open main page here with limited thumbnails            open main page here with ALL thumbnails



MADRONE

Arbutus menziesii

Arbutus menziesii of the family Ericaceae

Also known as Pacific madrone, it is known mostly for its burls, and occasionally veneer, and is less well known for lumber, although it is available as such, particularly on the upper West coast of the USA and up into Canada where it is known as arbutus (my thanks to Bob Elkins for pointing that out to me and also for correcting the spelling of the botanical name). It has a fine, uniform texture with a pleasing pinkish color and is very stable in service.


my samples --- colors are accurate


sample plank and end grain


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


flat cut veneer


quartersawn veneer


quartersawn veneer with ray flakes that show up much better in the enlargement


burl veneer




all of the pics in this section are of veneer that has been represented to me as madrone burl veneer, despite the significant variation in colors. I assume some is heartwood burl and some is sapwood burl. OR ... maybe some of it is not madrone burl at all. Ya got me --- LATER: OK, now that I have more experience w/ it, I agree that all of this IS madrone burl veneer.


veneer that spent some time on my mystery wood page before I became familiar enough with this species to agree with Alan Belski who identified it as madrone.


bookmatched burl veneer --- note the ugly green spots in the lower middle. A fungal growth, perhaps?


bookmatched burl veneer


web pics


planks


quartersawn with ray flakes, closeup


figured plank


listed as a spalted plank, it doesn't look very spalted to me but I'm not personally familiar with spalted madrone


flat cut veneer


flat cut figured veneer (very weak figure)


figured veneer --- looks to be quartersawn and with a VERY weak "figure", if any


veneer


crotch veneer


solid burls


burl pairs


burl veneer


burl veneer sheets that have been moistened to bring out the color


labeled as "dark" burl veneer




figured planks from the BogusColorVendor which of course means that the color is highly suspect. This is probably a mild pinkish brown, with none of the red/orange that they show. They are THAT dishonest.


unfigured planks from the same vendor