The suvel of birch, or, as it is often called by the people, wood bone, is a unique natural formation, which is of great value to the craftsmen. After processing from this material, carvers make beautiful wooden products. In the article, we will consider what suvell of birch is, what is it used for.
What it is?
Suvel (swil) is a rounded growth on the trunks of birch trees. It can be found on other breeds. It grows pretty fast. Consists of twisted or deformed wood fibers. Suveli can be arranged in a circle around a tree or in groups on the same section of the trunk.
This material is usually harvested at windbreak sites or at sawmills. The nature of the formation of growths is still not fully known. Some argue that this is due to external influences on the tree trunk or disease, resulting in the formation of a hall, which after some time is overgrown with fibers.
Why not mix it up?
Beginners from those who are not very familiar with what suvell birch are, can confuse it with a cap. By the way, the second is much less common and is considered more valuable. Their main difference is the presence of knots in a longitudinal section, a clearly distinguished core, a small pattern, pronounced ornate layers. Moreover, in nature there are no repeating patterns of mouthpieces, all of them have a unique pattern.
The surface of the suvel under the bark is smooth, less often with large tubercles. At the mouths it is finely spotted; small twigs grow from it. Suveli are not so dense and easier to process.
Amazing phenomenon
With the right cut of the suveline of birch, you can see amazing phenomena. To be more precise, the interweaving of wood fibers form pearlescent sections with a unique pattern. They begin to emit a special glow, reflected from sunlight. The effect looks very nice in finished products, for example, in a compound handle made of birch suvel.
The pattern and color are distinguished by their uniqueness, as a rule, it is brownish-ocher, pale pink, straw with a pearly sheen, less often dark brown with a swamp tint.
What determines the appearance?
The color scheme of the material depends on the breed and the conditions of the locality of wood growth. For example, if a birch suvel is cut off in a wetland, most likely its color will be dark with a greenish tint.
And if it is found on the butt part (10-20 cm underground or 10-20 cm above the soil surface) and covered with moss, it will most likely have a dark brown color with pinkish veins or a yellowish-gold background with dark year-old rings.
How to collect suvel?
People just walking in the forest, picking berries or mushrooms, do not notice growths on the trees at all. If you purposefully search for mouthguards or suvels, then you can meet them quite often. They can be located at the foot or in the upper part of the trunk, where it is almost impossible to get them without a ladder. If we talk about the area, it can be a swampy lowland or a sandy-stone plain.
Often there are rotting growths, giving the impression that the tree is trying to get rid of the stumps. If you cut off any undamaged part, it will also rot after a certain period of time.
The slower the tree grows under adverse conditions, the denser the plexus of fibers and the harder the material. It is impossible to predict the pattern of suveli, but the more clumsy it is, the more beautiful the pattern will be. At the same time, a volumetric piece can be made from it only in exceptional cases.
Due to the fact that the material is hard, it is rather difficult to cut it off the first time, the canvas quickly dulls. From the second approach, things are going much faster. When harvesting a birch suvel, you need to try to keep the cut even, parallel to the trunk. So that the tree does not die, it is advisable to treat the saw cut with a wound healing solution. It can be purchased in the garden department of the store.
If the outgrowth surrounds the trunk, then it is impossible to cut it off, since the tree may die.
How to dry birch sowel?
The appearance of it, and then the finished product, depends on the method of preparation of the raw material. There are several different methods for initial processing. Wood can be left in the air under natural conditions for a year or two, or accelerate this process by other methods. Below we describe a faster method.
For drying, the bark is removed from the workpiece, wrapped in several layers of newspaper, then placed in a black plastic bag. The paper does not allow the material to quickly heat up, the package creates the effect of a steam room. Black polyethylene heats up quickly from sunlight (when drying suvel on the street) or from a battery. The process occurs evenly, which prevents cracking of the tree. The package must be tied, leaving a small outlet. The first 10 days, newspapers are changed twice a day to dry, the next 15 days once is enough. By the end of the term, the paper should remain almost dry. In general, the process takes 25-30 days, the wood retains its natural color and does not crack.
How to cook?
This method is used by many masters. During the cooking of the material in one way or another, you can give the wood the desired shade, speed up the drying or show the existing pattern. The appearance of the product from suvel of birch will depend on this.
