An original solution for the creative ideas of wood craftsmen is to create decor or souvenir products using birch burl or souvel. These materials differ from other wood in the uniqueness of their cut pattern.
A birch burl is a growth on a tree, from which thin tree branches protrude, with buds formed on them. It has a very high density, even higher than that of the tree trunk itself. The pattern on the cut of the burl is original and unique. Tree growth rings are intertwined with dotted inclusions and create a unique pattern.
Processing birch burl with your own hands is not easy due to the high hardness of the material. After processing, the product resembles malachite and is cast with mother-of-pearl. The color of the pattern is milky with black and brown shades.
Suvel grows on a tree due to its disease or damage and grows much faster than burl. This material is softer and more pliable than burl in processing. It has unique patterns reminiscent of marble, which are formed due to its position on the tree.
Wood suvel
Suvel is a growth on a birch or other deciduous tree that forms two or three times faster than the tree grows. It is most often provoked by a disease called wood cancer. The reason for its appearance has not yet been fully studied.
People call these formations woody bone. This name comes from the image on the cut, which repeats the patterns of marble, and in thin places resembles bone.
Often, ordinary people confuse burl or suvel with other formations. Most of all, caps are confused with chaga. The difference between chaga and burl on a birch is that chaga is not a growth, but a mushroom that grows on the trunk after its spores get into the damaged bark. Chaga can be cut from a tree using any available means, but the burl will be difficult to cut down even with an ax due to its high density.
Processing burl and suvel is a pleasure for woodworkers, although it is not an easy task. The burl is particularly difficult to process, but the patterns that are revealed when the material is polished are surprising in their uniqueness and variety.
Burl and suvel of birch are ideal for creating decorative products. Thanks to their original texture, there is no need to create carved patterns. Therefore, they are used to make integral crafts and decorations - everything that looks great in a polished state.
Which mouthguard to choose
When choosing a boxing mouth guard, remember how much a visit to the dentist costs. “Repairing” one tooth will cost more than a good insert.
Production leaders refused to produce double-sided protectors (for both jaws). Therefore, we will not consider them.
Single-sided plates, as you now know, come in one-, two- and three-layer types. Prices for single-layer protectors start from 150 rubles.
A reliable three-layer Everlast mouthguard , with the maximum degree of protection, will cost 1000-1100 rubles.
Need recommendations from MMA fighters - choose Venum . The defense was created by fighters based on personal experience. With such a boxing mouth guard you can go into the ring. Professional protection costs 1200 to 2500 rubles.
If you want a bright design from British aristocrats, check out Opro mouth guards .
The undisputed favorite remains the brand - Shock Doctor . Three-layer protection, a wide price range, warranty obligations - this is the number one policy.
Texture
Burl and suvel of birch differ in their texture from any other wood. The unique patterns on the cut can be explained by the formation process.
Burl grows on birch for various reasons:
- A bud begins to emerge under the bark, but due to the hardness of the bark it cannot break through. Nutrients are supplied to the kidney, due to which adventitious buds are formed. Their development and inability to break through form a growth on the tree.
- Mechanical damage caused by humans, animals, insects or natural phenomena can also cause the normal development of the kidney to stop. But it strives for life, despite its deformation, and forms a new growth on the trunk.
- At the site where the bud appears, the tree devotes all its energy to the development of burl due to bacteria, fungi or late spring frosts.
Understanding the pattern of burl formation, which grows very slowly, but becomes larger over the years, we can assume that the pattern created by the growth of wood and adventitious buds will be truly unique. Burls grown on trunks have a more ornate and pronounced structure than those grown at the roots.
The growth rings are twisted and intertwined with the cores of the shoots. The pattern on the cut is not immediately visible. It only appears after the wood has been processed by sanding, polishing and toning. After processing, burl products have different shades and are cast with mother-of-pearl. The patterns resemble malachite.
Suvel has a structure that is different from burl, but unique and exquisite in its own way. The image on the cut of suvel resembles waves, stripes, spots or bends. This pattern is obtained due to the uneven formation of wood rings, due to tree disease or mechanical damage.
The smooth and soft surface of suvel is easier to process. Finished products made from this material amaze with their shine and variety of patterns, reminiscent of the surface of marble.
