Bryan Tyler Nelson		CHERRY BURL
	Cherry - (Prunus serotina) Cherry is a domestic hardwood. The heartwood is a medium red-brown with it’s own characteristic luster. The sapwood is narrow and nearly white. The grain is straight, finely textured and close with usually a gentle waving figure. Cherry has a uniform texture, is medium heavy, strong, stiff and moderately hard. Cherry is one of the most sought after hardwoods. Cherry turns darker as it ages. The tree reaches heights of up to 100 feet, about 80 feet average, with a trunk of about 24'' in diameter.   Burl - (British bur or burr) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dormant buds. Burls are the product of a cambium. A burl results from a tree undergoing some form of stress. It may be environmental or introduced by humans. Most burls grow beneath the ground, attached to the roots as a type of malignancy that is generally not discovered until the tree dies or falls over. Such burls sometimes appear as groups of bulbous protrusions connected by a system of rope-like roots. Almost all burl wood is covered by bark, even if it is underground. Insect infestation and certain types of mold infestation are the most common causes of this condition. In some tree species, burls can grow to great size. Some of the largest occur in redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens); when moisture is present, these burls can grow new redwood trees. The world's largest and second-largest burls can be found in Port McNeill, British Columbia. One of the largest burls known was found around 1984 in the small town of Tamworth, Australia. It stands 6.4 ft tall, with an odd shape resembling a trombone. In January 2009, this burl was controversially removed from its original location, and relocated to a public school in the central New South Wales township of Dubbo. Burls yield a very peculiar and highly figured wood, one prized for its beauty by many; its rarity also adds to its expense. It is sought after by people such as furniture makers, artists, and wood sculptors. There are a number of well-known types of burls (each from a particular species); these are highly valued and used as veneers in furniture, inlay in doors, picture frames, household objects, automobile interior paneling and trim, and woodturning. The famous birdseye maple superficially resembles the wood of a burl but is something else entirely. Burl wood is very hard to work in a lathe or with hand tools because its grain is misshapen and not straight.
	Click image to enlarge. The bowl above had there start as wax cover rounds (below) These are the bowl roughed out 6 months later after they had dried the turned out to look like the finished bowls above.

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