What are caps and suveli, how do they differ? How and where are they prepared? How to quickly and efficiently dry the growths at home?

cap

So, to begin with, let's define some concepts.

cap(aka " witch broom") is a benign formation on a tree, which is a bundle of thin twigs growing from a drop-shaped (most often) growth. When cross-sectioned, it has a texture with pronounced knot cores. It is difficult to process due to the strongly curly texture and a huge number of knots. Extremely beautiful , durable, perfectly sanded and polished.

Separate numerous areas have a mother-of-pearl tint. It has no great industrial value, but is valued very dearly because of its beauty. If it is used in industry, it is only in the form of veneer for furniture finishing (mostly exotic wood burl is used), as well as for the production of small items such as caskets, cigarette cases, women's hairpins, and small jewelry (birch burl). The use of a burl on the handles of knives is considered good taste, and is also valued by wood carvers for its unique texture.

It is impossible to find two identical pieces of burl - even halves of a sawn burl have a different pattern, the growth is so heterogeneous. It grows on many trees (linden, alder, birch, maple, oak, etc.), but the most valuable and beautiful is birch (from those growing in our latitudes). The growth is usually small, at most the size of a volleyball or a large plate.

It does not make sense to cut some kind of pattern on the cap, since the texture clogs everything.

The photo shows a birch burl. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a cut of a birch burl (I took these pictures near the local police station, and, as you understand, they wouldn’t give me anything to cut down there ... But I contrived and found an ash burl; most of the burls are similar in texture and differ only in color and size of knot cores).

(swirl) - as the name implies, the growth got its name because of its structure. "twisted structure",

This is putting it mildly. Suvel is a drop-shaped or spherical growth on a tree (there is also an annular variety, it covers the tree trunk around the perimeter), it usually grows 2-3 times faster than the tree itself. When sawn, it has a texture similar in pattern to marble and mother-of-pearl (this is the main sign of difference from mouth guard; in the future, do not confuse suvel and cap). The presence of mother-of-pearl stains on a polished tree creates a beautiful iridescent picture that glows from the inside. The twist is also poorly processed, like the burl, but not as hard. The size varies from the size of a nut up to 1.5 meters in height (I myself saw one on a birch) and up to 2 meters in diameter (an annular suvel completely covered the tree trunk).

In the Vatican, there is a font much more than a meter in diameter, carved from a single piece of suvel. He himself once sat in an armchair carved from suveli. Holds fine thread perfectly, but it is not recommended to cut the suvel. It is better to sand and varnish (impregnate with oil). The product will only benefit from this.

The most valuable is the root or butt streak. The presence of dark veins and well-defined twisted annual rings. This is a fairytale. BEAUTIFUL, that says it all. The barrel suvel is distinguished by a finer texture and a finer "frosty" pattern. And lighter wood. In terms of strength, the butt suvel is slightly superior to the stem one due to the structural features of the tree trunk. Suvel is strong, beautiful, easily polished and polished. Well-dried and processed, it begins to "glow" from the inside (with proper impregnation with oils, the tree becomes like amber and even a little transparent). Usually has a color from pale yellow or pinkish brown to quite ocher brown. It all depends on the conditions and drying time. Cap has the same colors.

As you can see, the suvel does not look like a cap at all.

- this is a mushroom (not to be confused with a tinder fungus) and we do not need it for our purposes.

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Where to look for growths... Naturally in the forest. BUT! There are no specific places of growth, they grow spontaneously, and the most beautiful outgrowths will be found by the most big-eyed and persistent. This activity is akin to hunting for mushrooms - who is more and more about e gal forest, and that got more.

We cut off the growth. We do this with a sharp saw. Otherwise, you will be tormented by sawing, and the tree will begin to shaggy. We do not clean the bark.

I highlight in red:

1. If the growth is "trunk-embracing" or hooded, then it is more correct to refrain from cutting it down - the tree may die. It is advisable to acquire such burls and strands during legal logging, when the tree is doomed anyway.
2. Cutting off growths is desirable in the dry season, ideally in late August, early September, before the start of sap flow.
3. Do not forget to cover the cut on the tree with oil paint or wax, or something similar.

Drying

So how to dry? The method of "steaming". I must say right away that this method is suitable for small pieces of wood: somewhere in the half of a soccer ball or a small log.

1. We take an unnecessary pan (bucket), and throw a piece of wood there. The pot should be taken exactly unnecessary, since during the cooking process a very tricky broth is formed, which is then very troublesome to wash. It is better to clean the piece of wood from all sorts of tatters of birch bark and other fragile and dangling tails - they will fall off anyway.

