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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 25, 2011 at 20:33

Terry,

LOL...The umbrella would be interesting and the fish bite better in the rain here in FL.  Maybe on V3?

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Permalink Reply by Halicon on May 27, 2011 at 9:49

Jan (and Terry I suppose, it answers both lol), it's nothing grand like that but many thanks for the heartfelt words anyway :)

After having several gorgeous specimens crack and warp during the drying process I simply couldn't bear loosing any more precious lumber. It's horrible when it happens, feels like you lost one of your children and then you take a peek inside and look at just how good the wood was that you lost. Horrible! lol

 

So one time after I had a spiky marsian birch burl crack up on me I asked as many expert woodworkers as I could find on how they make sure their figured wood and burls are dried in order for it to not run too big risks of being rendered useless.

What I found was generally that you should keep any "unstable" sections of the wood like a fresh cut or knots protected by wax in order to keep the movement during drying to a minimum, dry it for a rather long time regardless how anxious you are to get to work with it and keep it in a stable climate, not too hot or too cold.

 

Then after some time re-whet it in order to match the outer layer of the wood with the "core" inside so they don't dry at  a different pace and then leave it to dry for another few months and voilá, a nice workable furniture wood with high figure or a ton of eyes/rays :)

 

Oh, Terry, I only wax highly figured wood's cut surfaces or burl's cut surfaces. For something like a sapling or limb for a staff the grain is very stable and will survive well without any wax, compared to figured wood and burls where the grain is literally going all over the place which makes it so prone to cracking and warping.

 

I have to say though that a healthy specimen with perfectly straight fibers is gorgeous in itself as a staff, especially if you plane two sides to really show the grain like a Japanese hammer.

 

@Robert, what species do you prefer for your staffs by the way? Here in Sweden it's basically only possible to acquire the type you use with the vine-twisting look from very sickly trees, nothing here grows like it naturally. Really too bad because your staffs are absolutely gorgeous.

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Permalink Reply by Terry Waldele on May 27, 2011 at 15:27

Hal, thanks so much for the detailed information.  Now, I really want to find some wood that is native to the Northwest that would be highly figured like the wood you are using.  Can you give me any ideas in that regard?  Thanks.

Halicon said:

Jan (and Terry I suppose, it answers both lol), it's nothing grand like that but many thanks for the heartfelt words anyway :)

After having several gorgeous specimens crack and warp during the drying process I simply couldn't bear loosing any more precious lumber. It's horrible when it happens, feels like you lost one of your children and then you take a peek inside and look at just how good the wood was that you lost. Horrible! lol

 

So one time after I had a spiky marsian birch burl crack up on me I asked as many expert woodworkers as I could find on how they make sure their figured wood and burls are dried in order for it to not run too big risks of being rendered useless.

What I found was generally that you should keep any "unstable" sections of the wood like a fresh cut or knots protected by wax in order to keep the movement during drying to a minimum, dry it for a rather long time regardless how anxious you are to get to work with it and keep it in a stable climate, not too hot or too cold.

 

Then after some time re-whet it in order to match the outer layer of the wood with the "core" inside so they don't dry at  a different pace and then leave it to dry for another few months and voilá, a nice workable furniture wood with high figure or a ton of eyes/rays :)

 

Oh, Terry, I only wax highly figured wood's cut surfaces or burl's cut surfaces. For something like a sapling or limb for a staff the grain is very stable and will survive well without any wax, compared to figured wood and burls where the grain is literally going all over the place which makes it so prone to cracking and warping.

 

I have to say though that a healthy specimen with perfectly straight fibers is gorgeous in itself as a staff, especially if you plane two sides to really show the grain like a Japanese hammer.

 

@Robert, what species do you prefer for your staffs by the way? Here in Sweden it's basically only possible to acquire the type you use with the vine-twisting look from very sickly trees, nothing here grows like it naturally. Really too bad because your staffs are absolutely gorgeous.

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on May 27, 2011 at 17:02

Hal and Terry, these are some of the trees that I use to make my staffs: ash, willow, courtableau, cedar, oak, poplar, hickory, and hackberry. My favorites are ash, courtableau, and cedar. I have included a picture of some finished and unfinished staffs. I hope this helps you, don't be afraid to try and fail.

 

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 27, 2011 at 18:49

Robert,

I love the uniqueness of the woods you choose.  Character is essential to me.  It shows the maker has some character in them also :)

 

Hal,

Would love to see yours also

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on May 27, 2011 at 20:19

I can not hang with Hal, but I have to fight some critter to get my wood!

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 27, 2011 at 20:36

Coons, Possums and such are ok but you let that gator take what he wants

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Permalink Reply by stephen tungate on May 27, 2011 at 21:37

robert those are really nice walking sticks i would love to have any one of them they great looking work.good job my friend...

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Permalink Reply by Terry Waldele on May 27, 2011 at 23:23

Robert, your staffs are gorgeous!  Thanks for the info on the types of trees you use.  I'll see if I can find some of them here.  I've never heard of courtableau, so I need to look it up and see if it's indiginous to Oregon.  Thanks again!

Robert Burris said:

Hal and Terry, these are some of the trees that I use to make my staffs: ash, willow, courtableau, cedar, oak, poplar, hickory, and hackberry. My favorites are ash, courtableau, and cedar. I have included a picture of some finished and unfinished staffs. I hope this helps you, don't be afraid to try and fail.

 

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 28, 2011 at 16:08

Robert,

Which if the wood is which in the bottom picture.  They sure are beautiful 

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on May 28, 2011 at 20:51

The wood on the left is Ash [the best to work with] the wood on the right is Courtableau [ very strong and pretty, old cajuns made fence post and other things out of this wood]. The one in the middle is my shooting iron.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 29, 2011 at 10:37

That is some beautiful wood (and a good looking shootin' iron)

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