What is birch souvel and how is it prepared?

A birch sapwood is an unusual natural formation, which is often called a birch bone among the people. Those craftsmen who specialize in woodworking know the value of this unusual growth. Working with souvel, you can make the most beautiful products with pleasant and high-quality natural characteristics.

What is it?

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Comb for hair. Made from nickel silver by Bruce Caesar (Pawnee Nation), Oklahoma, 1984
Neusilber (from the German Neusilber - "new silver") is a copper alloy with 5-35% nickel and 13-45% zinc. Other names of this alloy or its individual varieties: Nickel silver, German silver, New silver, Virenium.

It is characterized by corrosion resistance, increased strength and elasticity after deformation, satisfactory plasticity in hot and cold conditions. It is used in industry for the manufacture of parts of precision instruments, medical instruments, steam and water fittings, as well as jewelry, awards and coins (recently, nickel silver is more often used, although it is traditionally called cupric silver, it was once widely used in this capacity) .

It happens that the souvel grows to large sizes. If you come to the Vatican, you can see the font made from a solid piece of souvelle wood. Admittedly, giant size does not equate to quality material. Usually, the smaller the birch bone, the brighter and richer the inner pattern. But in any case, the internal growth pattern is soft, without pincers and needles.

Inside, the souvel resembles mother-of-pearl - by shade, of course. It is different, it can be whiter, darker, saturated or faded. Sometimes the souvel inside is like amber, it is more brown, pink or even greenish. What will be the shade of the inside of the growth depends on where the birch grows, as well as on the further drying of this part of the tree.

By the way, it is possible to provoke a souvel. Some people simply drag a birch trunk or a specific tree branch with a wire. At the site of the tightening, a bulge is formed, which is created by annual rings. But if caring for nature is a priority, you shouldn't do that.

Suvel is also advantageous due to its natural formation, which behaves well during processing. The growth is perfectly amenable to grinding, perfectly polished. Finally, the main value of education is the same mother-of-pearl cut that resembles marble. It plays with divorces in the sun, fascinates with its texture and even gives birth to some kind of inner light. It is impossible to say for sure, looking at the growth on the bank, what it is inside, but certain predictions can be made.

The shorter and steeper the growth, the richer and more interesting its internal pattern.

The wood of suvel is not as strong as that of kapa. It is at least twice as strong as the birch on which the cap grew. Cigarette cases and boxes, earrings, bracelets, pins, and small decorations are often made from caps. But they never create a carved pattern on the mouthpiece (well, maybe only hardened experimenters), because it will be superfluous.

The texture and texture of this rare wooden element does not require excessive decoration.

Here are some tips for finding and harvesting silk.

Silk cutting is optimal in autumn (as well as kapa, however). If they are very clumsy, autumn harvest is especially appropriate.

• It is not easy to cut the growth - you may have to use a chainsaw for this. However, a problem may arise here too – saw chains quickly become dull under the influence of stubborn, very strong growth.
• In the absence of a chainsaw, a hand tool is also suitable, but only one with sharp teeth. If the saw is dull, it will be difficult for both the craftsman and the tree, which can be dangerously injured by such manipulations.
• So that an unnecessary hollow does not accidentally form on the tree, the places where the sawdust is cut should be covered with garden wax as soon as possible. Instead of boiling, clay and putty with oil paint will come in handy.
• If a huge exemption is found, you should seriously consider whether to cut the education. If you remove such a growth from a tree, you can cause severe damage to it: the wound will be so serious that the tree risks dying.
• Initial processing is variable. You can leave the wood in the air in the most natural conditions, but it will take a year, or even two, for natural drying. You can speed up the process as follows: the bark is removed from the workpiece, wrapped in a newspaper, and placed in a black polyethylene bag. The paper will prevent the material from heating up quickly, and the bag will create a greenhouse effect. If the souvel is dried outside, the black polyethylene will quickly heat up from the sun, if at home - from the battery. The process is uniform, so you don't have to worry about cracking the wood. The package is tied with a small opening. It will take about 25 days for everything.

But harvesting and drying are only the beginning of the process. Next, you need to cook souvel.

Processing secrets
The cooking method described below is quite popular. Moreover, it is suitable to give the wood the desired shade, to force drying, and to make the natural pattern more expressive.

Cooking souveli is made according to a certain scheme.

• Only peeled workpieces are placed in the pan. They are filled with water so that the liquid covers the material by 3 cm. Then 2 tablespoons of salt are added to 1 liter of water, the container is put on fire. Sawdust is added to the solution: alder or birch are suitable, needles are also useful. They are needed as a natural dye.
• As soon as the water boils, the fire is reduced and cooking continues for 4 hours. If you have to process a very large workpiece - all 6 hours. After that, the water is drained, the wood is left to dry. On the second and third day, the processes are repeated. In total, cooking should take at least 12 hours (up to 18) for three consecutive days.

Why it is necessary to cook in a salt solution - simple physics works. There is sap in the tree, and its density is lower than the density of the salt solution. During cooking, water enters the material, dehydration begins. Wood sap is forced out, saline solution is absorbed. This is how elemental diffusion of liquid occurs, and the growth is dried.

After cooking, the material should be wrapped in newspaper and sent in a bag. The next day, the soil is still wet, it can dry without unnecessary measures. In extreme cases, you can dry the material for another day in the newspaper.

Processing of growth is rough and finishing. With the draft, a cut is made in the material, whatever the future shape of the product is. If it is, for example, a bowl, the inner part is selected from top to bottom. Excess wood is removed by moving from the walls to the center, observing an angle of 45 degrees. A drill or a chisel will help with this. It is not particularly necessary to thin the walls: when they dry, they may turn out to be too fragile, even cracking is possible. When the product is given its original shape, it is left for a couple of days in the open air out of direct sunlight.

Finishing is the removal of clumsiness of forms, the maximum advancement to the final form of the product, the disclosure of the birch bone structure.

If in the course of this work there are defects in the material, small cracks, a mixture of glue and sawdust will help. After that, you can clean off the roughness: with a rasp or scraper, a wire brush also works. It is necessary to act often and small, carefully. The product can be polished with a drill, or better by hand - with a peeler.

It remains only to clean the finished product from dust, to protonate it, if that is the intention. The wooden growth is sometimes treated with varnish, sometimes with wax, hot oil is also used. And this process is long, the labor costs are significant. But souvel products cost a lot.

Application
Birch bone products are diverse - what the author's imagination cannot create. The most fashionable jewelry is considered to be: original costume jewelry, which today, in the era of eco-style, boho direction in design, is especially in demand. Such jewelry will suit those who love natural materials, natural colors - beige, milky, green, sand.

They make very beautiful dishes from birch bone.
Cutting boards can probably be considered the most popular name today. But, of course, knife handles also compete with boards - and this is already a tradition. The material is dense, easy to process, very beautiful, so knife handles will be clearly in demand. Knives have been around for years, even decades. Renovations in the kitchen can change, as can a large part of the dishes, so you need good quality and beautiful knives, timeless and changing fashion. And the birch bone handles are the best fit.

Figures of birds and animals also allow you to make a souvel, because the wooden pattern so perfectly visually repeats the plumage of birds, the skin of a snake or the fur of animals. The curves of the material themselves inspire the author, tell the craftsman exactly what to do. A wooden drawing may not be an independent product, but a part of the design of a painting, panel, or other artistic object.

In a word, someone who likes to tinker with wood, knows the value of wooden decor, will have 100 and 1 idea about birch growth called souvelle. And you can be sure that the birch bone product will last for many years.