   I'm considering exactly birch growth, as the most affordable and beautiful. The rest of the growths are cooked using the same technology. The log is accordingly cleaned of any debris and fragile particles. We pour water. It is convenient to do this with a faceted glass (it contains 250 ml). Water should cover the piece of wood by about a centimeter or two. The tree naturally floats up, but let's press it to the bottom and see everything. Pour water, no matter what, cold or hot - it will boil anyway. You can throw a piece of wood into a saucepan no matter how much it is a pity, the volume of a separate piece of wood is important, and not the total volume of wood.

2. We take table salt, which is not a pity. We don't make soup. Pour 2 large tablespoons per liter of water
   with a top of salt. It is possible and more, no matter how much it is a pity, it's okay, it's impossible to overdo it. The main thing is that the water should be sugary salty. You can use the sea clean water(namely, clean, otherwise it will be disgusting to smell like mud). Salt will draw juices from the tree, but the tree will not saturate.
3. We find sawdust of resinous wood species. Spruce, pine, the easiest to get. We take a saw: and forward. We need two powerful handfuls of sawdust (we rake the sawdust with both hands). It is sawdust, and not shavings from a simple hand planer. The shavings will come from an electric planer (you can get it at the nearest sawmill or cut it yourself). I always use them. They are quite small and are usually plentiful and easy to obtain. The more resin in the sawdust, the better. And the smaller the sawdust, the better. We fall asleep in a saucepan. Sawdust will give the suveli a pleasant ocher color. From soft pink-yellow to ocher-brown. Also see O The wood will add strength and texture to the wood.
4. When the water boils, reduce the fire and leave it simmering for 6-8 hours, maybe more, as long as you have enough patience. If the saucepan is large, then you can not turn down the flame, let the water boil and bubble. But you need to watch that the water does not boil away completely. Salt, sawdust, temperature and time will do their job. Add water as needed. During the cooking process, a red "broth" is formed. And scum. Scale is best removed immediately. It is very difficult to wash off.
5. It took 6-8 hours (depending on the size of the piece of wood). We take out the wood. Rinse under running water from sawdust. Water from a pot
   we throw it out as useless, but you can leave it for the next time, if there is where to store it. But pouring water is easier. We throw the growth
   on the closet, wrapping nothing. For a day or two, let it cool down.
6. We repeat the process of cooking and drying 2-4 times, depending on the volume of wood. You can use a pressure cooker to speed up the process. Time is reduced to 4-6 hours.
7. At the last cooking, you need to quickly peel off the bark while the tree is hot. Although she herself should fall off by this time. Carefully!!! Hot!!! Use gloves!
8. We throw it on the closet for a week or two. The wood is basically already dry, but let the remaining moisture go. The tree will "rivet" to the atmosphere. After the final drying, the tree will become like a bone, and it will be possible to cut, saw, grind it. There will be no foreign smell. It will only smell like wood.
9. In the process of accelerated drying of wood, it must be remembered that small cracks can be reflected, and therefore it is necessary to give
   allowance for their removal in subsequent processing.
10. Once again I remind you that large pieces cannot be dried like that. Cracked. Necessarily. Checked.
11. After the final adaptation of the tree to the atmosphere, we make a product from it. It is desirable to impregnate the suvel and cap with oil, and, if
    there is a desire, then wax too. The tree will show the texture, "play", as they say, all its inner beauty will appear.

If you have any questions or any clarifications about the above technology, I will answer to the best of my ability and ability.

OlegNA 08-07-2011 13:25

The situation is this. In autumn I go on an expedition to the taiga. We go on boats. Along the way, I will collect interesting specimens of cap and suvel. After returning to the base, all this wealth will be loaded into a container and returned to Moscow with boats and all our personal belongings. After sawing off and before getting into my garage, it will take at least a month and a half, most likely two months. I immediately painted over the place I saw down with oil paint. The question is, do I need to remove the bark? Is it possible to boil it out in one and a half two months after saw cut?

Threat will be mostly birch

sergeant 08-07-2011 13:32

hit any search engine.
Natural drying of wood.

OlegNA 08-07-2011 13:35

So he scored. I did not find the answer to whether to remove the bark or not. I know that it is impossible to keep a birch in the bark, only if it is half. And then I drank the place with paint. This is the most exciting question for me.
Theme if Che one-day. I ask the moderators to remove it tomorrow

AlexDM 08-07-2011 13:43

It is in the bark and with smeared cuts that the birch suvel is drying on my balcony, a year already.

AIS1947 08-07-2011 13:44

quote: I know that it is impossible to keep a birch in the bark, only if it is half.