Burl texture
The heterogeneous structure of the burl gives a unique, highly decorative pattern in a tangential section: dark dots are the cores of dormant buds, tortuous areas are elongated and twisted annual layers. In a radial section, light and dark rays are distinguishable. The wide palette of burl colors includes various shades of milky, brown, green, and pink. The color depends on the type of tree, its growing conditions, and the location of the thickening. The texture of the stem growth is richer than that of the burl, and the burl of valuable and exotic tree species is more expressive compared to ordinary ones. On a fresh cut, the texture is weakly expressed; to reveal it, the grain is subjected to grinding, toning and polishing. As a result, a picturesque pattern and multicolor appear, a muted shine and shimmer in the light appear. The burl pattern is often compared to malachite and marble. The comparison with stone is also apt because the growth is characterized by increased density and hardness and is heavier than the parent wood.
Birch burl texture
Burl is used in its entirety to create artistic products, and in veneer for finishing exclusive items and furniture. Burls of thuja, myrtle, camphor and some other trees retain their characteristic aroma even after processing.
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Blank
In nature, suvel is found much more often than kapa. Trees with such lesions can be found in deciduous or mixed forests located in both dry and swampy areas. It must be taken into account that cutting a suvel or burl on a growing birch tree can lead to its death. Therefore, after cutting down the material, it is necessary to cover the living layer with varnish.
On dead trees, the formations are already affected by rot and are not suitable for production. Therefore, finding a suitable material for the workpiece is not easy. It is better to do this in mid-autumn.
It is impossible to determine by the type of formation what it will be like in the cut. But the more crooked and tortuous the suvel and the more twigs on the burl, the more saturated the pattern will presumably be. Working with such material is more difficult, but more interesting.
It is quite difficult to cut down suvel and burl, the chains become dull quickly, so good sharpening of the tool is necessary. You can cut it with a hacksaw or bow saw, but this will require a lot of physical effort.
Birch suvel has a different texture when cut. It can be pronounced or completely invisible. Suvel with a texture that is difficult to see usually has higher strength. But you will never guess by the appearance of the growth that there is a cavity or a beautiful ornate bend in it.
What are mouthguards for boxers made from? And how much does it cost
What are mouthguards for boxers made from? And how much does it cost
It may seem that today the mouth guard is perceived last of all as protection for the teeth and soft tissues of the oral cavity: MMA fighter Andrei Orlovsky asks to have his fangs cast on the mouth guard and this is what the American public remembers; Floyd Mayweather sews a cut hundred dollar bill into his mouth guard and makes him talk about money again; Anastasia Yankova takes photos before sparring and notes that the shape of the upper lip with a mouth guard looks bizarre. And if you are boxing for yourself and suddenly welded and put on a mouthguard, then you will feel as if you had just completed at least the first adult category.
Dentist Sergei Tsukor once made a mouthguard for himself and tested it by running around the stadium and working several approaches on the horizontal bar. This detail was revealed when we asked why, having trained as a dentist and working as one, we should make custom mouthguards for athletes:
Photo: © Michael Dodge / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
“At first it was interesting as a form of prevention,” says Sergei, who heads a serious Moscow clinic. – When you are engaged in the treatment and restoration of teeth, you begin to pay attention to those factors that spoil your work. And when you communicate with people who lose or damage their teeth as a result of sports training, you begin to think about how to avoid this.
I actually made my very first professional mouthguard in 2003–2004. I remember that at that moment I lived in Chertanovo, in the area of the equestrian sports complex, where I often went jogging. And so I put on this mouthguard and ran, and then began to do some exercises on the horizontal bar. It was necessary to understand how comfortable it was to breathe and train in it.
According to the technology, it was a mouth guard, made, as today, using a vacuum former from several layers of special material. It’s just that the vacuum former and the materials themselves were different back then.
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– Let us clarify what a vacuum former is and what materials are needed?
– A vacuum former is a device that, using temperature and pressure, combines several layers of material into a single whole. The material itself is sold in the form of round plates, similar in structure to silicone or rubber, with a diameter of 7–10 cm, in boxes. One box, if you buy good German material, costs about two thousand rubles. Vacuum former - approximately 200 thousand.
– How does this all turn into a mouthguard?
– First you need to understand what degree of protection is needed. If we are talking about a professional, then this is, as a rule, a mouth guard of four layers, where the strongest layer is in the middle. We discuss design. We made it for Georgy Chelokhsaev in three colors, in the form of the flag of Ossetia. Moreover, making a mouth guard from three colors is much more difficult than applying a design later.
