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PIPPY

A form of "defect" or "character" (depending on how you look at it) in wood where it looks as though the wood has a bad (or sometimes mild) case of the measles, with little spots dotting throughout the grain. Occurs in yew and a few other woods. In England, there is a form of oak burl that is called "pippy oak" in which the burl characteristics are pretty much the same as what we Americans call pippy, but more dense.

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Examples:


pippy yew


yew veneer --- the sparse occurance of the "measles" is common


oak veneer --- this is a sparse "pippy" burl; the next 3 pics show more dense pippy oak burl


pippy oak --- the burl that the English call "pippy oak"


elm


pippy Robertwood ... no, wait, this isn't wood, it's my son Robert years ago when he had one of the most amazing cases of measles (or chicken pox or something) I've ever seen. The closest this comes to a picture of wood is that I ocassionally called him blockhead, which got harder as he got older and it became apparent that he's at least as smart as I am (smarter if you ask him).

Why is this picture here? Well, I love wood, but it IS possible to get too serious about it, so lighten up !