Bird's eye is a type of
figure that occurs within several kinds of wood, most notably in
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 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 legum ...
. 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 dor ...
, 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 mutation 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 eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the pri ...
'' (sugar maple), but millers also find bird's eye figure 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 nativ ...
,
white ash,
Cuban mahogany,
American beech
''Fagus grandifolia'', the American beech or North American beech, is a species of beech tree native to the eastern United States and extreme southeast of Canada.
Description
''Fagus grandifolia'' is a large deciduous tree growing to tall, w ...
,
black walnut
''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to ...
, 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 pa ...
. 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 in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
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 straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
. 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 (Pina ...
, which grows only in Tasmania. Although there are a few clues in a tree's bark that indicate the lumber might have bird's eye figure, it is usually necessary to fell the tree and cut it apart 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, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece ...
, 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" there are in lumber, 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
The Epiphone Les Paul is a solid body guitar line produced by Epiphone as a more modestly priced version of the famous Gibson Les Paul. Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson Guitar Corporation and manufactures the Les Paul model and other budget mo ...
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
References
External links
{{Commons category-inline, Bird's eye maple wood
Wood