Burl growth on trees for medical use. Cap, suvel

Sometimes painful growths appear on trees, which are popularly called “witch’s broom.” At first glance, this benign formation resembles in its shape human head. That is why it is generally accepted that the name of the growth comes from the ancient Slavic word “cap”. Translated it means “head”.

Where can you find growths on trees?

Burls are found on walnuts and oaks, on aspens, and however, the most common growth is on birch. The burl is a bunch of thin branches that grow from a teardrop-shaped new growth. A “witch’s broom” can weigh about a ton.

Stem? This is a growth that is located directly on the tree trunk. What is caporoot? This is a growth that has formed at the very root neck of the tree. Sometimes he can be seen above earth's surface. An underground drip grows on the roots. It is detected by shoots. The burl releases them in early spring. These shoots are not viable and quickly wither. Sometimes burls are found on tree branches.

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 dots are nothing more than non-viable shoots that are released by underground growths.

Where is the cap used?

The growth on wood is not particularly valuable as a material for carving. Its rugged surface and striped, mottled texture interfere with each other. When making crafts in this way, the relief of the carving is not visible and the pattern of weaves and streaks disappears.

Numerous areas of the burl have a pearlescent tint. That is why this material, which has no particular industrial significance, is very expensive. Products made from burl are mainly boxes and women's hairpins, cigarette cases and various small jewelry, bowls and chess sets and powder compacts, ink devices and The material is also used to make knife handles.

What is a burl in industry? This is a material that is used in furniture finishing. In this case, growths formed on trees of exotic species are taken and used as veneer.

What is a cap for a master? This is a material that does not warp, crack, dry out, or swell and is perfectly processed. In addition, it is weighty and durable.

Where can I find a cap?

Growths grow on trees. Therefore, you need to look for them in the forest. However, this is not so simple, because the mouth guards grow spontaneously, and only the most stubborn and big-eyed can see them. The growth can only be cut off with a very sharp saw.
The best place to find burl is at logging sites. There these growths end up in waste. At logging sites, you can also find caporoots, which you simply cannot find in the forest.

Preparing material for work

Cap can be found on various types trees. However, the growth that appears on the birch tree is considered the most beautiful and valuable in our area.

Burl products are not obtained immediately. The material requires some preliminary preparation. How to process birch burl? To do this, you need to use the steaming method. It is suitable for those growths that are not very large in size. The cap is cleared of debris, placed in an unnecessary pan and filled with water. Then you need to add salt to the container. Per liter of water, its dosage is two tablespoons with top. You can add more salt. She will draw the sap from the tree. This method also uses sawdust obtained from processing resinous wood. They need to be poured into a pan. The sawdust gives the burl a pleasant color that can range from yellowish-pink to brownish-ochre. The resins in the sawdust will add strength to the build-up and allow the texture to appear more clearly.

After the water boils, the heat should be reduced slightly and the pan should be left on the stove for six to eight hours. As scale forms, it should be removed. During the steaming process, you need to monitor the volume of water in the pan and add it periodically.

At the end of the “cooking”, the growth is washed to remove sawdust under running water and placed in a closet for a day or two. After this, the entire process must be repeated at least two to four times. During the last cooking, before the tree has cooled, you should peel off the bark from it, and upon completion, put the growth in a closet for one to two weeks.

Once completely dry, the burl will become similar in characteristics to bone. The material prepared in this way is excellent in cutting, sawing and sanding. At the same time, it will not have any foreign odors.

Making boxes

Crafts made from birch burl are not inferior in beauty to souvenirs made from 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. One more complex 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 and until all the veins of its amazing texture shine brightly.

Cane decoration

Using a mouthguard, you can make a wonderful gift for an elderly person with your own hands. The work can be done even by a novice. Hollow cylinders, which are previously machined from birch caporoot, should be alternately placed on the tube or metal rod. The parts should fit tightly together, creating the impression of a single whole. Such a cane can be crowned with a carved or smooth birch handle.

Burl bowl

Various souvenirs can be made from wooden growths. Popular burl products are decorative bowls. A rough blank is made from a little raw material. Next, the blank is left to dry. If small cracks form in it, they are smeared with PVA glue. After final drying, the product is given the required shape, it is sanded, polished and varnished.

