Rare Oak Burr with Blue Spirit Stain and Chrome Premium Twist Pen
A burr (American burl) 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.
A burr results from a tree undergoing some form of stress. It may be environmental or introduced by humans. Most burr 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 burrs sometimes appear as groups of bulbous protrusions connected by a system of rope-like roots. Almost all burr wood is covered by bark, even if it is underground. Insect infestation and certain types of mould infestation are the most common causes of this condition.
Burr yields 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 (mainly used as veneers, artists, and wood sculptors. The knots and twists in oak Burrs are usually a few per foot or so, however these pens have many more to make a spectacular premium quality dressing for only the best of the pen mechanisms that I sell.
Seasoning burr can be a long drawn out process that can take many years and there is no guarantee that there will be any usable timber once it is sawn.
Pen #598 was turned on 14th July at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham
We left Chester headed for Birmingham the day after Chester floating market and a lovely evening in the pub with fellow trading colleagues. Luckily we had a dry run up through the locks for I think the first time. As we rounded the corner to the second lock a boat coming our direction let us know there was another boat waiting to share the lock with us around the next corner, lo and behold it turned out to be our friends Scooby and Rita, a very pleasant surprise and we shared the rest of the lock flight with them.
We had quite a long way to go over the next few days and the plan was to clear the Shropshire Union Canal as soon as possible. We would normally spend at least a couple of weeks through the pleasant Shropshire countryside but three days later we had cleared Junction and were half a mile away from the bottom lock of the Wolverhampton 21 flight.
We just made it to the bottom lock early the next morning as a sleepy looking holiday boat crew came onto their back deck to ready themselves for the flight. Unfortunately the Wolverhampton flight of 21 locks are narrow so we weren't able to share, we did manage it in a great time though and we’d cleared the top lock well before 10:30. A short while later we were moored for the night in Tipton and treated ourselves to a Sunday night curry at one of the best value Indian restaurants that we've been to. Next stop was Birmingham City Centre where we would spend a few days before heading out through Bournville and tackling the Lapworth and nasty Hatton flights to get to Saltisford Arm in Warwick which was going to be a stop-over for a week while we went down to Poole to visit our daughter.
You can follow my pen making here on this blog and our travels on another blog here
We left Chester headed for Birmingham the day after Chester floating market and a lovely evening in the pub with fellow trading colleagues. Luckily we had a dry run up through the locks for I think the first time. As we rounded the corner to the second lock a boat coming our direction let us know there was another boat waiting to share the lock with us around the next corner, lo and behold it turned out to be our friends Scooby and Rita, a very pleasant surprise and we shared the rest of the lock flight with them.
We had quite a long way to go over the next few days and the plan was to clear the Shropshire Union Canal as soon as possible. We would normally spend at least a couple of weeks through the pleasant Shropshire countryside but three days later we had cleared Junction and were half a mile away from the bottom lock of the Wolverhampton 21 flight.
We just made it to the bottom lock early the next morning as a sleepy looking holiday boat crew came onto their back deck to ready themselves for the flight. Unfortunately the Wolverhampton flight of 21 locks are narrow so we weren't able to share, we did manage it in a great time though and we’d cleared the top lock well before 10:30. A short while later we were moored for the night in Tipton and treated ourselves to a Sunday night curry at one of the best value Indian restaurants that we've been to. Next stop was Birmingham City Centre where we would spend a few days before heading out through Bournville and tackling the Lapworth and nasty Hatton flights to get to Saltisford Arm in Warwick which was going to be a stop-over for a week while we went down to Poole to visit our daughter.
You can follow my pen making here on this blog and our travels on another blog here
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