This is our second week of our weekly wood feature giving information about rare and unusual wood of the world. This week we wanted to highlight one of our most popular and favorite woods Amboyna Burl. This wood is a bit unusual in that it sometimes refers to the wood Narra, sometimes called Padauk, or Pterocarpus indicus.  The burl form of Narra was originally called Amboyna Burl only when it was in its veneer form but it now is accepted as the name of the burl regardless of its use. 

This tree is native to southeastern Asia with the burl form mostly originating in Laos, Myanmar (formerly Burma), or a group of islands in Indonesia including Ambon Island which contributed its name to Amboyna.  Narra grows over 100’ tall and can be over 6’ in diameter.  Amboyna burl has long been considered one of the rarest and most beautiful burls in the world.  It is said that every piece of Amboyna Burl brought out of the jungles has been transported by elephant for at least part of its journey.  It is a very fragrant wood that ranges in color from yellow to golden brown to red.  Amboyna burl has been used in fine furniture and was especially popular in the Victorian period through the Art Deco period.  It has also been used for the dashboard in many fine and exotic cars including Rolls Royce and Maybach.  For its beautiful color and figure Amboyna Burl has also been a favorite wood used in art and for those reasons we at Higdon Writing Instruments chose it as one of our wood selections for our hand made pens. For those of you interested in rare and unusual wood that are not familiar with the term “burl” I will explain what the term means.  The term refers to a deformed growth that occurs in a tree. You can see examples of burl form here.  This deformation, which occurs both above ground and below ground in the roots of the tree, causes extreme variation in grain direction and color and often includes bark inclusions.  In many woods burl includes something called chatoyancy (which we discussed in our featured wood Curly Koa).  Please follow along for future postings of information and rare and unusual woods.  If you have any questions please visit us here.