Next we take a cast. If you have ever had dentures, you can imagine what it is like: a pasty mass similar to plasticine is placed into the oral cavity along the contour of the jaw, then the person is asked to clench his teeth. Another thing is that for me, as a doctor, the impression here is more informative than for prosthetics of one tooth. Here I need to understand how the teeth are located throughout the jaw, what the gums look like, and what the shape of the bone is in principle.
Then the dental technician and designer work. The first one makes the product itself: plaster is poured into the cast, the plaster hardens and an exact copy of your jaw is obtained. The plaster cast is installed in a vacuum former, and the technician begins to apply material to it layer by layer. Then they begin to cut the resulting blank, shape the edges, and thin out the layers somewhere, taking into account the characteristics of the jaw of a particular athlete. Next, the designer prints the required design or inscription on film, transfers it to the mouthguard, and then the technician laminates it, applying the last transparent layer.
But now neuromuscular mouthguards have appeared, and in their manufacture there is an additional step that lasts about an hour. Using special equipment, the unique position of the lower jaw is determined, which allows a person to achieve the most comfortable position when closing the jaws. From the outside, it looks as if electrodes are connected to a person’s face and a very weak current charge is released for some time so that the muscles relax as much as possible. And we fix this situation.
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Have you noticed that with maximum effort the jaw always closes involuntarily. If we close it in the correct position, then the person will develop muscle efforts at a higher quality level. He will be sharper, tougher, and able to tolerate pain better. The neuromuscular mouth guard makes it possible to find just such a position.
– They write that such mouthguards cost about 45 thousand rubles. How often do they come for them?
– Under our conditions, it is difficult to call the production of mouth guards a business compared to the overall volume of dental services. Rather, it’s just interesting for me personally – it’s an opportunity to communicate with people from the world of sports. We do a maximum of 10 drops per month, one or two neuromuscular drops. Moreover, for some athletes we can do it for free: now, for example, we have agreed with Eduard Troyanovsky that we will make him both just a good mouthguard and a neuromuscular one. They will be the same in design, it will be difficult to distinguish them externally, but we will ask him to box in one and the other so that he can tell which one is better.
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If you don’t hire professionals, then such mouthguards are sometimes ordered by wealthy people who train for themselves. There was a case when a hockey player came to me and told me that he was vomiting in a mouthguard: “I put it on, but I skate and think about how to make sure that I don’t vomit.” They made a good one, he says he put it on and forgot it.
– Are there people who believe that the story about the neuromuscular mouthguard is a myth?
– There are those who are not impressed, yes. For example, I told one of the coaches about it, but I realized that he was not enthusiastic about it, although his athlete competes in the UFC and we offered him to just do it for free. He says it's not necessary.
I can find several articles in English with research results at once. I can say that I viewed each of them through the prism of my knowledge acquired at the institute. So I have no doubts.
– Why do boxers wear a mouthguard only on the upper jaw?
– According to statistics, 80% of injuries occur on the upper anterior incisor. Accordingly, they protect it, especially since the lower ones receive passive protection: when you put on a mouth guard, a bumper is created that covers the teeth on the lower jaw.
Lower jaw guards are used in golf.
- For what?
– In fact, mouth guards can be used in many sports. In golf, for example, when hitting, there is a very sharp and rigid closure of the jaw. This is harmful to the enamel and may cause chips and cracks. Mouthguard protects.
Weightlifters order mouthguards that are almost invisible in the mouth. I would even recommend mouthguards for those who just go to the gym and like to lift heavy weights, since even in some ordinary stressful situations in life you can tightly close your teeth, not to mention training, and this is not very useful. Weightlifters clench their teeth so hard that their cusps are removed, nothing remains of the enamel, and this begins to affect the bite.
- Interesting.
– There is a study from the 1960s that concluded that 60% of injuries in American football were dental injuries. They introduced mouthguards - and 60% turned into 0.01% or so. Imagine the difference!
In basketball, teeth are removed with your elbows. There, mouthguards are not used so actively, and a significant part of the injuries occur in the maxillofacial area. Barack Obama received 12 stitches on his lip when he was simply elbowed in some episode where he was not even attacked.
– Ovechkin says that he doesn’t put the tooth in because they’ll knock it out anyway. He can't afford a good mouth guard or is it really not helping?
– In the middle of the mouth guard there is a very hard layer that can withstand even a blow from a club. I don’t want to jinx it, but according to my statistics, in the mouth guards we make, people have not yet lost their teeth. About Ovechkin, my personal opinion is that this is part of the image. If he had ordered a normal mouth guard for himself, then there would be no need to say that with a high probability he would have had his tooth knocked out again. It seems to me that for him the absence of a tooth is also an element of his image.
