More Sticks

[mamav]

You could kill a snake or two.



munk

I will never get close enough to a snake to kill it If I saw one, I'd probably scare the begeebers out of the thing screaming and jumping around and becoming airborne in my attempt to escape. In other words, I'm sticking to the trails hoping they won't have too many critters sunning themselves because of all the people cruisin' by. HOPING is the key word here

 

[Roadrunner]

It ain't the big things that thatch the roof of your life.

I like that a lot.

munk, perhaps it's just the Gulden Drak ale I'm drinking before bed, but your post made me smile which is always good. Best of luck with the future round tables and walking stick factory.

 

[Nasty]

Someday the boys will love reading all of them to you when you're old and grumpy and wetting yourself

Don't you mean...naw...too easy.

munk - I sometimes hike in the woods too...and often along the rivers. How water resistant might the wood you have be I wonder?

.

 

[Lion's Roar]

Jebidiah - ironwood/musclewood is in most tree books that I've found as basswood. Usually grows in the Eastern US by waterways, loves creeks and rivers.

 

[Jebadiah_Smith]

Jebidiah - ironwood/musclewood is in most tree books that I've found as basswood. Usually grows in the Eastern US by waterways, loves creeks and rivers.

Basswood too? That just makes things more confusing. Now the list is musclewood, ironwood, basswood, blue birch, and hawthorne. I'll stick with musclewood, since the wood looks like muscles.

 

[Thomas Linton]

In this part of the world, "ironwood" or Musclewood" is American Hophornbeam, Ostrya virginiana. "It is found mostly on rather dry soils throughout the upland regions." Ohio Trees, Ohio State University, 1958. That quote matches my observations in Ohio and PA.

Our "ironwood" has a very dense, very heavy wood with a relatively smooth grey bark and a corded topography that suggested well-defined muscles. You have to be one tough dude to select it for a stick for serious hiking due to its weight.

Elsewhere, "ironwood" might be an entirely different species.

 

[Jebadiah_Smith]

That sounds right Tom, smooth grey bark with ripples. The weight doesnt bother me. Im 6'5", about 235 lbs and more worried about the stick folding under me.

 

[munk]

'hardest of the Birch trees" "Good for a street tree" (probably protects the house should a drunk driver veer off the road) "Swing an axe and it bounces off."

Like to see that with a Khuk.

I guess there was a reason birch is used for gunstocks.

Jeb, I don't believe you could break a chokecherry branch of proper diameter with either your hands or body weight.


munk

 

[Jebadiah_Smith]

Jeb, I don't believe you could break a chokecherry branch of proper diameter with either your hands or body weight.

Is chokecherry a western species? I dont remember hearing anything in my area being called chokecherry, but trees seem to have dozens of names.

 

[Yvsa]

Midwestern would probably be more accurate. I know it grows in the Dakotas but I don't know how far east it ranges.
It's called Chokecherry because of the small bittersweet fruit it produces with very little meat and a cherry sized seed.
I used too eat them by the handful when I was a wee lad.
Emergency bows were sometimes made from Chokecherry and it was the most common wood for kid's bows.


.

 

[deputy tom]

I still have the walking stick my Father and I cut 44 yrs ago.I'll keep it forever.It is made of ash(Rowan or Mountain Ash - Sorbus aucuparia).Several years ago I was doing some research on everything Scottish and stumbled upon an article in the Highlander Magazine re: the tune "Rowan Tree".It pays homage to the Rowan (white ash) as being an item to ward off evil spirits.Old time sailors would hang a rowan wreath on the bow of their boat to prevent mishaps on the sea."Enjoy life for you're a long time dead"(old Scottish adage).tom.