SPECIFICATIONS:

The name of the knife: RUBY TEAR handmade knife by PAVLA HONCHARENKA, order to buy in Ukraine (Steel - center CPM® ДИ103МП™ in stainless steel laminate n690 through nickel 64 HRC)
Knife type: Fixed blade
Brand: Pavlo Honcharenko's Handmade Knives Studio

Blade material: Blade - DI103-MP steel (Р12М3К5Ф2-MP) - high-speed powder steel from the Ukrainian enterprise Dniprospetsstal (Zaporizhia) in stainless damask laminate
Steel sheet: One-piece, forged, assembly of the handle is mounted on epoxy glue
Blade sharpening angle: Sharpened at 36 degrees
Descents: Direct
Reduction: 0.2 mm
Blade hardness: 64 HRC
Total length: 275 mm
Blade length: 140 mm
Blade width: 33 mm
Blade thickness: 4.0 mm
Length of the handle: 135 mm
Handle thickness: 32 mm
Grinding of the blade: The finish of the blade is machine satin 600 grit
Bolster and back material: Carbon
Handle material: Carbon, neuselber, g10, stabilized maple/acrylic hybrid, mosaic binding tube. Strap made of leather cord 3 mm, bead made of hybrid.
Handle color: Dark ruby
Impregnation of the handle: Yes
Handle cover: Yes
Hole for a shoelace (for a lanyard): Yes
Temlyak: 3mm leather cord, hybrid bead​​​​​​
Scabbards: Walnut, hand-carved wood, chamois calfskin, Italian vegetable-tanned genuine leather, treated with water-repellent finish and impregnated with protective solutions, stitched with waxed thread. Manual embossing of the invoice. The beads on the scabbard are hybrid beads. The hanger is free, removable

Model: RUBY TEAR handmade knife by PAVLA HONCHARENKA, order to buy in Ukraine (Steel - center CPM® ДИ103МП™ in stainless steel laminate n690 through nickel 64 HRC)
Model number: 115
Country of birth: Ukraine
Artisan: Master Pavlo Honcharenko, Ivankiv, Ukraine ( "Pavel Honcharenko's handmade knives" )
Best use : Hunting, fishing, tourism, household, carcass division, slicing
Knife condition: new

The price is indicated together with the scabbard.

A sharpened knife is not a cold weapon.

Our knives are very sharp, so open and use very carefully. We are not responsible for injuries related to the use of our knives.
Our products are intended for legal use only by responsible buyers. We will not sell our products to anyone under the age of 18.

Availability changes regularly, upon confirmation of your order, we will inform you about the availability or when the product will be ready. The product may differ slightly from the one shown in the photo.

Steel DI103-MP (P12M3K5F2-MP). Composition and properties.

Features of steel N690

Martensitic alloy steel N690 is produced by the corporation Vohleg-Uddeholm Gmbh & Co. , which has its enterprises in Austria, Germany, South and North America. The second name of the alloy is Austrian cobalt stainless steel. Due to its high quality and operational characteristics and advantages, it is successfully implemented in many countries of the world for the manufacture of knives and other purposes.
Steel is produced by electroslag smelting technology. It has a uniformly distributed carbide structure of the crystal lattice in the absence of harmful impurities. As a result of heat treatment and forging, the impact toughness of the material increases without loss of hardness. The presence of alloying additives in the chemical composition of steel ensures resistance to corrosion.

Field of application
Steel is recognized as a good material for the serial production of long and tactical knives, the technical characteristics of which allow operation in difficult and extreme conditions. Blades made of N690 steel are able to withstand not only longitudinal, but also strong lateral loads when acting on bends and twists.
Due to its resistance to corrosion and aggressive environments, steel is used in the manufacture of diving knives, harpoons for spearfishing and other sports equipment.
This steel is used in the manufacture of knives by such well-known European brands as Vokeg, Spyderco, Vepshmade and Echthema Ratio. The manufactured blades have excellent cutting properties, are strong, durable, sharpen well and hold an edge. The presence of alloying elements in the composition ensured high corrosion resistance while maintaining plasticity. If necessary, there is a possibility of thermal hardening up to 60 NKR.