Photo: © Bruce Bennett / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
– If he makes it in the USA, will it be better than in Russia?
– Just in case, Russian dentistry is at a very high level, higher than in many countries of the world. I compared when people who were treated in England, the USA, and other countries came to us. We are not conceding anything. It is clear that we have problems with the availability of quality services, but, in principle, in Russia you can get dental care of the same level as abroad, or higher. If we project this onto our question, then I had experience when I worked with the Americans in the manufacture of mouth guards. I made the design, impressions and position of the jaw here and sent it to the USA. All the human mistakes that happen when several people interact at work are the same. That is, the specialists there are no better than us. Conventionally, you order the Pobedonosec inscription, and they send you Pobedonoses. And this is on a cape that has already arrived across the ocean. I specifically disassembled, cut the mouth guards made in the USA, and looked: there is nothing special about the technology, they are no better than ours.
– Floyd Mayweather said that he sewed cut hundred dollars into his mouthguard. Can we do it again?
“We had an order where a person painted teeth on the cap, an almost natural human jaw, and one front tooth was made gold. They didn't just paint it yellow, they actually applied 24-karat foil, super thin, but it was real gold. This was not a professional boxer, but a man who trained quite seriously for himself. And when he opened his mouth, drawn even white teeth appeared and among them was one gold one.
Photo: Al Bello / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru, Michael Dodge / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru, Bruce Bennett / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
Drying
To ensure that the workpiece does not delaminate or collapse while drying naturally, it is necessary to dry it gradually. There are several ways to dry suvel or birch burl at home.
Here are the two most popular ones:
- Boiling in water with table salt. This method is suitable for small pieces of birch. The workpiece is cleaned of all unnecessary growths, rags and dirt and placed in water, which should be 2 cm higher. Per 1 liter. You need 2 tbsp of water. salt. Then, resinous sawdust must be added to the water, which will ultimately give the product an ocher tint. It is necessary to boil for 6-8 hours, then carefully remove and rinse the workpiece under running water. After two days, the cooking procedure must be repeated, but reduce the boiling time by a couple of hours. After two days, the boiling process must be repeated, if necessary, reducing the time by another couple of hours. After this, remove from the boiling water and peel off the remaining bark on the hot workpiece. After 2-3 weeks the material is ready for processing. This method is only suitable for small workpieces!
- Larger pieces take longer to dry. Under no circumstances should you bring the workpiece into a dry room when drying at home. Prepared cuts need to be coated with paint or drying oil. If dried properly, they dry within 2-3 months. The temperature should be about 10-15 degrees. Then they can be removed indoors, where they will dry completely and be ready for processing in about six months.
Choosing protection for a child
A children's mouthguard is different in size from an adult's. Manufacturers produce two types of earbuds.
Children's – up to 10 years old, for a child under 140 cm tall. Adult – over 10 years old, for an athlete taller than 140 centimeters.
If the mouthguard turns out to be large, then the size is adjusted after “trying on”. Cut the long ends of the plate with a sharp knife or blade. If necessary, the protector can be “cooked” again.
The OPRO company produces special mouth guards for children . Professional orthopedists take part in the development of new models.
If your child has braces, purchase a specialized mouth guard. It’s called “for braces.”
Treatment
Processing birch burls with your own hands is a creative and interesting activity for any specialist who is interested in woodworking. Not everyone can dry birch burl at home. To do this, you need to practice on less valuable wood.
It is necessary to take into account that the preparation for deep dishes from suvel or burl is done even before drying. That is, the required recess is cut out and given a pre-designed shape. Then the workpiece is dried, after six months it can be taken out and refined to perfection.
Why do you need a boxing mouth guard?
Boxing mouthguard - accurately follows the shape of the jaw and protects the oral cavity during a fight. A dental insert is a mandatory element of sports equipment. Without protection, a fighter will not be allowed into the ring.
Why is the plate needed? 1. Protects teeth from knocking out and chipping. 2. Protects the oral cavity from internal cuts. If there is no mouthguard, then the lips and cheeks are torn from the impact of the fangs and sharp edges of the teeth. 3. Prevents tongue biting during impact. 4. Covers gums from cuts. 5. Protects the jaw from dislocations and fractures. 6. Reduces the risk of concussion.
