Bird's eye is a type of

figure Figure may refer to: General *A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration *Figure (wood), wood appearance *Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif * Noise figure, in telecommunication * Dance figure, an elementary dance patt ...

that occurs within several kinds of wood, most notably hard maple. It has a distinctive pattern that resembles tiny, swirling eyes disrupting the smooth lines of

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

. It is somewhat reminiscent of a

burl A burl (American English) or burr (British English) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from d ...

, but it is quite different: the small knots that make the burl are missing. It is not known what causes the phenomenon. Research into the cultivation of bird's eye maple has so far discounted the theories that it is caused by pecking birds deforming the wood grain or that an infecting fungus makes it twist. However, no one has demonstrated a complete understanding of any combination of climate, soil, tree variety, insects, viruses, or genetic mutations that may produce the effect. Bird's eye maple is most often found in ''

Acer saccharum ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the p ...

'' (sugar maple), but millers also find bird's eye figures in

red maple ''Acer rubrum'', the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant nati ...

, white ash, Cuban mahogany, American beech,

black walnut ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to central and eastern North America, growing mostly in riparian zones. Black walnut is susceptible to thousand can ...

, and

yellow birch ''Betula alleghaniensis'', the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the p ...

. Trees that grow in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

region of Canada and the United States yield the greatest supply, along with some varieties in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. It is not uncommon in

Huon Pine ''Lagarostrobos franklinii'' is a species of conifer native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. It is often known as the Huon pine or Macquarie pine, although it is actually a podocarp (Podocarpaceae), not a true pine (Pinacea ...

, which grows only in Tasmania. Although a tree's bark may offer a few clues that indicate the lumber might have bird's eye figure, felling the tree and cutting it apart is necessary to know for sure.

Characteristics

In most characteristics, wood with bird's eye figure is no different from the rest of the wood from the same tree. Depending on the frequency and radius of the birdseye swirls, each wide, the wood may be extremely valuable. While woodworkers prize the timber primarily for its use in veneers, it also turns well on a

lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the w ...

, allowing it to be shaped into decorative canes, chair legs, and handles.

Uses

Bird's eye maple may be expensive, up to several times the cost of ordinary hardwood. It is used in refined specialty products, such as in automobile trim, both in solid form and veneer, boxes and bowls for jewelry, thin veneer, humidors, canes, furniture inlays, handles, guitars, bowed instruments, custom rifle stocks and pool cues are popular uses. Items made with this wood tend to be more expensive not only because the wood is more costly but because it is harder to work. When working with bird's eye wood, it is advisable to take care in what tools are used, so as to prevent grain tearout. Also the more "eyes" lumber has, the weaker the wood tends to be.

Gallery

File:Herter Brothers - Cabinet - Google Art Project.jpg, Cabinet (c.1880) by Herter Brothers File:Washstand after restoration - front angled (by Richard).jpg, Washstand: bird's eye can be seen on the surface of drawer. File:Epiphone Les Paul Classic Birdseye (1994-1998) body.jpg, Epiphone Les Paul Classic Birdseye (1994–98) body File:Bird's eye maple body electric bass guitar (by PublicDomainPictures@pixabay).jpg, Electric bass guitar with bird's eye maple top File:Höfner 468 Archtop guitar with solid carved birdseye maple back, 19 Feb 1961 body date.jpg, Höfner 468 archtop guitar back hand-carved from solid piece of bird's eye maple. Made in Germany, 19 Feb 1961.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Bird's eye maple wood Wood Wood-related terminology