OlegNA 08-07-2011 13:48

Who told you this?

AIS1947 08-07-2011 14:28

quote: seems to rot in three months

ALAM 08-07-2011 15:13

the main thing is how you cut it down, don’t bring it into the hut to heat, it will be smashed right away. let it lie somewhere in a cool place under the roof, in a barn, or in a corridor ... and instead of paint, you can use stearin from candles, melt it and soak the cut hot in several steps ...

DECEMBER 08-07-2011 16:03

quote: Originally posted by OlegNA:

Along the way, I will collect interesting specimens of cap and suvel.

AIS1947 08-07-2011 16:12

From Moscow to the taiga for birch burls and suvels - "dipped beam". This goodness in the suburbs in bulk if you look. Yes, and the "Knife Workshop Flea Market" trades regularly.

OlegNA 09-07-2011 14:32

I admit I didn't word the question correctly.
"How to bring cap and suvel to the place of drying, so as not to crack. Delivery time is 2 months" - so it will probably be more correct.
Special thanks to DECEMBER and ALAM. I’ll probably remove the bark from half, no. I'll cover up the cuts. I won't even take them out of the boat. Let them lie in dampness. I’ll put it in a pile in a container, I won’t cover it.

quote: Originally posted by AIS1947:

From Moscow to the taiga for birch burls and suvels - "dipped beam". This goodness in the suburbs in bulk if you look.

Alexey S 09-07-2011 14:53

"The main thing is, how to cut it down, do not bring it into the hut to heat, it will be pricked right away. Let it lie somewhere in a cool place under the roof, in a barn, or in a corridor."
- In January, I sawed off three suveli, I immediately welded one, and everything is ok with it. And the other two left in a cold barn for slow natural drying. In the spring I looked - you can send for firewood, cracked.

Kap - these are growths and thickenings that are found on the trunks of birch, maple, oak, walnut, pine, etc. There are such influxes in places of tissue growth:

Its name comes from the Slavic "cap" - head. And indeed the cap resembles on a tree human head. Cap is found on the branches of old trees, on trunks. There is also a kapo-root, this is a burl that formed at the root of the tree. The largest kapo-roots reach a diameter of 2m. Furniture is often made from capo root:

As it is an extremely durable and extremely decorative material, which is valued on a par with precious wood. The texture of its pattern on the 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 cap than in the capo root, so its texture is more expressive:

Burl is harvested only from fallen trees in the places of sawmills. After the burl is cut, it is freed from bark, knots, resin. Then the workpiece is boiled in a 5% solution of common salt. The duration of boiling depends on the diameter of the workpiece: up to 10 cm in diameter is boiled for about an hour, large workpieces 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 the remnants of the bark. Boiling makes the texture of the pattern more expressive. Then the blanks are dried for several weeks indoors, or for several hours in an oven or on a radiator. After that, the cap is sawn into plates. After that, they give all free rein to fantasy, making sure that your ideas do not contradict the natural beauty of wood, emphasizing its structure. Inner part products are chosen with an adze, semicircular chisels, cranberries. When finishing the product, excess knots are removed, trying to reveal the play of different layers of wood, polished with sandpaper. Small cracks can be puttied by mixing small sawdust with PVA glue. If desired, the product can be tinted with stains or natural dyes, such as onion skins, alder cones, etc. You can cover the finished product with varnish or wax mastic.

Beautiful caskets, smoking pipes, chess, knife handles are made from burl:

And also very decorative vases, candlesticks and just sculptures for decorating the interior of natural forms are obtained from the burl:

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Many knife lovers or hunters make knives on their own, and for the most part they order the necessary components in online stores: a blade, a bolster, a butt plate, an exotic wood bar. It is about the latter, that is, about the tree, that I want to tell you.

I have worked with different types of wood: bubingo, merbao, different types walnut, beech, ebony ... But here we will talk about a completely different kind of wood. About our Russian birch burl and suveli. What is it and how to prepare a tree yourself for further processing and achieving the final result - a knife handle?

The harvesting method is not new, and I am not the author of the described technology. I got some information from the Internet, and read something from books on artistic woodcarving. I just managed to systematize the experience gained and adapt the technology of drying burl and suveli wood to my conditions.

Suvel is a growth on a tree trunk with a bizarre, twisted arrangement of fibers.

Cap is a suveli-like outgrowth with an arrangement of fibers, from which, moreover, many small branches grow. Due to this, the structure of the mouthguard acquires not only a frizziness, but also beautiful rings, stains and wormholes.

With proper processing - drying and impregnation (which will be discussed below), such a tree becomes not only extremely beautiful, but also viscous.

