Opinions on burl wood?  

Hi.
To my untrained eyeballs, burl wood has always appeared rather cheesy, with faux applications best left to the dashboard of an American automobile manufactured in the 1970's-1980's, or a set of matching nightstands on either side a waterbed. It just looks sad. But I am usually wrong, especially when asked about burl wood. Some parts are edible.
Hi, I am
Aunt Mark
ps actually I have admired some of the 17th and 18th century case goods crafted of burl, and some of the modern pieces. I once had a crush on Burl Ives.

Burl is some of the most beautiful wood out there, but in the sense of furniture, it all depends on application.
Just because you build an Ashley end table out of Palisander, doesn't mean it will look good.....same thing goes for burl. If design is crap, it wont matter what wood it is made of, it will look like crap.
Like the nightstand above, I don't like the design on its own, so it wouldn't matter if you made it out of walnut, teak, rosewood, I still probably would not find it appealing. But that is just me...

In my opinion it's based on the finish put on the wood. And of course the design has to be pleasing. I often see burl wood furniture with a high gloss plastic looking finish, which I feel kind of diminishes the piece even if the design is good.

Hi.
I've taken some time to google several pieces of burl wood creations (images and partial nudity)..and some are quite acceptable, and pleasant to the myopic me, ...now I just want to remind everyone that I am usually wrong.
Best, Aloha, and a burl'd bear hug,
Aunt Mark, (aunt mark)

This is the only modern piece I have that has burl wood.  It is an Art Deco/American Streamlined Moderne piece from the 1930s, a small vanity with perfume/cosmetics shelf inside carved out of solid wood and lacquered in yellow (or maybe it was blonde finish originally but aged to yellow like the vertical wood handle) and to this day is still anonymous.  It is very well made where all the veneer pieces came from the same block of burl wood and the workmanship is in the same league as the first modern line that Gilbert Rohde designed for Herman Miller.  It looks like it wants to be next to a real Zebra or Leopard skin, maybe it did originally before it was outcast as a used furniture.  It also probably got separated from its original vanity stool.  It does need to find a new purpose in the 21st century though besides just to be a vanity.