The process is as follows:
- Billets, previously peeled from the bark, are placed in the pan. Then fill with water so that it covers the wood by 2-3 cm. Then add 2 tbsp. tablespoons of coarse salt per liter of water and put on fire. In addition, coniferous, birch or alder sawdust is added to the solution. They give suvel the color from dark amber to golden.
- After the water boils, the fire is made slow and the material is boiled for 4 hours, if the workpiece is large - 6 hours. Then the liquid is drained and the wood is left to dry. On the second and third day, the process must be repeated. The result should be 12-18 hours of cooking for 3 days.
- Cooking in saline is due to a simple physical reaction. The tree contains juice, the density of which is lower than saline. During cooking, the liquid penetrates into the material and dehydrates it. This occurs by displacing the wood sap and soaking up the salt solution. As a result, liquid diffusion occurs and the suvel is dried. After cooking, the wood is wrapped in newspaper and packaged in a plastic bag. The next day, the paper should be slightly damp, sovel can be left to dry under natural conditions. If you wish, you can dry the material with a newspaper for another day.
Roughing
Before you begin to work, it is important to determine the type of future product. If the craft from birch suvel is vertical (for example, a vase, a candlestick), then it is better to make a saw cut in this direction and immediately form the bottom of the product. In the manufacture of bowls, caskets, dishes, the inner part is selected from top to bottom. Remove excess wood, moving from the walls to the center at an angle of 45 °. The best option would be to use a semicircular chisel or drill.
Please note: do not thin the walls too much. When dried, they can become brittle or crack. As a rule, products with a sufficient thickness of the sides look prettier, better, and last longer.
After preliminary shaping, the wood is left for another 1-2 days in the open air away from direct sunlight (or indoors, again wrapped in newspaper). After that proceed to the next stage.
Finishing the product
Since each piece of material is unique in nature, before proceeding with the finishing, it is necessary to carefully examine it. Perhaps the knot, which was originally wanted to be removed, will be the highlight of the finished product, for example, pens from suvel of birch.
During the finish, the angularity of the forms of the material is removed in order to bring it closer to the finished look and reveal the structure of the tree. If during processing natural flaws or small cracks are revealed, they will have to be repaired with a mixture of sawdust and glue. In the worst case, you will need to deviate from the original idea and modify the product.
After completion of the internal and external processing of the suvel, they begin to clean the roughness. This can be done with a scraper, wire brush, rasp. Movements should be frequent and shallow so as not to spoil the material. Finally, grinding with a drill with special nozzles is performed. If there is none, they are processed manually with a sandpaper, the second option is even more welcome. You need to start with a large (five), then in descending order go to the finest grain size.
The finished product is cleaned of dust, tinted if necessary. If desired, you can varnish the wood, grate with wax or hot linseed oil. The process of working with sills is very long and laborious, which is why products from it have a high cost. The price of suvel of birch varies from 100 rubles. for a processed bar measuring 120 × 40 × 30 mm up to 200 rubles. per kilogram of sawn raw materials.
What can be made?
The beauty of suvel allows you to make a variety of objects from it, it all depends on the imagination of the master. Very often you can see original jewelry made of this wood material: earrings, pendants, bracelets and rings. In ancient times, carvers made dishes, mugs, spoons, and bowls from it. All this was used on the farm for its intended purpose. For example, the Finns make their traditional Scandinavian cooks from this raw material.
However, birch sowel on the handle of knives is most often taken. The constant qualities of the material, such as density, ease of processing, hardness, flexibility of polishing, beautiful texture, interweaving of fibers and radiance, played a role in this.
Due to the natural pattern on wood, figures of animals and birds are carved from suvel. The pattern successfully imitates plumage, coat or skin. Smooth bends themselves suggest the idea of what can be made of it, just remove the excess. Often a woody picture in a frame serves as a decorative panel or other art objects.
If we talk about functional things from suvel of birch, knives are here in the first place. More precisely, their hilt. Next come the caskets, frames, mouthpieces and tubes, the base of canes and tools, office supplies and much more. Such items not only fulfill their function, but also indicate the good taste and status of their owner.