Wood Burl Furniture

Exactly what is wood burl furniture? Well, a burl is a wart like, deformed looking growth on a tree trunk, root or occasionally even the branches of a tree. Burls can be caused by several different thinks. A burl can result from some type of injury to the tree, as a result from some type of infection just under the bark, or the existence of an unformed bud that for some reason did not grow properly.

Many people compare burls to cancer sells in humans because the tree cells divide and grow excessively and unevenly. Burls are sometimes called tumors on wood, although warts would be a more accurate comparison because trees with burls are otherwise healthy and continue to grow normally.

Continued growth follows the contour of the original deformity and produces all kinds of twists, swirls and knots in the wood fiber. Usually this results in wood that has a spectacular pattern that can be used to create stunningly beautiful wood burl furniture. Dormant buds tens to create "eyes" in the wood that make the burl even more spectacular when worked.

Burl wood is usually darker than the rest of the tree and in some cases may be a totally different color altogether. Because of the diverse grain direction, burl wood cannot be relied on for strength. That is why burls are prized for beauty and chosen for the more decorative items that includes most typical home or office wood burl furniture applications.

Burl wood can be difficult to dry without cracking. Sometimes there are bark inclusions in burls, and also sometimes gum pockets, either of which can cause surface defects when the burl is worked. In some species of wood, gum pockets are common in any burl found on the tree.

Burls come in all sizes and shapes from golf-ball sized and smaller to hundreds of pounds of massive growth on the side of a large tree. Woodsmen have reported burls as large as 4 feet by 8 feet in size. Many trees have been discovered with hundreds of small burls. On really large trees like the giant redwoods, burls commonly exist that are large enough to be used to create veneer. The good part is that they can be removed without harming an otherwise healthy tree.

"Cat's Paw" and "cluster burl" are a couple of commonly identified types of burl figures that are used in wood burl furniture. Cat's paw is frequently found in cherry and cluster burls are found in a number of species of trees.