About this stabilized Masur Birch handle block:
- Resin stabilized block with the dimensions 30 x 48 x 152 mm or 1.18 x 1.89 x 5.98 inches.
- All colours that you see are natural.
- Perfect for carving traditional sized hidden tang knife handles, pipe bowls or luxurious chess pieces.
- The Curly birch block is well covered with rich characteristic birch burl patterns.
- We stabilize only the best patterned blocks, so it is considered a premium quality wood.
- Our wood is felled properly during wintertime, dried in kiln and then sawn manually. Our purpose is to bring out the best of the Birch burl pattern including flame- and curly figures.
- Curly birch blanks are impregnated with Turntex stabilizing resin throughout in a professional grade.
Curly birch has a lot of names. It is mainly known as Karelian birch. The name “Karelian Birch” comes from the small geographical area between Finland and Russia – here this exotic, patterned, dense and very heavy wood is most abundantly found in nature.
Other names that describe the exotic and figured curly birch quite well: Masur birch, Birch burl, burl wood, Birch burr etc. Curly birch wood’s appearance is very similar to burl wood or Birdseye maple, though of a different origin.
Curly birch wood is the perfect material for carving. It will work well by hand or machine. Highly recommended material if you are making puukko- or Sami knives. Masur Birch handle blocks are often used for carving pens or sustainable wooden jewelry combined with carbon steel or silver.
Masur birch wood has been highly valued among Scandinavian craftsmen for centuries because it is a very beautiful, benign wood and it works well.
We stabilize our wood with non-toxic and non-flammable cactus juice. During impregnation with resin and after heating, the wood polymerises and hardens. The purpose of stabilization is to make the birch burl wood even 3x harder than oak wood. Stabilisation brings out the wood’s natural beauty and most importantly: this process makes Curly birch wood resistant to humidity. The wood looks almost luminous after processing (sanding) it well!
Please notice that this is a natural material. Each Curly birch blank has its unique appearance. Resin stabilized masur birch wood blanks can (but not necessarily) contain invisible small, easily repairable inner cracks.
Additional information about Curly birch:
Curly birch’s grainy patterned wood belongs to the world’s ten most expensive among the precious woods. Despite its appearance, Curly birch is not considered an endangered species because the curly part is a genetical variation (mutation) of a silver birch, which gives the tree its unique pattern. Therefore, the cultivation of curly birch is environmentally friendly, because this valued wood originates mainly from former agricultural areas.
Our plantation curly birch trees are certified clones of most famous Finnish curly birch tree called “Visa Kuningatar“ The seller of this wood, Rita Rubin, is the member of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, which is dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management. Seller PEFC certification number is TT-PEFC-FM006. You can find PEFC certified forest owners here: https://pefc.org/find-certified