How burl and suvel are formed on a tree, I cannot say for sure. IN different sources respected people, experts in their field, put forward various theories, I read a lot of them.

The first stage is reconnaissance, and back in the summer, my son and I, walking through the forest, notice trees that are promising, from our point of view. Best time for harvesting - September - October when the movement of juices slows down and almost completely stops.

Required tool:

• bow saw - I use swedish blades especially for fast cuts;
• a small but very sharp hatchet (600–800 g);
• jar of oil paint.

At first with an ax, carefully trim the bark of a tree in a circle, going a little to the cap itself (operations for harvesting suveli are no different), then take a bow saw and start sawing off the cap. Since the burl is very viscous, as I mentioned above, you have to cut in shifts and with rest. And this is despite the special, very aggressive blade tooth, popularly called "wolf". I once tried domestic and Chinese canvases - a summary: if you are not a sadomasochist and do not intend to use this process as a way to lose weight through extreme sweating, then it is better to never use such a tool!
(Less labor intensive and time consuming - using a chain saw, but keep in mind that when cutting a medium-sized knot, the new chain will become completely blunt. Note. Ed.)

After the necessary piece is sawn off, we attach ourselves to the neighboring stump and carefully chop off the bark. The main thing here is not to rush, so as not only not to spoil the workpiece, but also not to shorten your fingers in a hurry. The blank is spherical and rather nimble.

We cover the place of the cut on the tree with paint. We took what we needed from the forest, and there is absolutely no point in spoiling the tree. Moreover, there can be more than one cap on one tree. For several years we have been cutting blanks from one tree as needed, and the tree is still alive.

You have two drying options:

• Natural - cap or suvel dries in natural conditions.
• Boiling in saline solution. This method has been used since ancient times to speed up the drying process.

I always boil my blanks, but here there are several options. It is possible on a fire, here you constantly need to monitor the intensity of burning firewood (in other words, so that the fire does not go out), but better at home on a gas or electric stove. It is important to start cooking as soon as possible. Thus, you will not only finish it earlier, but the workpiece will not crack. We take a suitable container, fill it with water. We dissolve in water to begin with about 100-150 table salt. It all depends on the size of the container and the workpiece (we selected empirically for a 3-liter container). In the process of cooking, which means within 4–5 hours, add water (it should cover the cap) and add two tablespoons of salt when it boils. The water must be constantly boiling.

The workpiece during the cooking process should be completely saturated with saline. Otherwise, cracking of the wood is inevitable, and all the work will go down the drain. There should be at least 4 cooking sessions at intervals per day. The fact is that in one session of cooking, our workpiece cannot be saturated with saline. Salt, when dried, displaces juice and moisture, so the process of express wood without cracking occurs. In the intervals between brewing, we tightly wrap the cap in a newspaper, which we change as moisture from the workpiece is absorbed into it.

We do the same after the last brew. The blank is in the newspaper for another three weeks (for those who feel itchy), or better - a month. IN last days the newspaper will be almost dry. And now our cap is ready.

Sawing into dimensional blanks, which will require a hacksaw with a fine tooth for a “clean saw” and a pair of carpentry clamps. We mark the cap, fix it with clamps and saw it. You need to fix it thoroughly, because the burl is likely to be slightly behaved after drying. With one medium-sized burl, 3-4 blanks are obtained for knife handles. Scraps go to cutlery handles in a "hunting" style.

A small but important detail. We dip the ends of the sawn blanks into molten wax by 2–3 cm. This is necessary so that during the final shrinkage the blank does not crack, and in the middle part the remaining moisture finds a way out.

Well, the last. There are many ways to impregnate the final product (I mean a ready-made knife with a mounted handle). But in my experience The best way impregnation of a burl or suvel handle - cooking in a steam bath in natural beeswax over low heat. I've also tried the newfangled carnauba wax, but it doesn't compare to our bee wax. With this method, hot wax soaks the handle completely, and not superficially, for about an hour. The tree acquires transparency, begins to glow from the inside, and durability.

To accentuate the beautiful graininess of the structure, I recommend slightly tinting the wood with a special stain BALSIN SCHAFTOL by BalistolKlever. This must be done, of course, before cooking in beeswax. The final polishing and gloss is done with a special wood oil Danish oil from Rustins. Three times with intermediate drying per day.

With such processing, the knife handle will serve you for a long time, pleasing to the eye and warming the soul - because I made this beauty myself – long years!

