Thuya Burl Boxes

While wandering around the local Rocklers woodworking store, I ran into this cool looking piece of wood, called Thuya Burl, so I bought it and brought it home. I learned on the net that a burl is a portion of the rootstock of a tree (at or underground) where the wood, as the tree expands, envelopes the smaller tap roots, forming these little knot inclusions.

Thuya is a tree that grows in various parts of Africa and has been long prized for it's deep rich color, especially when burled. It is typically cut into thin veniers and used for inlay, etc. However, it is also commonly made into small boxes, as I ended up doing with my piece.

The wood is fairly tough to work and produces an acrid sawdust that irritates your nose. I once again used the Bandsaw and Scrollsaw to cut boxes from solid pieces of wood. The hinges are, again, simply little nubs of wood with pieces of paperclips for hinge-pins.

I still have the largest portion of the original piece of wood left. Who knows, maybe I'll carve some more boxes from it!.