My sons and I have continued looking for suitable walking sticks. There are six or so drying in the gun room, and maybe 10 more outside in the garage.
Though Spring is here, and buds about to break, right now we wade through thickets of brown gray sticks. I thought I'd been harvesting only Chokecherry, but that may not be true. For one thing, my neighbor John, who grew up in this valley in Eastern Montana, is uncertain how to tell the difference between a Juneberry and a Chokecherry without leaves. Many of my branches I thought Chokecherry he's convinced are Juneberry, and visa-versa.
Then there is something called 'Thornapple'. I've cut some of these by accident- I thought they were Chokecherry. Then I found out Chokecherry does not have thorns. Thankfully, the specimens I sent Yvsa did not have thorns and are a known commodity- looking exactly like the specimens in my yard which I know to be chokecherry.
Thornapple turns out to be a form of Jimson weed- which these tall shrubs are decidedly not. So, I'm left with a garage of sticks of unknown kind. I guess I could just call everything 'Chokecherry'. The branches with thorns are known to be an extremely hard wood, like the wild plum which is also common.
All of the fresh limbs seem prone to cracking, both inside and outside the house. My neighbor says when he was a boy they sprayed everything with Lemon pledge wax to prevent this. He also told me if I waited for my limbs to dry too much debarking them was going to be hell.
The most fun is exploring with my sons. The little one is a problem. He insists upon being carried when the going looks tough. Carter and I each grabbed an arm and carried him down a small hill yesterday, his little legs pumping air. He hollered as if he was being skewered, but as we neared the bottom he began to laugh.
Ever since I taught him what deer poop looks like he'll stop us all on our trail to proudly announce, "More Deer Poop!" He'll make this announcement at every pile. The deer have been pooping in these woods for many years now. We don't make many forward steps.
There are some birds coming back. A couple have been shocked to find us going through the thickets. I wish I knew their species, one of the songs I heard was very nice.
My neighbor John recently purchased an empty mining office. What, exactly, he intends to do with this, or how to pay for it is a mystery. His wife thinks we'll hook up to the internet and provide a service. A man actually came through this part of Montana to give a seminar on this. I left after ten minutes or so, realizing he was giving a long speech, and the free food was not going to be distributed quickly.
When I saw on the net a single staff of Diamond Willow could sell for as much as 300 dollars I had a brief notion we could sell Chokecherry walking staffs. We've a lot of it here, and if a 'thornapple' or juneberry limb gets caught up in the process, what of it? We'll call everything Chokecherry. Unless it looks like Diamond Willow. There is one peice twisted around itself, very cracked, yet strong. Refinished, my neighbor thought it was Diamond Willow. He remained skeptical when I told him it was Chokecherry.
So, all Chokecherry looking like Diamond Willow will be sold as such. We'd be rich if there were enough of it- but my stick is the only one I found. It is so hard that sandpaper only scratched it. I've never even seen Oak that tough.
I had a few fleeting dreams; I saw racks of sticks drying in the mining office. I saw an expert in a lab coat we'd recruited who actually knew what each plant was and knew too how to prevent cracking. I saw temperature controls, heating elements, finishing rooms.... But mostly, I just have a garage with a bunch of cut limbs laying on top of the plywood.
My wife wants the plywood gone, and it won't be long before my Chokecherry is also disliked.
The plywood was leftover from the big water project here. Do you know how much plywood costs now? I have these round peices- big enough for tables.
I guess by now you know there won't be any Chokecherry walking stick factory in my small town. And the scrap wood will probably one day be found in the Dump. My wife suggested it be moved to the burn pile. Can you imagine that? No vision, that woman. One of my Spring assignments is to clean the garage. If I do a good job, and the plywood is carefully managed, she won't notice it, will she? You know, I could make those rounds into tables some day. I could. Did I mention I also have an old Satellite TV mount?
Every year or so this forum weighs in on the age old question- "Horn or wood?" I've told everyone I prefer horn. That's been true. I think by now you know I also like wood a great deal. I like it's color, the grain, the way it grows and forms. I like it even more now I know most wood is actually Chokecherry.
This thread has very little meaning, and I offer condolences to those of you who waded through the technical detail only to find scant satisfaction. It is as true a description of my life as I could manage at this time, so now you know me better than ever. Though I've almost finished writing the book I swore I would, most of my pleasure comes from simple things like wading through the brown stick thicket with no real friggen idea of what I'm doing, other than having fun with my sons. We get to carry a real vicious looking saw too, a Swen Saw. And there was a tick on me last night, and I got to flush him down the toilet.
My neighbor and the new Minister stopped by this evening. I think I've actually convinced them to come with us the next time we go 'sticking'.