The technical and physical characteristics of the alloy allow it to be used in mechanical engineering for the manufacture of tools, milling cutters, drills, bearing parts and critical components operating under high mechanical loads. The steel is highly wear resistant and can be heat treated.
Resistance to the effects of moisture and chemicals allows the use of steel in the food and pharmaceutical industry for the manufacture of cutting tools and grinders. At the same time, the ecological purity of the material and the complete absence of impurities are taken into account.
ANALOGUES
According to its composition, steel N690 is a close analogue of Russian steel 95X18, German X102SgMo17, Japanese / (3-10 and A115-10, French 2100СО17, American 440 С. In Sweden, an analogue of Sandvic 12С27 is produced.
COMPOSITION
Steel N690 contains:
■ 1.08% carbon (C), which gives the material hardness and increases strength;
■ 17.3% chromium (Cg) to obtain anti-corrosion properties, increase wear resistance and change hardening conditions;
■ 1.1% molybdenum (Mo) to reduce brittleness, increase plasticity and resistance to high temperatures;
■ 0.1% vanadium (V) to increase metal elasticity and inertness to the action of aggressive environments;
■ 1.5% cobalt (Co) increases heat resistance and improves mechanical properties;
■ 0.4% manganese (Mp) increases hardness;
■ 0.4% silicon (5|) to improve alloy stability and increase wear resistance.
The presence of cobalt in the chemical composition of the metal makes the crystal structure of N690 more uniform and resistant to mechanical loads.

PROS AND CONS OF N690 STEEL FOR KNIVES
The use of Austrian N690 steel allows the production of high-quality stainless knives for various purposes. Due to its physical and technical properties, the material is well processed, capable of heat treatment, is not prone to corrosion and is sold at an affordable price.
5*ee1 N690 is one of the best alloys for making beautiful wear-resistant blades. Simple sharpening and long-term preservation of the sharpness of the edge make use simple and convenient. You will never regret buying or making a knife from this steel.

Types of deliveries
The high quality of Wohler N690 steel is ensured by the use of a unique rolling technology developed by the manufacturer. Metal sheets are subjected to repeated hot processing with rolling in the longitudinal and transverse direction. After that, the material is cold cut into strips.
N690 steel is supplied to the rolled metal market in the form of steel strips with a thickness of 3-5 mm, a width of 20-50 mm and a length of 250 to 1000 mm, especially for the manufacture of knives. The cross-section of the strips is rectangular or with a prepared longitudinal bevel, which eliminates the need for blacksmithing when making the blade. The steel may or may not have previous heat treatment.
All of this is very convenient, as it does not require operations to cut large sheets, allows you to accurately determine the amount of required material and reduces the amount of waste.
Strips are sold individually. The price depends on the geometric dimensions of the product, thickness and types of preliminary factory processing. For the products of the metalworking industry, the supply of a sheet with a thickness of 2-8 mm of the size declared in the contract is carried out. If necessary, you can order any analogue of steels of type N690. Sheet metal is sold by weight.

Maple burl

Cap - tsenarist on a stovburi tree, vіn maє znachno schіlnіshu structure with an absolutely unique little zrіzu.

The burl is blown by a high mity, the wood of the burl burns badly, it is well treated and polished.

Razmіri blanks approximately 135-45-30 mm.

Bars of stabilized wood are miraculously suitable for folding standard knife handles from open-cut and mounted mounting.
Also, the stabilization of the maple burl is suitable for cutting, making miniatures, embellishment, as well as various pendants, amulets, toys and virobiv.
With a stabilized burl of maple, hand-practice as a confirmation of maistras, and as a cob.
The wood was stabilized, whether it was a color or straight, equal bars of a spravzhny tree - maple burl, seeped through by a special warehouse.
Zasіb for the stabilization of the tree, I will fill in all the dry porosity, why should the trees come out of the tree all the same, turning it into a polymerized bar of stabilized Karelian birch, only with improved authorities.

Stabilized tree is more important and richer. It does not succumb to vlogs, does not change its color for sleepy promises, being overlaid with richly valuable and superior material.
Everything is to be stabilized with an ideal material for the creation of objects that are suitable for all physical and climatic trends - knife handles, rіztsіv and other tools.

Maple burl stabilization miraculously polished, giving a smooth surface, like a stone. Without coating in a dry, stabilized look, the bars may have a bleak look, and under the finishing warehouses, their clear, bright texture is revealed.

For the unique beauty of the cap, they call it wooden malachite!

Zagalom - what is the smallest baby and the greater expansion of the burl, Tim wine is dear.

