Woods
Words are great, but pictures are worth a thousand words. They'll be here soon!
We construct our boxes primarily out of domestic root burls. The burl is the part of the tree that grows 6 inches above ground and below.
The only truly usable burl comes from the coastal areas. The burls we use come from Oregon and California. When you look at our boxes, you will notice
that some are smooth, and some are textured and "bumpy." The textured surface is the part of the burl just below the bark (yes, roots have bark too!), where the small feeder
roots extend off of the larger tap root. Our boxes with the smooth surfaces are also from the burl, but from the part nearer to the center of the root.
There are primarily 6 types of burls that we use to craft the majority of our boxes.
Madrone is a fairly uncommon wood that grows in a narrow band along the coast
of Oregon, and the Northernmost tip of California. When finished, the wood ranges from a color similar to cherry wood, to a rich, warm mocha color, and it is very tight-grained.
Maple comes in many, many varieties, each with unique characteristics in both their grain and texture. The wood will vary from a creamy
yellow to a golden honey color. The grain pattern can be very straight and smooth, marbled, spalted, or quite swirly.
Redwood is, as its name would imply, quite red, although occasionally it finishes up to appear chocolate brown. Occasionally, redwood
may have a description of "lace," meaning that it has many "eyes," similar to birds-eye maple, but this type of redwood is very rare. Usually, redwood has some
movement to its grain, but is very straight grained, in general.
Myrtle is a very tight-grained wood which generally presents itself with a yellow-to-olive cast. Occasionally it will be a richer and
deeper shade of dark brown, especially if it is a piece that has undergone substantial rot.
Buckeye is probably the most unusual wood that we use to craft our boxes from. Because it is such a soft wood, very frequently it grows
around interruptions in the soil (i.e. rocks, clumps of sand, etc.). This causes voids in the wood, which we find when we cut. We try to incorporate these holes into
our boxes, creating interesting configurations within them. Buckeye is a wood that varies from a bright yellow to a dark black, usually including the whole range on any given
piece of wood.
Occasionally, we use other woods, as our supplier finds it. Walnut, Box Elder, English Yew, and Tan Oak are the most common of these
infrequent varieties. The latter of these woods are not always burls, but intriguing characteristics are to be had in any of these specimens.
Other varieties of woods, besides any we have just mentioned, may be used if we find something spectacular from one of our various sources.
One caveat: there are two boxes we craft which are made out of a very basic kiln-dried redwood lumber. The reason being, fine burl woods
are very very expensive. Not everyone can afford the expense of the burl woods. We offer a lower price point of box for these customers,
or for the customer who wants more of a toy than an exquisite showpiece. The two boxes made of this wood are the King's Safe and the Royal Secrets boxes.
Merchants of Mirth/Royal Woods
4315 Hillside Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45233
(513)919-5221
E-mail us at: burlboxer1@fuse.net