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15.05.2017

The tree is the most common plant on earth.

Nature is incredibly generous, since it has given a person not only the opportunity to admire the beauty of trunks and leaves, but also to derive practical benefits from wood, because for several thousand years people have been using wooden products in their everyday life, building houses, boats, making furniture and household utensils, producing musical instruments, crafts, etc.

To date, there is no material that can completely replace the wonderful natural properties wood, since its density, color, texture, texture pattern and shades are unique in each case.

The natural uniqueness of the wood pattern is especially evident in cape And suveli(spherical or teardrop-shaped growths on trees), which pundits identified as diseases.

These formations create a complex enchanting pattern of wood fibers inside, consisting of an interweaving of colored lines, spots, inclusions, smoothly flowing into each other, which thus form a pattern of special beauty. Thanks to the richness of colors and lines, both burl and suvel are excellent natural materials for the production of various crafts, decorations, and interior items, since they have an exclusive texture (it is impossible to find two identical patterns in nature), and special strength and durability.

Let's try to determine how burl and suvel differ from each other, and what they have in common.

Cap

Cap ( caporoot or as it is also popularly called " witch's broom") is a round, benign formation on a trunk or branch with big amount wood knots. The burl differs from the suveli in that it has many bumps on its outer side, which are created thanks to accessory and dormant buds. These formations look like dark spikes and tubercles, which is why, often on the burl, you can see small shoots and twigs growing directly from it.

According to some scientists, a burl on a tree occurs as a result of either sudden change in the development of the plant, that is, it can have both a natural and anthropogenic cause. Some scientists believe that the appearance of an ugly tumor on a tree may be a hereditary deformity.

Burl is found mainly on deciduous trees, such as oak, linden, maple, alder, poplar, walnut, but most often it can be found on birch.

It has been noticed that on average, for one tree with a burl, there are from three to five thousand trees without such formation, so finding a good burl (unlike suveli) is quite difficult.

Most often on trees there is a root burl, which can be simply gigantic in size.

Usually, caporoot It has a faint texture inside and a weak color contrast pattern.

A burl formed on a branch often has the shape of an irregular ball and, unlike a bonnet root, when cut transversely, its internal texture is replete with patterns with the cores of knots and has a peculiar “needle-like” structure in the form of a small ornament with dashes and dots. The internal fibers of wood are intertwined into various directions, creating a picturesque design, and inclusions of dormant buds make the texture even richer, so the burl is most often used as a decorative element in the manufacture of various crafts, knife handles, gun butts, original dishes and other souvenirs.

Due to the strong density of its texture and the huge number of knots, the burl is not easy to process, but at the same time it is perfectly sanded and polished.

The main color of the internal texture of the burl is various shades of black or brown, ocher. Even if you take two halves of the same burl, they will still be different and have a different pattern, the structure of the build-up is so heterogeneous.

The wood of the burl is stronger than that of the suveli, and fifty to seventy percent stronger than that of the tree on which it was formed.

Small items are also made from burl: boxes, cigarette cases, hairpins, earrings, bracelets, and small jewelry.

There is no point in creating a carved pattern on the burl, since the texture and texture of the wood is beautiful in itself.

Suvel

The formation of suveli is caused by a tree disease (cancer) and it most often represents a growth twisted and woven into a lump, which is why it is also called let's svilem.

Typically, the wisp grows two to three times faster than the tree itself and has a teardrop-shaped or spherical shape located around the trunk or branch. The main difference between suveli and burl is that it is formed not from dormant buds, but due to the complex interweaving of annual rings curved in different directions (hence the name svil). By this feature, cones on a tree can be easily distinguished from each other.

Growths (especially on birch) are quite common, although the reason for its formation has not been fully studied. Presumably, the formation of a tangle can be initiated by a fungus or mechanical damage to the tree bark.

Suvel (popularly called wood bone), since its cut resembles the stains of marble (with the same iridescence and radial section), and the thin parts are visible through and look like bone, although the density of the tissues, as mentioned above, in suveli is less than in burl, so its wood is less durable.

