My name is Dave, and I am building a formal library for my old Catholic boarding school in PA.  I veneered the wall panel for over the entry doors, and had to book-match two sheets of burl veneer.  (That means two veneers of the same pattern, from the same log, are placed alongside each other, one piece being flipped to present the mirror-image of the other).  After the glue dried, I sanded and cleaned it, and noticed this image for the first time.  (Attached)  It is unarguably Our Lord.  Not sure what to make of it.  It didn’t appear along with any other manifestation or audible locutions, or anything like that.  Just bam.  There He was.  Even has an Adam’s apple.  And underneath the Adam’s apple there’s what looks exactly like a Sacred Heart, precisely where a Sacred Heart would be drawn in an icon.  Above the image is what appears to be the torso of another smaller figure with his arms outstretched from side to side (??).  If He can be said to be frowning, I might point out that most icons of the Eastern rites depict very serious expressions.

    I did not notice anything special about the burl patterns before I glued them together, I just picked the first 2 pieces off the pile and selected the location of heaviest grain figure for the joint.  The panel is about 30″ tall x 60″ wide. The wood species is either European Oak Burl or Carpathian Oak Burl.  I will have to check on that, I’ve been mixing them.  I looked to see if other pieces from the same veneer flitch (meaning a pile of matching pieces cut from the same log) had the same patterns, and it seemed that they did change in pattern quickly as I flipped through the pile.

    I live and work in Ghent, NY, right below Albany.  If you want to see closer or clearer photos, I can try to get you more.  It’s pretty surreal, but very clearly a free and joyous gift from God!

   Dave Romanchuk