{"id":2093,"date":"2016-12-04T04:00:25","date_gmt":"2016-12-04T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/?p=2093"},"modified":"2016-10-26T16:17:17","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T20:17:17","slug":"redwood-burl-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/redwood-burl-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Redwood Burl Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Redwood is a term that I suspect many are familiar with but it is simply a common name that lack specificity. To scientists, Redwood is known as Sequoia sempervirens<\/em>.<\/p>\n S. sempervirens <\/em>is widely known as being one of the tallest tree species in the world along with being amongst the oldest living organisms on Earth.<\/p>\n S. sempervirens<\/em> is EXTREMELY limited in its range. It is native only to a narrow coastal strip about 450 miles long, ranging from as little as 5 miles and up to only 35 miles wide, inland from the coast of extreme southern Oregon, along the Chetco River about 15 miles from the California border, to a southern terminus marked by a grove in Salmon Creek Canyon in the Santa Lucia Mountains of southern Monterey County, California. The majority of old-growth trees is confined to National and State parks in the far northern reaches of California and consists of less than 200,000 acres. The old growth trees that remain in commercial forests will almost certainly be destroyed by logging within the next 20 years.<\/p>\n S. sempervirens <\/em>has been successfully transplanted in several other parts of the world that have adequate rainfall and\/or dense fog accumulations to allow the species to survive. These locations include: New Zealand (where it has naturalized),Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia in Canada, middle elevations of Hawaii, Hogsback in South Africa, a small area in central Mexico (Jilotepec), and the southeastern United States from eastern Texas to Maryland. S. sempervirens<\/em> also does well in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia). A group of display trees were even transported to Rockefeller Center in New York City, and then moved to East Hampton on Long Island where they have survived for over twenty years despite temperatures well below freezing in winter.<\/p>\n For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to S. sempervirens <\/em>simply as Redwood from this point forward. <\/em><\/p>\n Perhaps not surprisingly, the color of Redwood heartwood tends to range from a light pinkish brown to a deep reddish brown. The highly contrasting sapwood is of a pale white to yellow color and is not considered desirable.<\/p>\n On occasion, it is possible to find Redwood that features a curly figure although it is not possible to know if figure will be present before the tree if felled and processed.<\/p>\n Redwood burl, sometimes known as “redwood lace” or “Vavona” is available. As is typical of burl woods, Redwood burl is highly figured with swirling, twisting grain and many bud “eyes” present. In fact, Redwood can propagate from burls if left undisturbed in the soil, usually several feet below the surface, where they are most commonly found.<\/p>\nGeneral Characteristics<\/strong><\/h2>\n