A suveli growth can grow to gigantic proportions (for example, in the Vatican there is a font carved from a single piece of wood). However, the finer the pattern, the richer and brighter the pattern inside, although the pattern with ornamental elements will in any case be softer (without the “spikes” and “needles” patterns required for a burl).

The internal texture of suveli has a delicate pearlescent tint, and the colors of each can vary greatly and contain white, yellow (resembling the color of amber), as well as brown, pinkish and green colors. The shade of suveli depends on where the tree grows and how it is dried.

You can form a suvel yourself; to do this, just tie a tree trunk or branch with wire. At the site of the constriction, a convex formation created by annual rings will soon appear.

Suvel also lends itself well to processing, can be sanded and polished well, and its mother-of-pearl cut, reminiscent of marble, plays with streaks, has a unique texture and seems to glow from within.

Of course, it is impossible to determine how beautiful the pattern will be based on the appearance of the suveli, but the more clumsy and steeper the growth looks externally, the richer its texture and pattern will be inside.

The root (butt) part of suveli is considered the most valuable. It is of interest to woodcarvers, artists, knife makers, sculptors and cabinetmakers, who choose this material for its exclusive cut pattern, high strength, resistance to rotting and unique ability for processing.

Finding and preparing growths

Naturally, it is necessary to look for bulges on a tree in the forest. At the same time, many people confuse burl and svil with a similar mushroom from the genus (Inonotus), which most often lives on birch and is called chaga or black birch mushroom.

You need to learn to determine where the mushroom is and where the growth is.

The best time to cut down saplings and burls is in the fall (September-October), when the trees stop the natural movement of sap and begin preparing for winter.

It must be remembered that without a good saw, suvel or burl, especially if they are very clumsy, it is not easy to cut down, so this work is best done with a chainsaw, but it must be remembered that the tool chains quickly become dull due to the special strength of the build-up.

If you don’t have a chainsaw, you will have to work with a hand saw, but it must have sharp teeth with a good spread so that the master does not torment himself or the tree, and does not injure it in vain.

The cut site (to avoid the formation of an unwanted hollow for the tree) must be immediately covered with garden varnish, painted over with oil paint or covered with clay.

When a massive caporoot, it must be remembered that cutting it is fraught with serious consequences for the tree and as a result of the injury it may die.

All of the above properties of both burl and wood elevate these unique materials to the pinnacle of value among other types of wood, since they are used both in the finishing of various utilitarian items, as well as jewelry, small plastic items and tableware.

Cap- a growth on a tree with an abnormal wood structure, formed by the local growth of many densely seated accessory dormant buds. Sometimes a few of these hundreds and thousands of undeveloped buds germinate and sprout.

Burl on a tree - ash

The ancient Slavic word “kap” means “head”: usually the growth actually has a rounded shape. Other Old Russian names: bolona, ​​howl, vyplavok, swim, float, howl, paport, roll, goiter, svil, brush. In some sources, burls are also called “witch’s broom” or “whirlwind’s nest,” which is not entirely correct, since these names denote a completely different tree pathology.

Burl is formed on all deciduous (mainly) and coniferous trees trees. In Russian latitudes it can be found on birch, poplar, maple, linden, aspen, oak, ash, elm, and walnut.
The dimensions of the burl vary from several centimeters to several meters in cross-section. It takes decades, or even more than half a century, to form a medium-sized growth.
Cap - enough a rare event, and find at least one copy in the forest - great luck. However, there are trees with several or even many growths. As well as places with a concentration of burl trees.

Burls on a tree - birch

Typically, trays are divided into stem and root.
A trunk burl forms on thick branches or a trunk and can be lateral (develop on one side, most often the south) or circular (grasp a branch or trunk in a ring).
A basal growth - cap root - is formed on the root collar or roots of a tree. In the first case it is above the ground, in the second it is completely hidden and can be detected in the spring by young shoots near the main trunk of the tree, which quickly die.
A tree can have burls at the same time different types.

If you remove the bark from the burl, then underneath it an uneven, textured surface will be revealed, completely covered with needle-shaped, jagged and pineal-shaped tubercles - these are undeveloped buds.

Around each dormant bud there is already a rudimentary ring structure.

