Pollard Oak

Pollard Oak is the wood derived from oak trees that have been ‘pollarded’. Pollarding is a system of pruning the top branches of a tree which then promotes a dense head of branches and foliage.

It’s a technique that has been used in Europe since medieval times and is used today to keep trees in urban areas at a set height. When pruned in this way, the tree forms a lump or ‘burr’ which when cut for veneer has a lovely swirling figure in the grain.

New machines were developed in the 19th century which enabled veneers to be thinly and evenly cut for the first time, and enabled Victorian cabinet makers to use ‘burr’ woods as veneers. This had been a problem since the wild grains that make the wood so attractive also make it very brittle and difficult to work with.