What is a burl?

[Burl Source]

People who come here always ask what is a burl?
Simple answer........ a mutated freak of nature. Kind of like a two headed chicken.
But my boss doesn't like it when I say that.

There are a lot of variations with burls.
Most burls contain a lot of dormant shoots all crammed together in a small area.

First is a Maple stump burl. Most of the burl formation occurs at ground level and a little ways below.

This is what we call a cluster burl log. Lots of smaller side burls on the trunk.

Sometimes there will be some larger side burls on the trunk of a maple. When cut off they are called burl caps.

This is a buckeye burl getting washed. Most of the buckeye burl grows underground.

Last a big oak bunion that grew about 2/3 of the way around the tree trunk. These do not have pins just weird swirling grain.
We won't know for sure what we have until it gets washed and cut.

In SW Oregon we are an area that probably has more burls occurring than anywhere else in the US. At least that I know of.
But.......even here the burls will occur on less than 1% of the trees.

 

[theHobbyist]

Hmmm my grandmother has a mango tree with a trunk that looks like that... How did it get that creepy "I'm a ghost that got spooked by a ghost" look to it?

Oh and thank you for answering a question in lay terms that I've googled in the past

 

[Mossyhorn]

How about using a witches broom that grows off of a limb. A lot of cultivars have been discovered and cloned that way. I imagine the wood should be interesting at the least.

 

[Britt_Askew]

What is a burl ?
1- some of the nicest looking wood in the world.
2-Something that us on the east coast are jealous of.

 

[hickman1]

Hey Mark, you cut into that oak bunion yet? I'd like to see the grain on that. I have a much smaller one cut from a red oak, but have yet to cut it up. It has been air drying for about 8 years now.