About the value of this unique material to speak of a historical fact, indications from the book "Kapova Skrinka" (author Nadiya Perminova): thoroughbred bik at the selskogospodarsky exhibition.

Today, on the world market, the price for burl wood (massive and veneer) has changed the price for be-yak, inshu, including: oak, elm, mountain, red wood, be it exotic breed.

UNIKALNE POLYSTANNY of power of the MATERIALAL, the intended vault of the Kapov Malyunka in the skin of the Viru, Rreshtiy, I was in the vale of the ecstatic nature of the vibrovin.

HANDLE MATERIAL - MAMMOTH'S TOOTH

Mammoth tooth is a rare raw material that is used to make decorative objects, for example, knife handles, covers for pistol grips, and jewelry. This is a unique natural element, which is rarely obtained, so its cost is quite high.

Today, the mammoth tooth, after certain processing (stabilization), is widely used by master knifemakers. Stabilization is a process of polymerization of the material under vacuum with or without the use of fat-soluble dyes, while the material is permeated with polymeric substances through.

HANDLE MATERIAL MAMMOTH TEETH

A mammoth tooth is a product of animal origin. Its exceptional feature is the fact that its source is extinct animals - mammoths. Paleontologists found that they lived on Earth about 10 thousand years ago, and their number was very large. Mammoths' teeth were not permanent and changed about four times during their lifetime. Fallen teeth, which modern scientists find during excavations, and become the basis for decorative elements, among which there are knife handles.

Due to a long stay in the soil, the material acquired a very unstable structure - the enamel became rock-hard, and the dentin, on the contrary, became loose. But modern material stabilization technologies have helped turn mammoth teeth into an excellent basis for creating luxurious knife handles. The polymer composite provides products with resistance to corrosion and moisture, and the natural base gives a unique texture and intricate pattern.

Features of the material

Mammoth molars are used to create various products. Outwardly, they look like elephant teeth, but much more have a different shade. Taking into account the historical value and rarity, the mammoth tusk is especially highly valued, since this animal became extinct long before our era. The tusks of prehistoric giants can be found not only in paleontological museums, but also on the counters of jewelry stores, they are used to decorate the interior, they are used to create various decorative elements - of course, not in their original form, but in processed form.

According to scientists, the age of the material is 10-40 thousand years. Today, how mammoths lived is not fully understood. However, the remains of these giants found by scientists, their bones, teeth, even whole carcasses allowed scientists to seriously advance in this field of research. The available data made it possible to find out what the mammals looked like, what they ate, what climatic conditions they lived in, what behavioral characteristics they had (for example, did they lead a gregarious or solitary existence).

The mammoth ate practically the same as the modern elephant: its diet consisted of plant food. In the world, the animal could feed on coniferous plants. They preferred coarse food, which they easily chewed with their strong jaws and teeth, similar to large plates. An interesting feature of the mammoth's body was that as the old tooth wore out, a new one grew, displacing the former one and taking its place. Thus, the animal could change its teeth several times during its life. All the teeth were replaced in about a ten-year interval, and the average lifespan of a mammoth was 40 years. In other words, one animal could survive an average of four complete changes of primary teeth. Thanks to this feature, people often find individual worn mammoth teeth, but do not find other traces of it.

Appearance

Stabilization of raw materials

To prevent the tooth and tusk from collapsing in the process of use and making a product from it, stabilization technology is used. This is a responsible stage of processing, in which the following technologies are used:

Polycondensation.
Vacuum processing.
Application of special dyes.

All voids of the tooth are filled with a polymer substance, due to which the base acquires reliable protection against climatic influences. Such a product does not deform, cracks do not appear on it, it becomes able to withstand high temperatures. The appearance of the material also changes, becomes more attractive and unique.
 

Before the advent of this technology, mammoth teeth and bones were rarely used for making souvenirs, because they did not have sufficient strength due to the large number of cracks and delamination inside. In addition, tooth enamel has a high hardness, which during processing quickly leads to the unusability of the saw. A stabilized product is much easier to subject to further processing. Mammoth tooth became especially popular in the manufacture of knife handles. It looks unusual, attractive, and if you add a dye, you can create a unique pattern that can give even such a rare thing special individuality.