Alexander Lopukhov, Prorez magazine No. 2, 2008

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

Where can you find growths on trees

Cap is found on walnuts and on oaks, on aspens, and however, the most common outgrowth is on birch. Cap is a bundle of thin twigs that grow from a drop-shaped neoplasm. Weigh "witch broom" can be about a ton.

stem? This is a growth that is located directly on the trunk of a tree. What is a kapokoren? This is a growth that has formed at the very root neck of the tree. Sometimes it can be seen above earth's surface. An underground burl grows on the roots. He is found on the run. Releases their cap in early spring. These shoots are not viable and quickly wither. Sometimes burl is found on tree branches.

The beauty of amazing material

If you make a cross section of the burl, you can find its structure, in which the cores of the knots are pronounced. The drawing of such material is always very beautiful. Due to the accumulation of unblown buds, the cut is an amazingly beautiful picture of knots, curls and twisted fibers. At the same time, the pattern for each cap is strictly individual.

The burl formed on trees with a striped texture of fibers and contrasting color combinations is distinguished by its special beauty. Pine growths have such characteristics. However, they are quite rare on these trees.

You can find black dots in the texture of the kapokorn. They are located among the light stem fibers. These black dots are nothing more than non-viable shoots that release underground neoplasms.

Where is cap applied?

As a material for carving, the build-up on the tree is not of particular value. Its rugged surface and striped mottled texture interfere with each other. When making crafts in this way, the relief of the carving does not look and the pattern of weaves and stains disappears.

Numerous areas of the burl have a mother-of-pearl tint. That is why this material, which has no special industrial significance, is valued very dearly. Cap products are mainly boxes and women's hairpins, cigarette cases and various small jewelry, bowls and chess and powder boxes, ink devices and The material is also used for the manufacture of knife handles.

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

What is a cap for a master? It is a material that does not warp, crack, shrink or swell and is excellently processed. In addition, it is heavy and durable.

Where to find cap?

Growths grow on trees. Therefore, it is necessary to look for them in the forest. However, it is not so easy, because caps grow spontaneously, and only the most stubborn and big-eyed can see them. You can cut off the build-up only with a very sharply sharpened saw.
It is most realistic to find a cap at logging sites. There, these growths fall into the waste. At logging sites, there are also kapokorni, which you simply cannot find in the forest.

Preparation of material for work

Cap can be found on various types of trees. However, the most beautiful and valuable in our area is the growth that has arisen on a birch.

Cap products are not obtained immediately. The material requires some preliminary preparation. How to handle 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 salt must be added to the container. For a liter of water, its dosage is two tablespoons with a top. Salt can be poured and more. She will draw the juice from the tree. With this method, sawdust obtained during the processing of resinous wood species is also used. They need to be put into a bowl. The sawdust gives the burl a pleasant color that can range from yellowish-pink to brownish-buff. The resins found in the sawdust will add strength to the build-up and allow the texture to show up brighter.

After boiling water, the fire should be slightly reduced and the pan left on the stove for six to eight hours. As scale builds up, it should be removed. In the process of steaming, it is necessary to monitor the volume of water in the pan and periodically add it.

At the end of the “cooking”, the build-up is washed from sawdust under running water and placed in a closet for a day or two. After that, the whole process should be repeated at least two to four times. During the last cooking, while the tree has not cooled down, you should peel off the bark from it, and at the end put the growth in a closet for one to two weeks.

Having completely dried out, the cap in its characteristics will become similar to the bone. The material prepared in this way is excellently cut, sawn and polished. At the same time, it will not have any foreign odors.

Making caskets

Crafts made from birch burl in their beauty are not inferior to souvenirs made of wood and even surpass them. Often magnificent caskets are made from this material.

In the process of work, the burl boards are carefully connected to each other, making sure that their texture pattern is similar. A very responsible operation is the manufacture of wooden hinges. This stage requires precise formation of rounded spikes and grooves on the edges of the cover and body of the product. The hinges must fit snugly and accurately. Another difficult operation is drilling holes. In wooden hinges, this is easiest to do with thin steel wire. At the next stage, a lock crashes into the box. The product is almost ready. It should only be puttied, dried thoroughly and coated with alkaline varnish. After completion of these works, the box is treated with polish and wiped with alcohol. The product is polished until the wood acquires and all the veins of its amazing texture play brightly.

cane decoration

Using a cap, you can make a great gift for an elderly person with your own hands. The work can be done even by a novice. Hollow cylinders should be alternately put on a tube or a metal rod, which are previously machined from birch kapokorn. Details should be tightly fitted to each other, creating the impression of a single whole. A carved or smooth birch handle can crown such a cane.

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, then they are lubricated with PVA glue. After the final drying, the product is given the necessary shape, it is ground, polished and varnished.