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 dormant buds. Burl formation is typically a result of some form of stress such as an injury or a viral or fungal infection.

Burls yield a very peculiar and highly figured wood sought after in woodworking, and some items may reach high prices on the wood market. Poaching of burl specimens and damaging the trees in the process poses a problem in some areas.

Description

A burl results from a tree undergoing some form of stress. It may be caused by an injury, virus or fungus. Most burls grow beneath the ground, attached to the roots as a type of malignancy that is generally not discovered until the tree dies or falls over. Such burls sometimes appear as groups of bulbous protrusions connected by a system of rope-like roots. Almost all burl wood is covered by bark, even if it is underground. Insect infestation and certain types of mold infestation are the most common causes of this condition.

In some tree species, burls can grow to great size. The largest, at , occur in coast redwoods ('' Sequoia sempervirens'') and can engirdle the entire trunk; when moisture is present, these burls can grow new redwood trees. The world's second-largest burls can be found in Port McNeill, British Columbia. One of the largest burls known was found around 1984 in the small town of Tamworth, New South Wales. It stands tall, with an odd shape resembling a trombone. In January 2009, this burl was controversially removed from its original location, and relocated to a public school in the central New South Wales city of Dubbo.

Use

Burls yield a very peculiar and highly figured wood, prized for its beauty and rarity. It is sought after by furniture makers, artists, and wood sculptors. There are a number of well-known types of burls (each from a particular species); these are highly valued and sliced into veneers for furniture, inlay in doors, picture frames, household objects, automobile interior paneling and trim, musical instruments, and woodturning.

The prized "" is not a species of a maple, but wood from a maple's burl (burr).
The famous birdseye maple of the sugar maple (''Acer saccharum'') superficially resembles burr maple, but it is something else entirely.
Burl wood is very hard to work with hand tools or on a lathe, because its grain is twisted and interlocked, causing it to chip and shatter unpredictably. This "wild grain" makes burl wood extremely dense and resistant to splitting, which made it valued for bowls, mallets, mauls and "beetles" or "beadles" for hammering chisels and driving wooden pegs.Sloane, Eric (1973). ''A Museum of Early American Tools''. New York: Ballantine Books. pp. 28–32. .

Poaching

Because of the value of burls, ancient redwoods in national Parks in Western United States have recently been poached by thieves for their burls, including at Redwood National and State Parks. Poachers often cut off the burls from the sides of the trunks using chainsaws, which exposes the tree to infection and disease, or fell the entire tree to steal burls higher up. Because of risk of poaching, Jeff Denny, the state park's redwood coast sector supervisor, encourages those buying burl to inquire where it came from and to ensure it was obtained legally. Legal acquisition methods for burl include trees from private land cleared for new development and from lumber companies with salvage permits.

Gallery

File:doggerel bowl.jpg, A bowl made from a plum tree burl
File:Giantburl.jpg, A giant burl near Solduc Falls in Olympic National Park
File:Spruce burl at University of Alberta.jpg, A large spruce burl on display at the University of Alberta
File:Burr section on Larch.JPG, A longitudinal section through a larch burl from Ayrshire, Scotland
File:Broussins sur un cyprès.jpg, Multiple burls on an ancient cypress tree at the Beijing Temple of Confucius in China
File:Redwood NP Burl Cut May 2013 (2).jpg, A park ranger inspects a redwood tree illegally cut to obtain a burl, Redwood National Park, California
File:Spruce Burl trail, Kalaloch Beach, Washington 02.jpg, Burls on Sitka spruces, Olympic National Park, Washington, USA
File:Palfauer Wasserlochklamm Ohrwaschlbaum 2012-08 Naturdenkmal 975.jpg, Burl near Palfau,
in central Austria
File:Quercus-petraea-30-11-2009-001.jpg, Burl on a sessile oak
('' Quercus petraea'')
Brohmer Bergen, Germany
File:北京中山公园 千年古树 树瘤.jpg, One of several thousand-year-old Platycladus with many burls in Zhongshan Park, west of Tian'anmen
File:金龜樹 Pithecellobium dulce 20210907092835 01.jpg, Burls ''Pithecellobium dulce''
File:雨豆樹 Samanea saman 20210914102518 01.jpg, Burls on hollow trunk, '' Samanea saman''

See also

* Canker
* Forest pathology
* Gall

References

Further reading

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* {{cite journal , last=Zalasky , first=Harry , year=1975 , title=Low-temperature-induced cankers and burls in test conifers and hardwoods , journal=Canadian Journal of Botany , volume=53 , issue=21 , pages=2526–35 , doi=10.1139/b75-277

External links

Video footage of tree burrs

Antiques
Furniture
Trees
Wood