[cobalt]

Its time of year to prepare to harvest some shanks. The leaves are falling so in a couple of weeks of so they will be ready for cutting.

I cut some time between nov to march so I will be strolling around the woods eyeing up the hazel .Keeping a good lookout for a natural thumb sticks .

Have to check on the folding saw and loppers get some twine to bunch them up and ready to go after a week or so after a good sharp frost

I don't use fallen wood usually its poor quality or worm eaten

So any of you ready for it.as you use a lot of variety of woods in the states

 

[Batakali]

I've been out a bit already. Got some ash and some I'm not sure of.

 

[cobalt]

ash is a good sond wood but my preferance is hazel.Hope to cut about 50. but have about 50 + thats two years old and ready for use

I like welsh hazel really good colour snake skin like pattern with a hint of pink and light browns. West Scottish hazel is very nice gives the appearance of crackle glaze. What I cut locally is a basic rich brown in colour

Chestnut is a nice shank rich redish brown

 

[Batakali]

I admit that ash is a little on the bland side color wise but it grows on hillsides here and makes excellent knobbed shillelaghs. Not a lot of hazel or chestnut here, mostly ash,oak and maple with a bit of birch and walnut thrown in. All great for stick making tho'. Here's a couple I picked up last week.
Before and after the "haircut".

 

[CV3]

I wish we had the hazel you have cobalt. I do have a new source of pecan Wood. A person I know just got some land with a 2 or three acres of pecan trees. He has told me he got it for the land and I can take what would I want.Hope to go see it in a few weeks. will wait for the leaves to fall and colder weather take the limbs. We have a lot of trees in our community A lot of oak and Dogwood There are many tree serves businesses You can get some good sticks if you can get there before they feed them to the chipper.

 

[Pennswoods]

Sorry. Haven't posted on here since last year 'cause I've been waiting for last year's cut sticks to dry in the attic. Just a couple dozen. Most are Yellow Birch. They're "OK" natural - but very, very pale - some Walnut stain really makes them look great. Now I've finally got some sticks in the works again! Tried some Sassafras too. Left bark on at handles of the Sassafras. The grain pattern is really beautiful on them overall. Also had a blow-down Black Walnut this Summer that I'll need to wait at least another 365 for.

 

[RATTY]

i will be out today hunting for a while , hoping to get find cherry ,hazel , birch and ash . will grab some pics and post on my travels .

 

[Rodney]

We've had some wind in the last couple weeks. I've gathered a few sticks and have my eye on a few more including some fairly straight hazel. I'll need to go back with some digging tools for it though. I should be able to get a couple good root sticks from it.

I may go have a look around tomorrow, see if anything new has come down.

Rodney

 

[RATTY]

I just got some hazel , ash , birch and oak shanks today . Only managed to find 4 because the weather turned .

 

[Batakali]

I see a possible thumb stick in your future!

 

[RATTY]

you do indeed lol

 

[Batakali]

Plan going out this weekend. Marked a few last time I was out.

 

[RandyL476]

Got some hornbeam spotted maybe I'll get to cut some this weekend.

 

[Rodney]

Going out this afternoon when I'm done here. I'm taking my daughter with me so we're going to harvest some nice hazel I found. I'm hoping to get some good root sticks out of it.

Rodney

 

[cobalt]

try to leave the roots cut the main stem it will grow back pretty quick .That way you will have enougth material to make a one piece crook. and potential supply again in about 3-4 years

Its very difficult to get hazel to make a one piece crook most stickmakers here really go well out the way to get it

 

[Batakali]

Just got back from a productive day in the woods. Picked up four pieces that i look forward to working on.

 

[Batakali]

try to leave the roots cut the main stem it will grow back pretty quick .That way you will have enougth material to make a one piece crook. and potential supply again in about 3-4 years
Its very difficult to get hazel to make a one piece crook most stickmakers here really go well out the way to get it

that is the problem with root knob sticks. You kill off your source. Witch is why I only harvest a few at at a time and only in a few areas at a time.

 

[Rodney]

I ended up getting 6 pretty straight and clear blanks from that clump. No root sticks though. I dug down into the duff far enough to tell the roots weren't going to be anywhere near the right shape so left them alone.

Maybe another time. I'm not giving up on getting some.

There is a lot of alder here. It grows like a weed in freshly disturbed soil like on the edges of logging roads. I'm going to see if I can get some root sticks from them.

I also picked up a couple white oak sticks that had sections with good natural crooks for handles. I like natural crooks when I can get them. They look good, are naturally strong due to no short grain to worry about and generally fit the hand pretty well with only minimal work. They tend to be harder to find than decent shanks though.

I'm hoping to have at least 50 good blanks curing by spring.

Rodney

 

[cobalt]

goodluck with you stick hunting

I also hope to harvest about 50 but I am getting ore particular what I cut now .Loads of 2nd grade shanks but to get a really good 1st class isn't so easy

 

[Rodney]

The hazel around here is mostly reject stuff by your standards. Clear straight pieces in the proper size range are rare. 6 good hazel shanks is a very good day for me. I do like the wood though.

I'm working out which species are most likely to give me what I want in my area. Right now that would be clear straight shanks with decent bark. I like the British style of leaving the bark on their sticks.

There's a lot of Oregon White Ash here. It tends to produce nice straight suckers and it seems to be a strong wood. I know other species of Ash are used for tool handles. I'll likely be harvesting more of it.

Maple tends to send out nice straight suckers too. I have couple hiking staff blanks but nothing cane sized. It does have a large pith when young so may not be the best choice.

Alder produces nice straight saplings and has a pleasant bark. That's why I'm thinking it might be good for root sticks.

There's a lot of willow not far from here. It also produces nice straight suckers . It's also a little weaker so slightly thicker shanks would be needed.

Those are probably the most common species I'm likely to get good sticks from.

Rodney