Suvel ash. Stabilization of wood

Suvel ash. Stabilization of wood   is a method of processing, as a result of which wood is given higher strength and its decorative qualities are improved, while preserving the natural pattern. That is, Stabilized wood combines the advantages of synthetic materials with natural beauty. In the course of stabilization, the wooden blank seeps through, forming a polymer monolith that securely binds the wooden components and minimizes harmful factors affecting the human body (with a list of harmful factors encountered during the manufacture and operation of wooden products, you can get acquainted   HERE ). Stabilized wood has excellent mechanical properties during processing - there are no differences in density along the body of the workpiece (which allows more accurate drilling and sawing), it is polished without clogging the skin, it is polished to a mirror. At the same time, the appearance and tactile sensations remain inherent to ordinary wood.

In addition to the intricate pattern on the surface of the product, stabilized wood provides a number of undeniable advantages over traditional materials:
• High density;
• Hardness;
• Resistance to changes in temperature and humidity of the environment;
• Immunity to ultraviolet radiation;
• Ability to withstand short-term heating by an open flame without losing its quality characteristics and without being deformed;
• Impermeable to various liquids, including oils;
• Resistance to solvents of organic origin;
• Excellent decorative properties – stabilized wood lends itself well to manual and mechanical processing (does not clog sandpaper).

Kap and souvel  are growths on the trunks of trees in the form of characteristic rounded swellings. Getting such a blank is a dream for everyone who works with wood, and here's why. The fibers in such growths have a special deformed structure: their tortuous and disordered growth creates a unique texture called swill. But this is not the flexibility characteristic of, for example, maple. It is very tangled in growth and has a number of features, thanks to which an incomparable wooden texture is obtained. With its pattern and characteristic ebb, it resembles marble, mother-of-pearl or moire pattern. Such material is a real treasure for everyone who works with wood.

Cap and souvel are similar in nature, but they are not the same. They differ in structure, textured pattern, features of formation and a number of other points that we have collected in this table.

Now about all this in more detail.

1

Bag

People call the cap a "witch's broom". It really has something repulsive, but only if you don't know what miracle nature has hidden under a thick layer of bark.

What does Capt

Location of the tree
Unlike the souvel, kapa are rare. They usually appear on the trunks of trees or in the basal part. They are much less often formed on branches. Basal growths (caproot) have a flattened shape, while trunk or bud growths are more like a ball, often asymmetrical in appearance. As a rule, mouthpieces are located on one side of the trunk as a characteristic influx; growths that cover the tree all the way around are less common. There are both single specimens and whole cap colonies covering the trunk of the tree in small groups.

Formation and structure
The fundamental difference between a cap and a souvel is in structure. If you look at the cap in section, it will be filled with small wooden knots - these are called kidneys. Whereas souvel is simply deformed and chaotically intertwined annual rings. Thus, the cap growth represents a kind of reserve bundle of kidneys that have not opened, created by nature as a reserve. Why? Dendrologists do not agree on this.

Under a thick layer of bark, cap and souvel practically do not differ from each other. The only thing that can give off a cap is small green twigs growing on its surface. This is a part of the same sleeping kidneys that have only been activated for some reason. Without the bark, the difference between cap and souvel becomes obvious. The surface of the cap is covered with cone-shaped convexities, while the souvel is completely smooth.

The sizes
of the drops vary greatly: from growths of walnuts to truly gigantic formations. The largest of the documented kapa on the territory of the former USSR was found on the bank of a flat-leaved tree that grew on Sakhalin. Its height was 1.4 m, and the length of the circle was 10.8 m. The size of the tips depend on the location on the trunk and the type of tree. The largest are traditionally considered the basal kapa, but their extraction turns into a difficult task and is impossible without cutting down the tree. Large mouths, weighing 300 kg or more, can often be found on walnut, downy river, Mongolian oak. They grow 3-4 times slower than the souvel and are very rare.

Texture
Kapova wood has a characteristic texture, thanks to which it is quite easy to distinguish it from suvel. On the cut, the dormant buds seem to be wrapped in numerous layers of wood fibers. Such nodules are somewhat similar to the "bird's eye" texture, but they are not so evenly distributed in the cap. Here everything is chaotic: the kidneys merge with each other, penetrate into each other, are absent in some areas, and in others they accumulate very densely. All this creates complex lacy abstractions that somehow resemble a malachite pattern.

Bird's eye (maple sapwood) and cap texture

The more dormant buds, the more complex and rich the pattern of the wood. In large kapa there are fewer kidneys, so their texture is closer to suvels.

