Figuring out figure--bird's-eye

 

Tasmanian blackwood
with bird's eye pattern

Bird's-eye is the name for a figure pattern most often associated with hard maple (acer saccharum), but I have found it in many other species, including koa, black walnut, cherry, Tasmanian blackwood, and a few rosewoods. The size of the "eyes" varies from small salt granular sizes to large ostrich skin eyes. The density of the patterns varies from an occasional eye to a rich galaxy of eyes a mile deep.

 

Heavily figured
bird's eye maple

The highest incidence of figured bird's-eye maple occurs in regions with severe winters and short growing seasons, including Maine, the eastern peninsula of Michigan, plus Canada and a few other areas.

Sawyers in these regions tell me they find bird's-eye figure most often on the north side of a dense woodlot. If at some point these woodlots are thinned, they usually stop producing bird's-eye. This leads me to conclude that the eye is a form of epicormic budding, or dormant buds that, when exposed to light, will grow a new branch.

 

Lightly figured
bird's eye maple

The eye figure shows up only on a flat-sawn board or veneer; therefore, these veneers are produced on a rotary slicer. The grain is very complicated, so it takes a skilled craftsman to work with it using hand tools and high-quality sharp power tools to avoid tear-out.

About the author:
Rick Hearne, owner of Hearne Hardwoods, Inc., in Oxford, Pennsylvania, has been in the specialty lumber business for more than 25 years. Hearne Hardwoods carries an inventory of 1 million board feet of lumber in 120 different species, including at least 100,000 board feet of variously figured maple.

For more information on lumber and plywood, visit the Woodworking Materials section in the WOOD Store.

Click here to visit Hearne Hardwoods Inc.

Wood by the Yard