HZ GTS Steering Wheel

[Dr Terry]

Yeah it is burl. People get it wrong all the time. It comes from the root burl underground at the base of the walnut tree. That is where the most interesting and intricate patterns are formed.

Edit: Learn something new everyday! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burl

I researched this very thing when I wrote my 60 years book.

The guy who proof-read the book was a pommy English language teacher & also an antique furniture collector. He was adamant it was BURR, not BURL, he said he had never heard of BURL walnut, until I showed him the original Holden sales brochures, which clearly had it spelled BURL wherever that woodgrain was used. He in turn, produced many books on wood & antique furniture (all printed in good old England) where it was always spelled BURR. So we agreed to disagree & we used a rule wherever English/US spelling issues arose, we used GM-H paperwork as the referee.

Generally speaking GM-H used American English not English English that you & I were taught at school in Australia. Not all the time, but most of the time. For example, you don't see the word trunk used for boot, they actually call it the 'rear compartment'.

As the opening line in the Wikipedia article states "A burl (American English) or bur or burr (used in all non-US English speaking countries) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner."

So I guess a Bentley would have BURR walnut & a Cadillac would have BURL Walnut.

Dr Terry