The biological role of mouth sores
Both mouth sores and souvel are often called a disease. Such a position is not completely scientific, but it cannot be called unequivocally wrong either, at least because the biological role of growths is still not understood. There are different hypotheses about this. For example, the cap is considered as a reserve supply of kidneys from which the tree can regenerate, for example, in case of drought or partial loss of the crown. There is also an opinion that the growths increase the mechanical strength of the trunk, protect it from damage or prevent disease-causing agents from getting inside. There are many assumptions, and all of them are convincing to varying degrees. However, most dendrologists agree that the ability of trees to form crowns has no clear function — it is a kind of side effect of evolution that was once more important than it is now.

2

Suvel

Suvel is growths without dormant buds. Sometimes such formations are called "suvelval" or simply "svil". Unlike the kapa, the structure of the souvel has no wooden knots, and all the beauty of the texture here is created by chaotically intertwined vessels. From such deformed fibers, an influx in the form of a ball or a drop is formed on the barrel. It grows three to four times faster than kapa and is found on trees much more often.

What does the souvel look like?

It is quite easy to distinguish a souvel from a cap. Neither small twigs nor buds break through it. Under a thick layer of bark, the surface is completely smooth without conical bulges, like a cap. All the beauty of the texture here is formed by the chaotic release of interwoven fibers. It does not just go in light waves, as in some species of trees, but is lost in dense folds, bundles, bundles. All the beauty of the pattern is enhanced by a special ebb, reminiscent of marble, mother-of-pearl or a moiré pattern. There are no such pronounced overflows in the cap.

Suvel changes its appearance more strongly after decoration. For example, with deep impregnation with colorless oils and careful polishing, the wood acquires a special "bone" texture. Because of this, souvel is sometimes even called a wooden bone. In some rocks, after processing, the veins are literally visible through the structure of the material. This effect is highly appreciated by knife makers: most often they make knife handles from birch, walnut, and ash sapwood.

The density of the souvel is lower than that of the cap. In this, it significantly exceeds the hardness of the trunk wood. Processing birch sapwood and other species requires certain skills, since, like sapwood, it is not the most pliable material. But despite all the difficulties, working with him is an incomparable pleasure. Souvel is always a mystery: it is impossible to predict what amazing beauty the drawing will reveal after another pass of the cutter.

3

Where to find valuable growths

Kapas and souvelis are found on all species, but deciduous trees are more prone to their formation. In our latitudes, such growths are most often found on the shore, and of all its types. Maple, rowan, walnut, ash, hornbeam, oak, elm are also considered to be prone to cap formation. But, let's repeat, this does not mean that they do not occur on other deciduous trees.

In conifers, the ability to form growths is much lower. They are more likely to be found on European spruce, Siberian larch and some other conifers. Pine sapwood is inferior in beauty to growths of deciduous trees, but the troubles with harvesting and processing are much greater here, due to the high content of resins and the tendency to crack.

It is better to go in search of capes from April to May. First of all, at this time the forest has not yet been covered with greenery and the growths are clearly visible. Secondly, it is during this period that the active movement of sap begins in the trees, thanks to which the bark is removed from the sawed growth much more easily. This is relevant, first of all, for caps, which, as we have already found out, are characterized by conical bulges, which make it difficult to remove the powerful bark.

But harvesting caps in the spring involves some difficulties. First of all, at this time, the wood is highly saturated with moisture and it is more difficult to saw it. Secondly, kap or souvel with excessive moisture can present many "surprises" during the drying process: from strong mold to complex through cracks that will hopelessly spoil the valuable material. For this reason, many craftsmen prefer to go in search of saplings in September-October, when the intensity of the movement of sap in the trees decreases.

Kapas and suvels are more often found in deciduous forests. Moreover, foresters note a certain regularity: it is more possible to find tree growths in areas with sparse undergrowth, and especially those that are flooded in early spring.

For those who are serious, it is better to get to know the foresters and agree on the supply of material. The following should be understood here. By the standards of industrial woodworking, capa and suveli are considered a marriage. They are not made into imitations, and not all enterprises have a line for the production of, for example, the same veneer. Also, caps are not used as firewood - they are not malleable in processing and smolder more than they burn. Of course, most likely the forester understands what he is dealing with. But if a person does not engage in carving or sharpening himself, he is unlikely to prepare and store large workpieces. As a result, in the course of logging, kapa and suveli often receive a share of ordinary waste, so it is usually not difficult to agree on the supply on mutually beneficial terms.

