"Burls typically occur in a tree that has suffered some sort of environmental stress or injury, such as from insects. Burls grow around the injury in a deformed grain pattern, creating a highly figured wood prized among furniture makers and furniture buyers for its beauty and rarity.

 

But laying up burl can cause interesting results. Burl is typically book and buttmatched. As you lay it out, quickly a pattern results. What one sees in the pattern is in the eye of the beholder, but both in art and nature it is human tendency to see faces. Due to the natural changes in wood, the faces might change. What starts looking very much like an alien, might then be the devil, and then a puppy dog and then teddy bear.

 

For the adventurous like me, there is tremendous beauty and interest in the patterns formed by burl. But for the more conservative, such as religious institutions, we sometimes advise against burl, are careful how we lay it up or suggest limiting its use to a center medallion or interior accent band or exterior border, for example.

 

Burl also costs more because of its rarity. And it usually requires a polyester finish to keep it stable. (Burl is an active wood that tends to move with changing humidity conditions. Polyester is an impervious and flexible surface that keeps it stable, reducing the chance of cracking as the veneer moves.)

 

So if interest, beauty or art are what you seek, a burl could very well be for you. But if the chairman of the board might be offended by the devil (or a teddy bear) starring back at him or her below a shiny polyester surface of your brand new WallGoldfinger boardroom table, well, a straighter grain wood is probably what you're after."