this is a big story about select timbers using all of the keywords that are important
BURLS
Burls or natural abnormalities of trees, flairs or root wads, all create
very cool grain patterns. If the fantastic shapes and texture of a burl
exposed is not enough, then there is also a quilted effect that shows
up from time to time. There is a curly ripple or a corrugation in the
wood at times, that comes from slabbing in the flair of the butt.
Burls are sought after for a variety of reasons. They can be sliced up
for tables, plaques or clocks. They can be carved or chunked out for turning
blanks. I’ve seen flooring, mantle pieces or exotic head boards
made out of burls.
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Right now I have a 2000 pound Canadian Cypress or yellow cedar burl.
It very nearly broke my old pickup. I’ll be slicing it into 3-4”
slabs, then book matching them for one of my own projects. One day it’ll
be a spectacular burl board room table. Another one is only about 8-900
punds and it is loaded with weirdness. It has natural black holes all
over it that’ll make some amazing turning blanks or maybe I’ll
slab it too…who knows.
No matter what the use, if you got a burl habit you got a problem…
you’re a wood bug. This means you’re a collector and the fun
is in the searching for that perfect weirdness in the grain. You might
acquire them one at a time for specific projects, or you have a whole
barn full with great projects in mind with the best of intentions. Whatever
the type your eye is always trained for it wherever you roam and you can
always imagine the hidden beauty in side.
We don’t always have them, but like you, we always got our eyes
peeled in the bush or on the beaches. The species we generally get are
red cedar, yellow cedar, sitka spruce & western maple.
We also have our trap line, which consists of hard core wood bugs, beachcombers
and loggers on the coast. So if your looking for something particular,
give us the word and I’ll bait the trap line. Something’l
show up… sooner or later… and you never know what’s
in somebodies barn.
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