I located a couple of good shagbarks summer of 2014 in a holler here on the farm. Holler grown hickory tends to grow straight and even, with uniform growth rings without internal damage from high winds like trees located on ridges. The rings also tend to be very uniform in size because of the minimal drought stress low ground provides in dry years.
I cut one of them last December, and split it into staves for handles while the sap was down as is proper. Handle blanks split when the sap is up will check and split severely through the warm months as they dry, sometimes rendering the stave unusable. This type of damage will only be discovered when a lot of work has been done to prep the blank for a haft. So, for premium quality handles, I only cut handle stock in the winter. I also paint the ends of the stave with whatever is on hand to stop fast end drying, and retard the checking. The bark is left on the stave too, this also slows the drying, and prevents cracks and checks. I have found staves handled, and prepped in this manner will yield some of the best, strongest, and most resilient haft material that can be found.
I cut the other tree today, and split some full length staves out of the best cuts from the trunk. I'll go back in a day or two and split the best of what's left for hatchet and shorter handles. The rest of the tree will be used as firewood. I thought I would share todays work with a few pictures.
This tree has SUPER straight grain, not all do, and you never know until you begin splitting the staves. With the heartwood riven off, looks like some quality grain too, with around 10 growth rings per inch.
17 really good staves so far, I may be able to get several more full length blanks when I go back to split the rest. If not, there will be 20-30 hatchet staves for sure!
I cut one of them last December, and split it into staves for handles while the sap was down as is proper. Handle blanks split when the sap is up will check and split severely through the warm months as they dry, sometimes rendering the stave unusable. This type of damage will only be discovered when a lot of work has been done to prep the blank for a haft. So, for premium quality handles, I only cut handle stock in the winter. I also paint the ends of the stave with whatever is on hand to stop fast end drying, and retard the checking. The bark is left on the stave too, this also slows the drying, and prevents cracks and checks. I have found staves handled, and prepped in this manner will yield some of the best, strongest, and most resilient haft material that can be found.
I cut the other tree today, and split some full length staves out of the best cuts from the trunk. I'll go back in a day or two and split the best of what's left for hatchet and shorter handles. The rest of the tree will be used as firewood. I thought I would share todays work with a few pictures.
This tree has SUPER straight grain, not all do, and you never know until you begin splitting the staves. With the heartwood riven off, looks like some quality grain too, with around 10 growth rings per inch.
17 really good staves so far, I may be able to get several more full length blanks when I go back to split the rest. If not, there will be 20-30 hatchet staves for sure!
I'll try to keep everyone updated..Thanks!