Petrified wood

Petrified wood (also called fossil wood) is a type of stone that can be formed when trees end up under a thick layer of volcanic ash. The ash contains all kinds of minerals that dissolve in the groundwater. The wood does not rot as quickly as normal, because it does not come into contact with oxygen. The groundwater soaks the tree and the minerals are deposited in the wood cells. Slowly but surely the wood rots anyway and the minerals take the place of the wood cells. This process takes place so slowly that the structure of the wood is perfectly preserved. This makes it possible to see the annual rings of petrified wood very clearly, and experts can recognize the tree species.

The petrified wood from Indonesia consists almost exclusively of the tree species dipterocarpus. This deciduous tree species still exists, and is common in the tropical rainforest of Southeast Asia. Pieces of petrified palm tree are also found. The tree species from Arizona and Madagascar is araucaria, or monkey tree or snake pine.

Other petrified tree species are also found, but the Xyleia Natural Interiors collection is limited to the above-mentioned species.

The Indonesian petrified wood usually comes from the Miocene period. This means that the trees lived about 20 million years ago. There were no people living then, but the dinosaurs had already been extinct for about 45 million years. The petrified wood from Arizona and Madagascar is much older: 225 million years. At that time, the first dinosaurs had yet to hatch from an egg.

No, petrified wood of this age consists of 100% stone.

Petrified wood is found in practically all countries in the world. In most countries, such as the Netherlands, it is not very interesting. The pieces are small and the colors are not special. In a number of countries, petrified wood is found in large quantities, large pieces and beautiful colors. The best-known examples are: Indonesia, the United States and Brazil. There are famous "petrified forests" where tourists can walk through. It is strictly forbidden to take a piece of petrified wood from such a park. The nearest famous petrified forest is on the island of Lesbos in Greece. The most famous park is in the state of Arizona in the United States.

Petrified wood is often hidden in the ground in Indonesia. For example, when a farmer comes across a piece of petrified wood while ploughing his land, he calls in experts who “cultivate” his field. The people who dig the stones out of the ground and the owner of the land share the proceeds. The stones are sold to companies where it is processed. Xyleia Natural Interiors buys the petrified wood from these companies. After the stones have been dug out of the ground (sometimes up to eight metres deep!), the farmer happily continues to cultivate his field. So nothing changes to the landscape.

It is not particularly difficult to find petrified wood, but it is quite a challenge to purchase the beautiful pieces. Xyleia Natural Interiors buys less than 1% of what is offered at any given time. The other 99% does not meet our high standards. Our people on site are constantly searching for the best pieces.

The Mohs scale indicates the hardness of stone. The scale runs from 1 to 10. Chalk has a hardness of 1 and diamond has a hardness of 10. Petrified wood is a hard type of stone. It has an average hardness of 7. This makes it about as hard as granite. For comparison: marble and Belgian bluestone have a hardness of 3 to 4. Because of its hardness, petrified wood is a less suitable material for sculptors.

Petrified wood can be processed with grinding wheels. It can be polished excellently, which brings out the beautiful colours. A piece of petrified wood can be sawn, so that it stands stable. It can also be sawn into slices. Nowadays, there are saws with a diameter of up to three metres. Even larger pieces are processed into slices with a wire saw. Sawing and polishing is a very time-consuming job that requires craftsmanship.

The largest piece of petrified wood that we have ever seen weighs about 23 tons. The largest piece in our collection in the Netherlands weighs over 800 kg. That is about as heavy as a small car. The average weight of a side table is around 100 kg.

The material is well packed in crates, and these crates come to the Netherlands by sea in a container. A container full petrified wood weighs over 20 tons. It takes about a month for us to receive a container that has been shipped.