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Stabilized & Natural Wood for Custom
Knife Makers
Unusual Burl, Spalted and
Figured Woods from Around the World. |
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Information about burl, figured
and spalted woods
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Black Oak Burl |
Maple Burl |
Buckeye Burl |
Madrone Burl |
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What is a burl?
The simple answer is that a burl is a mutated growth that
will sometimes happen on a tree. Instead of normal growth a burl
can form on the side of the tree trunk or underground where the
trunk meets the roots. There are quite a few variations of burl
growths. The most common is what we call a pin burl. This sort
of burl will form a bulge with hundreds of small pins poking
outward from the surface. This is the sort of burl that forms
the eyes we see in cut pieces of burl. Other variations of burls
can produce mishapen bulging growth resulting in a variety of
different looks. There are a lot of different theories about
what causes a burl. Mine is that a burl is a mutated growth that
just happens sometimes. There are some types of trees that are
more prone to forming burls. Some areas will have more occurances
of burls growing on trees than others. Southern Oregon Oregon
and Northern California seem to have burls occuring more than
other parts of the US. Even in the areas where burls tend to
form on some of the trees, they are still a rare occurance.
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Curly Figure -
Redwood |
Quilted Figure
- Maple |
Pin Burl Figure
- Maple |
Other Burl Figure
- Black Oak |
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What is figured wood?
The most common type of figuring in wood is fiddleback or curly
figure like is seen at times in maple and redwood. Curly figure
will look like stripes going across the grain in a piece of wood.
With really good curly figure the stripes will change in size
and from dark to light as the piece is moved around. This is
caused by distortions in the fibers of the wood and how they
reflect the light. Curly figured can be caused by stress on the
trunk of a tree growing at an angle such as on a steep hillside.
This is called stress curl or compression curl. The figure will
usually be uneven stripes going across the grain. Curly figure
can also occur in portions of the tree trunk usually going upward
from the base of the trunk on trees growing straight upright.
This sort of figure is usually more even in the width of the
stripes. When curly figure is more even and compact it can be
called fiddleback figure. Usually 8 or more lines of figure to
the inch will qualify as fiddleback.
Another type of figure is called quilted. This happens sometimes
with maple and some other woods. This sort of figure is very
popular for use in electric guitars. The exterior surface of
the log will look a lot like bubblewrap. When cut correctly the
figure in the wood will look a lot like the exterior of the log.
There are a lot of other types of figure found in different types
of woods. The names are normally descriptive of the appearance
formed in the wood.
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Spalted Maple |
Spalted Walnut |
Blackline Spalted
Maple |
Spalted Buckeye |
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What is spalted wood?
Spalting is a condition that can occur in dying or dead wood.
What most people are familiar with is blackline spalt. This is
caused by colonies of fungus creating barriers between each other
resulting in black lines. It can look like randomly drawn squiggly
black lines. Different types of wood will attract different types
of fungus resulting in a variety of colors happening as the wood
spalts. Buckeye burl is known for the blues, box elder for candy
cane red and maple for its variety of colors. Spalting can create
a variety of random images giving the wood a very dramatic look.
Spalting is part of the decomposition process of wood so the
wood usually becomes softer and less durable as the spalting
progresses. Most spalted woods should be stabilized for increased
hardness and durability.
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Visit
the Knife Handle Materials Webstore
The woods we feature in our
web store were cut special for custom knife makers who don't
want to use plain looking knife handle materials. Every piece
listed in our webstore is photographed individually with large
photos showing both sides of each piece so you can pick out the
pieces you like best. Our wood comes with a No Questions Asked,
Money Back Guarantee.
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Curly
Koa |
Spalted Maple Burl |
Figured Walnut |
Redwood Burl |
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Burl Source is
a division of It's a Burl in Kerby Oregon ......
541-592-5071 or itsaburl@hotmail.com |