lost in wrecks many years ago... as I understand it, the water at the bottom is so cold and clean that bacteria or whatever couldn't rot the wood. Pretty cool story, wish I had more info on that for you.
 
GibsonFan said:
David, I'm not sure anyone knows exactly why curly or birdseye gets that way. Trees with beautiful figure are found literally right next to trees with normal grain.

This is a little off-topic... but being in Michigan, you may have heard of salvage divers getting fantastic prices for wood they've found at the bottom of Lake Superior. High-grade lumber that was lost in wrecks many years ago... as I understand it, the water at the bottom is so cold and clean that bacteria or whatever couldn't rot the wood. Pretty cool story, wish I had more info on that for you.
Click to expand...

I recently have become friends with a man here in louisana that love to go diving in the local rivors for what he calls "Sinker logs". He runs a mill at his house which he has been giving me many really good chunks of usable cypress and black gum..the cypress has a pattern that he calls "quilted". Some of it has really nice figure and he has some drying that is burled cannot wait to get some of that

Its great wood hard as woodpecker lips, and once I get some stabilized I will be offering it up to offset the cost of stabilizing.
 
GibsonFan said:
This is a little off-topic... but being in Michigan, you may have heard of salvage divers getting fantastic prices for wood they've found at the bottom of Lake Superior. High-grade lumber that was lost in wrecks many years ago... as I understand it, the water at the bottom is so cold and clean that bacteria or whatever couldn't rot the wood. Pretty cool story, wish I had more info on that for you.
Click to expand...

Yep, I've got a few little (5" x 1 1/4" square) piece of some salvage oak burl that is very nice. Someday they'll be handles for little knives, probably with a blacksmith iron/vinegar (a.k.a. killed vinegar) stain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top