Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,027
I wouldn't think Hackleberry would necessarily be "too hard" at all times...but I'd have to try it to be sure, and it's hard to say without being there. There could be an issue of what you have on hand being too hard, or an issue with sap or something else like humidity or technique.
Can you dent the material you have with a thumb nail? Humidity and moisture content play a big role. There are ways to defeat that such as sitting materials on a rock in the sun and what Rick calls "idling" but that comes over time. I know a lot of people have their own preferences and some prefer everything made for the same wood, and some like harder spindles...but personally I am one of those who tends to like a spindle abit softer than my hearth and a thinner (than some people's) hearth board. To me the notch is for cutting so I like to have the hearth a little harder to cut the charred and dried dust from the spindle tip and build a pile of dust quickly. Seems if the pile is too "tall" in the notch or takes to long to build then heat needed to coal is dispersed and makes building the heat harder. Are you keeping you dust away from moisture? using a dry leaf or something to collect it on? What are you using for a bearing? Are you getting a lot of friction there? It works good to have the bearing made of harder woods like Oak, Hickory, or Walnut that glaze over once heated and then lubing the divot to reduce friction. What formula are you using to decide the size of your notch? Too wide and the dust cools quicker, too narrow and it doesn't get enough oxygen. 1/8 the diameter of the socket works well for me with a little deviation from that either way working ok too but not much deviation, and a hair wider seems to work better than a hair narrower. When you are spinning the spindle how are you going about it? Initially I go relatively slow going for producing the dust then once the smoke starts speeding up going for heat, and then once the smoke is thick going all out for another half a minute to a minute depending on materials being used. Which part of Illinois are you in? Do you have Cottonwoods near by? I saw a lot of them when I was in London Mills and they work really well from all I have seen, I know Ken (KGD) really likes it a lot and makes both parts (spindle and hearth) from the same piece of wood. I know the spindle I made here from Sweet Gum is definitely a little harder than I prefer, but I haven't gotten back to it yet anyway due to other projects
Love the hiking buddy! Funny how a different blade grind changes the whole look of a knife. Mine looks a bit fancy pants right now but I plan to change that very soon.