Another working scheme is the search for growths in the waste of sanitary logging. Crowning trees in yards, parks, along roads is a systematic procedure in most large cities. This can be used. Moreover, it is often much easier to get along with utility workers than with the same foresters. After inspecting the waste and finding a valuable growth, most likely you will have no problems agreeing to have it sawed off right on the spot.

4

Provision

Everything is relatively simple with growths on fallen trees: they are cut down together with a section of the trunk, and already the houses in a calm environment decide what the blanks will be used for and how to more rationally cut a massive log. But finding a fallen tree with valuable growth is like winning the lottery.

Much more often, you have to saw off the sap and saplings from a growing tree. Doing it with a chainsaw is a very barbaric method. And walking through the forest with such an accessory can cause a lot of misunderstandings during a meeting with a forester.

How to cut souvel and cap?

The most delicate and at the same time effective method is the use of a bow saw. Separately, we note the importance of a high-quality canvas with the correct separation of the teeth. Otherwise, the saw will wedge and bind in the "cap wood", which will turn the already difficult sawing on a scale into this test.

The second tool, which will not be superfluous, is a small ax: they carefully chop the bark around the growth. On thick trunks, it is better to saw strictly tangentially. This reduces the useful size of the workpiece, but avoids hopeless jamming of the blade during the sawing process. On relatively thin trees, the cutting line can be slightly deepened towards the trunk. Of course, it is better to lay an arc within reasonable limits, especially if you did take up the chainsaw.

Seven sweats went down, and the desired cap was finally sawed off. Now the most important thing! It is necessary to close the wound on the tree to prevent it from dying. For smearing, it is often recommended to use garden var or ordinary clay. These are working methods, but not reliable enough (especially clay). It is better to cover the burning place with oil paint.

5

How to dry a cap without cracks. Two ways

Those who work with coppice wood know very well that the most difficult thing when working with this material is not to find or even cut the desired growth, but to dry it properly. So that the workpiece does not turn out to be hopelessly spoiled by mold, warping or through cracks.

Just in case, we remind you: you can work with wood only when it is dry. The moisture content of the workpiece should reach at least 15%, even better — 10-12%. This is important for any type of processing: turning, carving, carpentry. Raw wood is poorly processed and almost guaranteed to present "surprises" in the form of cracking, warping and even mold. In general, the tree needs to be dried, and the sapwood is no exception.

It is not difficult to guess that due to the abnormal structure of the fibers, drying of wood growth is significantly different from ordinary lumber. The internal tension here is much stronger, and the nature of their manifestation is completely unpredictable. Due to this, the workpieces often have deep cracks, or even completely split into parts.

Let's say right away that there is no 100% working scheme that will help avoid the unpleasant consequences of drying. Every drop or drop is unpredictable. Plus, a lot depends on the size of the growth, the type of tree, and the time of sawing. Nevertheless, we will focus on the two most effective ways to dry birch and any other sapwood without cracks.

Seasoning

Here we are talking about standard atmospheric drying, but with its own minor features. The general algorithm of actions is approximately as follows.

1. The place of the cut (the back side of the cap or souvel) is covered with an improvised sealant. It can be oil paint or, for example, PVA glue. This is necessary in order to slow down the accelerated exit of moisture through the end. Rapid drying leads to a sharp imbalance of internal stress and increases the risk of cracks. Thus, in the case of atmospheric drying, time is sacrificed in favor of wood stability.
2. The place where the workpiece dries must be well ventilated. At the same time, it is necessary to provide protection from direct sunlight and moisture. Plus there should be no moisture. From spring to autumn, it is easiest to ensure such conditions outside by making an improvised drying rack with protective flooring. This is especially true if there are many blanks.
3. It is better to put two square spacer rails under each workpiece so that air currents can blow it from all sides. But for the winter period, it is still better to move kapa and suveli indoors.

Atmospheric drying is a slow process. And this is its main drawback. It takes about a year for a medium-sized harvest to dry to 15-17%. At the same time, during the entire drying period, it is necessary to carefully monitor that no centers of biological activity appear on the wood. Preventing this problem helps with timely antisepsis, which we talked about in detail in a separate article. But after such processing, for obvious reasons, it is better not to use caps for making spoons, dishes, boards and other dishes.

