Redwood trees are prevalent in California and parts of Oregon, where the majestically tall trees thrive. However, not as prevalent is the redwood burl. Also known as vavona burl, redwood burl yields an especially dramatic and varied collection of figures.

Typical uses for redwood burl include inlay and marquetry because the wood is usually small dimensionally, so it is a good fit for specialty items like jewelry boxes or turned designs.

Redwood burl yields many figures from a simple curl similar to curly maple, to a bee’s wing and a cat’s paw, and a blister.

Hurly-Burly
The glossary description for burl from the U.S.D.A. Forest Product Laboratory’s Wood Handbook, is a “hard, woody outgrowth on a tree, more or less rounded in form, usually resulting from the entwined growth of a cluster of adventitious buds.”

A burl is a growth above the ground, usually found near the base of the tree, although some burls are found way up a tree. Most people believe burls are caused by contact, when someone or something hits a tree, and are a consequence of damage. The burls can have bark inclusions, little holes or pinholes, or a cat’s paw figure, which looks like a cat made footprints across the grain. Redwood burl can also have a peck, like bird pecks you find in maple.

More Than Just Burl
Redwood burl is typically from old growth redwood stumps left behind because the loggers cutting the trees in the late 1800s and early 1900s wanted the fine-grained, straight wood found higher up the tree, and not the curly material in the stump.

The guitar makers love the reclaimed old growth material for its extremely tight and straight grain and the wood is often used for surfboards.

The redwood trees were named for their spongy red bark, according to author Hugh Johnson, Encyclopedia of Trees. Typical uses for the lumber, especially in the United States, include: exterior cladding, shingles, exterior joinery, wooden pipes and interior joinery, and other interior finish. The wood is sometimes rotary cut into veneer. Material with an interesting figure may be used for furniture and paneling.