Dormant buds

→ Tree protection - antiseptik.info

Why does a cap appear?

Researchers have not reached a consensus regarding the reasons for the formation of growths.
The most natural explanation is that the emerging adventitious bud cannot grow through the thick and hard bark and freezes. However, the growth processes that have begun are accompanied by an influx to this place nutrients and the production of plant hormones, so new buds begin to form nearby, which also become dormant, and so on.

Opponents insist that there is an impact here external factors natural or anthropogenic. In particular, mechanical damage to the cortex (animals, birds, people, extreme elements, etc.) at the site of a dormant bud. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that on plantations walnut, where it is actively used vegetative propagation grafting (which is actually an injury), a root cap often develops on the rootstock below the grafting site. When the fruiting period of the nut expires, the tree is dug up along with the burl, which by that time has grown to a respectable size, and sold as a secondary product.

According to other versions, the formation of burls can be caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses, insects, weather anomalies (such as sudden spring frosts), changes in ecology and background radiation, special mineral composition of the soil, geological faults, and groundwater.

According to the conclusions of Soviet scientists, the formation of burls is biologically beneficial for trees, protective property, acquired in the process of evolution in response to unfavourable conditions external environment. Moreover, this is a genetically fixed (hereditary) quality. In the Moscow region and Kirov region, successful attempts were made to cultivate trees with growths using planting material from burl birches (seeds and cuttings for scion). It was noted that such trees are more viable and hardy.

The heterogeneous structure of the burl gives a unique, highly decorative pattern in a tangential section: dark dots are the cores of dormant buds, winding 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.

Material, which has long been known in Russia as wood bone.
This is a growth, see photo 1, (or influx, as it is also called) on Birch, which forms on a tree trunk along various reasons. For example, weather, climate impacts environment. Also, this effect can be achieved artificially by wrapping the trunk, for example, with wire; over time it will become overgrown with Suvelya. It was called bone due to the fact that after careful polishing and impregnation with various oils, the wood takes on a bone-like appearance, and its thin parts can be seen through.

Photo 1. View of Suveli after sleeping. It looks like a bump or swelling. Initially it is difficult to judge internal view wood after cutting it.

In most cases, with proper cutting, you can observe amazing phenomena, namely the interweaving of wood fibers that form pearlescent areas of different (unique) patterns and directions, which literally glow, reflecting daylight. Patterns and colors may be different, mostly pink-yellow, straw, or brownish yellow with a deep pearlescent glow on the cut, in some cases there are specimens with a dark brown color with the presence of marsh-green shades. This color range is explained by the fact that the wood grows in different conditions and areas, for example: If the growth was cut down in a very swampy area, then it is possible that the color of the wood will most likely be brownish-green. Or another example: If Suvel is located on the butt part of a tree (the butt part of the trunk is the part that is 10 - 15 cm underground and 15 - 20 cm above it, this is on average) and it is covered with moss, then most likely it will be dark brown with the presence of a pale pink tint, or straw yellow - golden with dark brown growth rings - that is, the presence dark shades will dominate, but not always.

Photo 2. A rare and valuable specimen of Suveli, naturally dried for about 1.5 years. In the photo you see the ray glow of the fibers when daylight. This glow is called “Mother of Pearl”, it can be of different types, from clear pearlescent rays to those that you see in other images, there is no limit to the variety.

Photo 3 . This sample is also rare, its main difference from the one on photo 2, this is a marble texture and drying technology, it was dried in a quick way, namely by boiling in a salty solution. The photo clearly shows how it differs from the one on photo 2, the one above has a total straw or golden color and on photo 3 The color is predominantly brownish pink.

Photo 4. Here you see a species that is also rare, but is more common than those in photos 2 and 3.

Photo 5. In this photo, mother-of-pearl stains are called ashy or glass. This type is the most common, but its value is not lost because everyone has different tastes. Some people like the radial section, while others like luminous ashy stains.

Photo 6. This, as we already understood, is the radial direction of the fibers with the presence of ashy stains. (mixed type)

Photo 7. A specimen that looks like a simple one, but in fact it is not, it is also a rare species that grows mainly in swamps, which is why it has such a color.