Accelerated drying

Here we came to the question, why cook souvel. Boiling in a salt solution is one of the methods that helps to quickly remove moisture from a wooden workpiece, minimizing the likelihood of its cracking. That is, it is a kind of stabilization technology. Now about how to cook cap and souvel. But let's start a little further. Back in 2005, a user of one of the weapons forums under the nickname Serjant shared his method of accelerated drying of the souvelle. The method itself turned out to be so successful that it is still being retold all over the Internet in various variations, and the old-timers call it "drying by the Sergeant's method." Let us summarize its essence as briefly as possible:

1. The entire workpiece is placed in a container and filled with water so that it covers the wood by 2-3 cm. It is desirable to first clean the growth from the bark for better penetration of the salt solution.
2. Salt is added to the water at the rate of 2 tablespoons (with a slide) per liter.
3. In the classic version, the author also suggests adding sawdust of resinous species to the water. This can not be done. Decoction with sawdust really gives the workpiece a pleasant ocher shade, but only on top. Inside, the texture remains normal.
4. The container is put on fire and boiled over low heat for   6-8 hours  , periodically adding water and adding salt.
5. After cooking, the workpiece is dried for one or two days. No need to use any newspaper wrappers. Follow the standard atmospheric drying rules mentioned above: use spacer bars, hide the workpiece from the sun, ensure natural ventilation.
6. The cooking-drying cycle is repeated   2-4 times   , depending on the size of the workpiece. Total cooking should take at least 12 hours.
7. After the last cooking, the workpiece is dried for one to two weeks.

It cannot be said that this method is already fast. And it requires a lot of trouble. But such stabilization is not a year and a half of atmospheric drying. Also, with cooking, you can worry less about cracks. Salt effectively displaces not only free, but also bound moisture, which is in the cells of the tree. In this way, deep, fast and, most importantly, uniform drying of the workpiece is ensured. The wood is stabilized with minimal internal stress imbalance, so the risk of cracking is significantly lower.

6

Why do you need a birch cap and souvel. Processing features

Carving on the souvel and kapu is very different from working with ordinary wood. This requires special skills and understanding of this non-standard material. The usual Bogorod knife or carving knife will not help much. The high density and chaotic arrangement of the fibers make it difficult to handle with hand tools. Even sharp chisels fit in front of this material. Therefore, the processing of wooden growths today is more often carried out using an electric tool. The processing of small details in products and other decorative products is done with a dremel, with various crowns, small disks, burrs.

What can be done with kapa and souveli

Wood growths are widely used in decorative and applied arts. There is even a separate direction of artistic craft - root plastic surgery. Elegant boxes, cigarette cases, jewelry, and much more are made from kapa and souvel. The same kapokorin is usually considered the best material for making smoking pipes.

In industrial woodworking, mouthpieces are mainly used for veneer production. Furniture is also inlaid with them: headboards, tables, sideboards and other items. Gunsmiths especially appreciate this material: cap and souvel are the best material for knife covers and gun stocks.

The hotel direction of cap finishing is the creation of tableware and turning products. Turning in a special way reveals the beauty of the already unique structure of this material.

Bowls, plates, dishes and other turned products look like full-fledged works of art, the designer of which was nature, and the sculptor - man.

Traditional dishes are also made from wooden growths. For example, the famous stump - the Finnish bowl, which accompanies the inhabitants of the north all their lives and is a kind of amulet - is cut from the cap of a birch tree.

Cutting boards deserve a special mention: they are so unique in their beauty that, while they are not used as utensils, they serve as self-sufficient designer decor.

Source: https://woodschool.com.ua/kap-i-suvel.html

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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 it is?
Suvel is a resource growth for humans, but it does not mean anything good for the birch itself.  This growth appears due to a disease of the tree (to speak figuratively, due to birch cancer).  Usually it is a lump, twisted and woven, does not have a clear geometric shape. Another popular name for growth is svil. And this tree grows 2 or even 3 times faster than the tree itself.

In shape, it resembles a drop, or a ball, or something averaged.  The growth is located around a branch or trunk. On the shore, such formations are often found, although it is impossible to say exactly what they are caused by and why they develop. It is believed that the souvelle appears as a result of the attack of the tree by a fungus. But mechanical injury to the birch cannot be ruled out.

But this outgrowth is called a wooden bone because the cut of the souvelle resembles the separation of marble, with the cross-section and rays characteristic of the material, and the thin particles of the souvelle can even be seen through. Some similarity with the structure of bone tissue, indeed, can be guessed . However, the density of the tissue in the growth is still less - this wood is not as strong as, for example, cap.