Thrills are cheap out here.
munk
Though Spring is here, and buds about to break, right now we wade through thickets of brown gray sticks. I thought I'd been harvesting only Chokecherry, but that may not be true. For one thing, my neighbor John, who grew up in this valley in Eastern Montana, is uncertain how to tell the difference between a Juneberry and a Chokecherry without leaves. Many of my branches I thought Chokecherry he's convinced are Juneberry, and visa-versa.
Then there is something called 'Thornapple'. I've cut some of these by accident- I thought they were Chokecherry. Then I found out Chokecherry does not have thorns. Thankfully, the specimens I sent Yvsa did not have thorns and are a known commodity- looking exactly like the specimens in my yard which I know to be chokecherry.
Thornapple turns out to be a form of Jimson weed- which these tall shrubs are decidedly not. So, I'm left with a garage of sticks of unknown kind. I guess I could just call everything 'Chokecherry'. The branches with thorns are known to be an extremely hard wood, like the wild plum which is also common.
All of the fresh limbs seem prone to cracking, both inside and outside the house. My neighbor says when he was a boy they sprayed everything with Lemon pledge wax to prevent this. He also told me if I waited for my limbs to dry too much debarking them was going to be hell.
The most fun is exploring with my sons. The little one is a problem. He insists upon being carried when the going looks tough. Carter and I each grabbed an arm and carried him down a small hill yesterday, his little legs pumping air. He hollered as if he was being skewered, but as we neared the bottom he began to laugh.
Ever since I taught him what deer poop looks like he'll stop us all on our trail to proudly announce, "More Deer Poop!" He'll make this announcement at every pile. The deer have been pooping in these woods for many years now. We don't make many forward steps.
There are some birds coming back. A couple have been shocked to find us going through the thickets. I wish I knew their species, one of the songs I heard was very nice.
My neighbor John recently purchased an empty mining office. What, exactly, he intends to do with this, or how to pay for it is a mystery. His wife thinks we'll hook up to the internet and provide a service. A man actually came through this part of Montana to give a seminar on this. I left after ten minutes or so, realizing he was giving a long speech, and the free food was not going to be distributed quickly.
When I saw on the net a single staff of Diamond Willow could sell for as much as 300 dollars I had a brief notion we could sell Chokecherry walking staffs. We've a lot of it here, and if a 'thornapple' or juneberry limb gets caught up in the process, what of it? We'll call everything Chokecherry. Unless it looks like Diamond Willow. There is one peice twisted around itself, very cracked, yet strong. Refinished, my neighbor thought it was Diamond Willow. He remained skeptical when I told him it was Chokecherry.
So, all Chokecherry looking like Diamond Willow will be sold as such. We'd be rich if there were enough of it- but my stick is the only one I found. It is so hard that sandpaper only scratched it. I've never even seen Oak that tough.
I had a few fleeting dreams; I saw racks of sticks drying in the mining office. I saw an expert in a lab coat we'd recruited who actually knew what each plant was and knew too how to prevent cracking. I saw temperature controls, heating elements, finishing rooms.... But mostly, I just have a garage with a bunch of cut limbs laying on top of the plywood.
My wife wants the plywood gone, and it won't be long before my Chokecherry is also disliked.
The plywood was leftover from the big water project here. Do you know how much plywood costs now? I have these round peices- big enough for tables.
I guess by now you know there won't be any Chokecherry walking stick factory in my small town. And the scrap wood will probably one day be found in the Dump. My wife suggested it be moved to the burn pile. Can you imagine that? No vision, that woman. One of my Spring assignments is to clean the garage. If I do a good job, and the plywood is carefully managed, she won't notice it, will she? You know, I could make those rounds into tables some day. I could. Did I mention I also have an old Satellite TV mount?
Every year or so this forum weighs in on the age old question- "Horn or wood?" I've told everyone I prefer horn. That's been true. I think by now you know I also like wood a great deal. I like it's color, the grain, the way it grows and forms. I like it even more now I know most wood is actually Chokecherry.
This thread has very little meaning, and I offer condolences to those of you who waded through the technical detail only to find scant satisfaction. It is as true a description of my life as I could manage at this time, so now you know me better than ever. Though I've almost finished writing the book I swore I would, most of my pleasure comes from simple things like wading through the brown stick thicket with no real friggen idea of what I'm doing, other than having fun with my sons. We get to carry a real vicious looking saw too, a Swen Saw. And there was a tick on me last night, and I got to flush him down the toilet.
My neighbor and the new Minister stopped by this evening. I think I've actually convinced them to come with us the next time we go 'sticking'.
Thrills are cheap out here.
munk
