The unearthly beauty of wood growths on different trees

Wood obtained from bulbous projections or deformations developing on some trees is called burl or suvel (sometimes knot). Read about the differences and similarities between suvel and burl in the article

The appearance of growths on wood is caused by various types of mechanical and internal stress influences

This may occur due to infection by fungi, mold or certain insects. Infestation or any type of damage to the tree causes round or nodular tumor-like growths on the tree.

Master's work with burl and suvel wood

Because of the texture of the wood grain, you need to be very careful when working with wood cut from tree growths.
Working with this type of wood is very difficult due to the irregular grains in the knot.

The rarer the pattern, the more expensive the furniture or sculpture made from wood growth will be. Typically, sculptors or artists hand-carve a piece from the growth using wood carving techniques or shape it on a lathe to create beautiful pieces from this wood.

Isn't it amazing that ugliness in wood can be turned into such beautiful works of art! Well, it would be correct to call handmade products made from burl and suvel a work of art created by the joint efforts of man and nature

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.

Products from burls and suvels of various types of wood

Australian red cedar burl/souvel Birch burl/souvel

Cherry cap/suvel

Elm burl/suvel

Walnut burl/suvel

Australian eucalyptus burl/suvel

Black wild walnut burl/suvel

White oak burl/suvel

Cap/suvel Ginkgo

Jasmine tree burl/suvel

Willow burl/suvel

Cedar burl/suvel

Dogwood burl/suvel

Cap/souvel of lime Cap/souvel of oleaginous angustifolia, coated with dark varnish
Cap/souvel of mango tree

Burl/suvel teak

burl/suvel of chestnut oak

Oak burl/suvel

Norway maple burl/suvel

Australian red cedar burl/suvel

Acacia cap/suvel

Cap/suvel afzelia

Birch burl/suvel

Cherry cap/suvel

Elm burl/suvel

Walnut burl/suvel

Walnut cap/souvel Walnut cap/souvel

Burl/suvel of elm tree

Oak burl/suvel

Cap/souvelle California chestnut

Maple burl/suvel

Juniper drop/souvelle

Olive tree burl/souvelle

Aspen burl/suvel

Burl/suvel pine

Cap/suvel yew

Black walnut burl/suvel

Eucalyptus cap/suvel

Maple burl/suvel

Juniper drop/souvelle

Burl/suvel pine

Cap/suvel tamarisk

Cherry cap/suvel

Cap/suvel yew

Olive cap/souvelle

Burl/suvel of Karelian birch

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