It happens that the souvel grows to large sizes. If you come to the Vatican, you can see the font made from a whole piece of souvelle wood cut from a tree . 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. 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 shore, what it is inside, but certain predictions can be made.

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

What is different from a cap?
First, it is worth saying what the cap is. It also has an alternative folk name - "witch's broom". This education, unlike souvel, has a benign nature. Nodules grow on a birch trunk or twig. This is not a ball or a big drop, but a nodular formation, with many cones that create dormant kidneys (or accessory ones). These formations resemble either thorns or bumps. It is not surprising if small shoots and small twigs will grow on the cap, directly from its interior. With silk it is excluded.

The differences between these formations are significant.

For example, a cap is a rare and successful find. It is believed that it can be found on one of 3-5 thousand trees. Souvel is easier to find. On birches, people often find a basal cap, and it can also be of impressive sizes. Processing a cap is not as easy as a souvel, nevertheless bumps, cones and spikes are visible. But there should be no problems with grinding and polishing.

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.

Features of the workpiece
You must, of course, look for an unusual bulge in the forest. Both cap and svil, by the way, are very often confused with a tree mushroom. It is difficult to even remember its name - Inonotus mowed. But to put it more simply, it is what people call a seagull.

Such a mushroom grows on the shore, and you can find it on a tree more often than a souvel and even more so a cap.

Here are some tips for finding and harvesting silk.

• Silk cutting is optimal in the fall (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 - 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 layoff is found, you should seriously consider cutting your 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 wood in the air in the most natural conditions, but natural drying will take a year, or even two. 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 dries 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 and 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 should you cook in 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 a 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 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 decoration of a picture, 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.

What is a sea hornbeam. Deciduous hornbeam tree and its unusual properties
Description
Characteristics of wood
Black hornbeam
Before using any types of fasteners, the material must be pre-drilled. It holds screws and nails perfectly, which is good for securing furniture joints and complex parts.

When using fresh wood in everyday life, it is recommended to cut and turn the product until the material is dry - in this form it is easier to process.

Despite its natural high density and wear resistance, hornbeam is considered a rather difficult and impractical breed, as it gets wet quickly and is prone to damage by fungus and other biological pathogens. It cannot be used without additional etching and decoration, and it is not suitable for outdoor work either. The twisted structure of the fibers and the low ability to glue do not allow hornbeam to be used as a structural building material: plywood or glued timber. It is not used for external works. Indoors, the hornbeam surface should be covered with protective impregnations and thick layers of varnish. Do not use the material in rooms with high humidity.

Spheres and peculiarities of application
This wood finds its purpose where resistance to shock loads is required: in the manufacture of decorative elements, parts of mechanisms, sports objects. It is used to produce:

golf clubs, billiard cues;
weaving boats;
agricultural tools;
bodies and elements of necks of violins, guitars, details of grand pianos, other musical instruments;
cutting boards, knife handles;
boxes, toys, souvenirs, frames for paintings, panels and photographs;
furniture, parquet, interior design details.
Due to its noble light-pearl color and strength, hornbeam wood has a high artistic value and is used in the creation of mosaic designs, friezes and decorative elements.

Parts of propellers in aircraft construction are made from hornbeam.

On average, the price of 1 m³ of wood, depending on the manufacturer, is 645–800 dollars.

It is believed that furniture or decoration made of this type of wood relieves fatigue, provides physical strength, helps coordinate thoughts and actions, and gets rid of a bad mood.

Black hornbeam
The light structure of the tree with a subtle natural pattern makes it attractive for the manufacture of various imitations. By the method of etching the material, black hornbeam is obtained, which in terms of properties and appearance is similar to ebony. Nigrozins are used for high-quality dyeing - special mixtures based on aniline, nitrobenzene and hydrochloric acid, dissolved in water or alcohol. They give the material a clean, bright color that is not afraid of direct sunlight. Professional etching involves coloring the entire thickness of the material through, rather than surface application of paint. It is not recommended to self-etch wood, because when using self-burning chemical dyes, it can lose strength, become loose or unevenly colored. Expertly made black hornbeam, imitated to ebony, has a very dark purple shade, which does not burn out and does not fade over time, does not smudge under mechanical impact on the surface. Hornbeam is sold in small batches as small bars.