Trees aren’t just big, beautiful leafy giants. They’re like nature’s diary, quietly keeping track of what’s been happening year after year.
Tree rings tell the story of a tree’s life, reflecting years of growth influenced by environmental conditions.
When working with wood for pyrography, the natural grain and growth patterns play a big role in how the wood responds to a heated tool.
Variations in the rings create differences in wood density, which can affect how evenly it burns. Some areas may require more heat to achieve the same depth of burn, while others might be prone to cracking. Understanding these natural patterns helps artists choose the right wood and adjust their techniques for the best results.
Lets Start At The Beginning.
The center of the tree rings is called the pith.
It’s the very first part of the tree that formed when it started growing as a seedling. The pith is important because:
1. It Helps Identify Growth Patterns
The position of the pith in a wood slice can tell you how the tree grew:
If the pith is in the exact center, the tree had even growth on all sides.
If the pith is off-center, the tree may have experienced uneven growth due to environmental factors (e.g., leaning toward sunlight, growing on a slope, or stress from wind).
2. It Shows How the Tree Handled Stress
If a tree experienced injuries, disease, or environmental challenges, the rings around the pith may be uneven or distorted.
In this image above, the fact that there seem to be two centers suggests the tree may have faced early damage or split growth. More on that below.
3. It Affects the Wood’s Strength and Usage
The pith is often softer and weaker than the surrounding wood.
In woodworking or pyrography, we should try to avoid using wood slices with cracks around the pith because they are more likely to split over time, unless of course that is part of the vibe. Often the working with the natural cracks and knots of the wood is the most fun!
It Looks Like This Slice Has Two Piths
The appearance of two centers in the wood slice suggests the tree experienced early disruption, such as a forked growth where two competing trunks merged or a large branch fused into the trunk. Both scenarios result in irregular growth patterns, affecting the wood’s density and stability.
For pyrography, these variations can impact how evenly the wood burns, with denser areas near knots requiring more heat and potentially causing uneven burning or cracking.
What Tree Rings Say About a Tree’s Life
By counting the rings from the center outward, you can estimate how old the tree was when it was cut (for most tree’s - but not all of them)!
Each ring shows a year in the life of the tree.
Each ring is comprised of a light colour and dark colour ring: during spring and early summer, there is more water available and trees grow faster, forming a lighter, wider band called “earlywood.” As the year winds down into late summer and fall, moisture is reduced and growth slows; the tree adds a darker, denser band called “latewood.” Put those together, and you’ve got one year of growth.
Count the rings from the center to the edge, and you’ve got the tree’s age. But the story doesn’t stop there—the size, color, and little details in the rings reveal a lot more about what’s been going on.
Here is a good example image from NASA’s Global Climate Change News!
Good Times vs. Tough Times
Wide rings: These happen during good years with plenty of rain, sunshine, and solid nutrients in the soil.
Narrow rings: These pop up during tough years when there’s drought, bad weather, or not-so-great soil conditions.
Fun fact: Tree’s that grow in dry climates, versus wet ones can be the same age but the one growing in wet conditions are double, triple or more the size because their rings are wider!
Big Events Tree rings can capture snapshots of major events, like:
Fires: If a tree survived a fire, you might see scars or weird patterns in the rings.
Floods: Rings can look a little funky when the soil stays soaked for too long.
Drought: Dry years usually mean skinny rings.
Other Damage: A storm, pests, or even people can mess with a tree’s growth and leave marks in the rings.
Disease: Some tree illnesses can leave their own signature in the wood.
Trees, History and Climate
Tree rings are like a cheat sheet for studying natural events in the past and also how the climate has changed over time. They give us a glimpse into weather patterns, temperatures, and even big shifts in the atmosphere. All this info helps us understand what’s happening now by looking at what’s happened before.
For example, in this article: A multifault earthquake threat for the Seattle metropolitan region revealed by mass tree mortality (Science Advances, 27 Sep 2023) scientists used tree rings from submerged forests in the area to uncover evidence of past earthquakes. A major quake around 900 C.E. caused landslides that drowned trees, and their sudden growth changes mark the event. This research helps date ancient earthquakes and shows the risk of multifault ruptures, which could lead to bigger, more destructive quakes in the future!
A Wood Burner’s Perspective
As someone who loves pyrography, I think tree rings add extra magic to every piece. Each burn interacts with those natural lines, bringing out the unique story in the wood.
The density and grain pattern of the wood will influence how a pyrography tool interacts with the surface. Woods with tighter grains may require different techniques compared to those with wider grain spacing. The species matters as well as the conditions it grew in. So wild!
Tree rings aren’t just about counting years. They’re about understanding the ups and downs, the struggles and wins, and the history of the world around us. So, the next time you’re looking at a tree or working on a piece of wood, take a second to appreciate the story hidden in those rings. It’s nature’s way of saying, “Here’s what I’ve been through.”
To learn more about wood, check out: Intro to Wood as a Pyrography Artist