Photo 8. This is an example of how Suvel looks in finished form (product) in combination with reindeer antler and metals. Knife by Valery Sokolov "Svalbard", made in Scandinavian style.

More, general form This wood depends on the type of drying (this does not affect the quality of the products), there are several drying options.
1. Natural, this is when the wood has dried under natural conditions, without human intervention, that is, after cutting over time, the tree has dried out on its own.
2. Old Russian way quick drying, the wood is boiled in a salty solution for several hours, then the bark is removed and placed in a dark and dry place for several weeks, this is the minimum, and after that it is quite suitable for processing.
The noticeable difference after these types of drying is the color. During natural drying, the wood remains its natural color, and after cooking it acquires a soft pink or carrot tint, this is not for everyone, whoever wants it dries it the way he wants. In the skillful hands of a person who has everything in order with his imagination, any piece of wood will shine and look expensive, you just have to really want it and use your imagination.

Suvel is a material from which you can make various objects, for example, women's jewelry in the form of pendants, earrings, hairpins and bracelets, it depends on how much imagination a person has. Previously, but no, not only earlier and now some enthusiasts use it to make cutlery that is quite suitable for its intended purpose, take for example the Scandinavian “Kuks”, these are something like our mugs, only made of wood, better material you can't find Suvel for this.
But most importantly, this material is most suitable for making knife handles. Due to its inherent qualities, such as hardness, density, ease of processing and polishing, unique texture, variety color shades, the beauty of mother-of-pearl weaves, etc. One thing is clear that this material will never get boring, although some will disagree with me, this is their right. Previously, I made handles only from exotic types of wood, but they quickly tired me with their monotony and uniformity, although to each their own, and someone will say the opposite. But I definitely learned for myself that there is no better raw material than Birch and what it gives us in the form of Burps, Suvels, Svils, Butts and the root part.

All samples that you see in the form of bars are ground and polished, and then treated with shelf oil. This allows you to preserve the natural color of the wood and protect it from moisture and decay + treated with carnauba wax.

The variety of Suveli is very rich, I would say endless, this material is combined with almost all types of wood, bone, metals, etc.

Burls are growths and thickenings that are found on the trunks of birch, maple, oak, walnut, pine, etc. The following swellings occur in areas of tissue proliferation:

Its name comes from the Slavic “cap” - head. And indeed the burl resembles a human head on a tree. Burl is found on the branches of old trees and trunks. There is also a burl root, which is a burl that forms at the root part of the tree. The largest capo roots reach 2 m in diameter. Furniture is often made from capo root:

How it is an unusually durable and extremely decorative material, which is valued on a par with valuable wood. The texture of its pattern when cut is an interweaving of annual layers, the core of dormant buds in the form of concentric circles and dark dots. There are more dormant buds in the stem burl than in the root burl, so its texture is more expressive:

Burls are harvested only from fallen trees in sawmill areas. After the burl is cut, it is freed from bark, knots, and resin. Then the workpiece is boiled in a 5% solution table salt. The duration of boiling depends on the diameter of the workpiece: up to 10 cm in diameter, boil for about an hour, large pieces are boiled for up to 3-5 hours.

Boiling is necessary to neutralize the juice inside the workpiece, so it dries faster. After boiling, until the workpiece has dried, it is cleaned of any remaining bark. Boiling makes the texture of the design more expressive. Then the workpieces are dried for several weeks indoors, or for several hours in a drying cabinet or on a radiator. After this, the burl is sawed into plates. After this, give full rein to your imagination, making sure that your plans do not contradict natural beauty wood, emphasizing its structure. The inner part of the product is selected with an adze, semicircular chisels, and cranberries. When finishing the product, excess knots are removed, trying to reveal the interplay of different layers of wood, and sanded with sandpaper. Small cracks can be filled with putty by mixing small sawdust with PVA glue. If desired, the product can be tinted with stains or natural dyes, such as onion peels, alder cones, etc. You can coat the finished product with varnish or wax mastic.

Burls are used to make beautiful boxes, smoking pipes, chess sets, and knife handles:

Burls also make very decorative vases, candlesticks and simply sculptures for decorating the interior of natural shapes:

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