Application of mouthguard and suvel
Thanks to proper drying, beautiful and unique crafts from birch burl are obtained. The most popular products from burl and suvel are dishes made by craftsmen, wooden jewelry, various figurines, stands, boxes, souvenir jewelry, earrings, bracelets, etc.
Such products smell like wood for a very long time and do not lose their appearance, even with prolonged use. Only a true artist and master of his craft can create a real work of art from a simple piece of wood!
The best manufacturers of mouth guards for boxing and MMA
There are many companies that make mouthguards for contact sports. But there are brands that are among the best, in any rating.
SHOCK DOCTOR
American brand Shock Doctor, a leader among manufacturers of protective equipment. They specialize in the production of boxing mouth guards from high-tech gel. Even inexpensive models have a three-layer construction.
Manufacturers claim that thanks to high technology, the mouthguard absorbs 40% of impact energy. That's why they produce models with low sides. The protector provides reliable protection to both jaws and does not interfere with conversation.
The manufacturer is so confident in its product that it guarantees compensation of up to 15 thousand dollars to anyone who loses a tooth while using the onlay.
VENUM
The company specializes in the production of protective equipment for professionals. The brand was founded in 2006. The central office is located in Brazil.
The founders of Venum know first-hand what it's like to miss a beat. The origins of the brand are Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters. The company was created specifically for the production of sports equipment.
Manufacturers Venum maintain close relationships with UFC stars. The best fighters of the Cell are involved in the development of new defense models.
OPRO
The English brand was founded in 1997. The company is a licensed partner of the UFC. This fact says a lot. You can trust such protection.
In addition, all OPRO models have an antibacterial coating. The package includes an antimicrobial box. In 2007, Opro received the Queen's Award for Innovation in Oral Protection.
EVERLAST
The brand was founded in 1910 in the USA. Specializes in the production of sportswear and protective equipment for martial arts.
The campaign's products are chosen by world-famous stars. Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and many other boxing geniuses performed in EVERLAST equipment.
Over a hundred years, the company has accumulated vast experience in the development of security elements and has its own patented technologies. For example, boxing gloves contain “EverGEL” - a special gel, the composition of which is kept secret. It protects your wrists by cushioning and dissipating impact energy. The same technologies are used in boxing mouth guards.
To make the famous brand available to the masses, production was moved to China. Affordable prices, plus modern technologies. Summarize and you will understand why Everlast mouthguards are known in all boxing schools.
The beauty of an amazing material
If you make a cross section of the burl, you can discover its structure, in which the cores of the knots are clearly visible. The design of such material is always very beautiful. Due to the accumulation of unopened buds, the cut presents an amazingly beautiful picture of knots, curls and twisted fibers. Moreover, the design for each burl is strictly individual.
The burl formed on trees with a striped fiber texture and contrasting color combinations is particularly beautiful. Pine growths have these characteristics. However, they are quite rare on these trees.
Caporoot may have black spots in its texture. They are located among the light stem fibers. These black spots are nothing more than non-viable shoots that are released by underground growths.
How to “cook” a boxing mouthguard, instructions (video)
In fact, there is no need to cook the kapa. The workpiece is immersed in hot water (80-90° C) for 30-60 seconds. The exact time and water temperature are indicated in the instructions.
Then the plate is taken out, shaken (or dipped in cold water for 1 second) and put on the teeth.
The plate is pressed on the teeth with your fingers. The insert must be pulled over the gum and pressed tightly against the teeth.
After the protector is placed on the upper jaw, you need to close your teeth and bite down. There is no need to clench your teeth too hard to avoid biting through the protector.
The last step is to immerse the liner in cold water.
To reinforce the information, watch the video. It's easier to see once than to read twice.
Making boxes
Crafts made from birch burl are not inferior in beauty to souvenirs made from Karelian birch wood, and even surpass them. Magnificent boxes are often made from this material.
During the work process, the burl boards are carefully connected to each other, making sure that their texture pattern is similar. A very important operation is the manufacture of wooden hinges. This step requires the precise formation of rounded tenons and grooves on the edges of the lid and body of the product. The hinges must fit tightly and accurately. Another difficult operation is drilling holes. In wooden hinges this is easiest to do with thin steel wire. At the next stage, a lock is cut into the box. The product is almost ready. It should only be puttied, thoroughly dried and the surfaces coated with alkaline varnish. After completing these works, the box is treated with polish and wiped with alcohol. The product is polished until the wood acquires an amber color and until all the veins of its amazing texture sparkle brightly.
