This is an entertaining story about my quest for wood.
The past two weeks, I've gathered quite some wood. I've found new woods where I haven't been before, with new species. All areas were reached on my bike only, but these were just locations I haven't checked out before. It appeared I missed some true goldmines the past few years. Now I know where to find specific plant species, which is a valuable thing for many bowyers. I've only cut a few staves actually, but I can always cut more when a woodspecies appears to be very desirable for me.
One especially valuable area is the south side of a steep hill. It is densly wooded, with a very diverse collection of plants. From this hill, I can gather loads of Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), hazel (Corylus avellana), and - best of all - Elm (Ulmus sp.)! Yes, I finally found a bunch of Elms in my country. Elms are getting increasingly rare here, due to Dutch elm disease. The name does not refer to the origin of the disease, but to the site where the disease has first been identified. Just to get rid of that myth
I don't know which elm species it is exactly. It may either be Ulmus glabra, U. minor, or U. x hollandica. I'm having a hard to to distinguish them, since this is actually the first time I've actually seen elms up close.
Anyway, the hillside appears to be very diverse, as said. It is a real heaven for me to walk through
Besides elm, hazel and black locust, there is also some ash (Fraxinus
excelsior) and sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus). There are also some useful individual trees of these two species, althouh not that many.
I was really delighted to find elm this close to home. I've also wanted to use elm, as these natuive species must have been used since ancient times. It was used in times when yew was scarce, and also Holmegaards bow was originally made of elm. So I just had to cut some elm. I spend several houres on the hillside, making sure not to miss a single elm. I think I've seen them all. There must have been at least a hundred. Most are only 2" to 4" in diameter. Very few specimens are up to 10 inches, but none above that.
When I had examined all the trees, I decided I wanted that one P-E-R-F-E-C-T tree. It was about 8" across, and probably 30 feet or so high. Yes, really. "Why don't you cut a smaller tree?" you may wonder. Well, this tree was just too good to be true. All the saplings I'd seen had a few very small branches on the trunk, and/or quite some knots shimmering through the bark. This mature tree on the other hand, was straight, big (yields at least four staves, probably eight), zero knots on the outside, and just plain flawless.
However, I couldn;t cut the tree on that day. So instead, I took a small elm sapling that was also very good looking. It was about 2" across. When I got home with the sapling, I started removing some wood to speed up the drying process. I soon found out the tree was actually infected with Dutch elm disease! I've seen some infected twigs before, and I'm 90% sure this is a typical example of the disease. The dark ring in the sapwood is ring created by the fungus, eventually blocking the veins, so the tree can't transport water any more. I don't think the disease actually damages the wood. Maybe the one growth ring of dark wood is avery nice accent in the bow? If the wood appears to be not as solid as the uninfected wood, I can easily chase a good ring.
These are the photos of the infected Elm sapling:
The dark ring of wood is very typical for Dutch elm disease.
This is the growth ring as seen from the other side.
A week or so later, I came back to the hillside. I wanted the big elm tree
It was not easy to bring down, but I don't regret it. A few things made my
job difficult:
- The tree was really big, as said. That makes it dangerous and unpredictible to cut.
- It was about ten yards from a fairly busy bike road. I didn't want to get busted cutting wood from the forrest...I know I'm doing illegal things here.
- The canopy of the tree was connected to two smaller trees nearby. Even if I did cut the entire trunk, chances were it would remain erect, because other trees would keep it upright.
- I had to use hand tools only. I don't have a chainsaw, but that would also make too much noise for this illegal activity. So cutting the tree was fairly labour intensive...
I cut it, trying to make sure no-one was around when the actual tree came down. I had to cut the two other small trees as well, which had their canopies connected. Luckily all went fairly well, although some elbow grease was necessary.
The elm tree on the right, a small tree I had to cut to get the elm down on the left. I actually already cut off the main trunk from the big elm at this stage. You can see the river Rhine just behind the trees in the background.
The big elm again.
This is the log I was after! Really a nice log.
Straight as can be.
Using an axe to start the split. The small log on the right is the hammer used to drive in the wooden wedges I made at the site. Splitting goes nicely.
A really nice interior! Perectly straight, with nicely coloured heartwood. Now I could also smell the typical elm odor. It's hard to discribe, but it's quite strong, and not really pleasent. A mix of acidic cat's urine with blue French cheese. Or something like that.
A close-up of the wood. The knot should not be of any problem, as I cut right through it. It should fall off when laying out the bow.
At the moment, I've only got one quarter log at home. The other three quarters are still on the hillside. Why, you ask? Because I can only bring one quarter log each time I go by bike. I had to ride 20 minutes by bike with the log under my arm, to get home. My arm was sore for the next two hours. I weighed the quarter log: it was 33 pounds...no wonder!
I only have my bike for transport, so I just have to spread it out over some time to get all the wood to my house. The wood won't rot that quick in the forrest.
I also found one dead black locust on the hillside. As a matter of fact, the hillside is just LOADED with perfectly straight locusts! I find it a real rarity to find this many black locusts this close to one another, this straight and tall. There are a few dead ones, so it was little work cutting on small log section. It's about 6" across. There are some holes in the log, so I can;t get four staves. But I got two staves at least.
These are all black locusts on the hillside!
The dead tree on the foreground, providing me two staves.
A few weeks ago, I was in the train, not too far from here. I was looking out the window, when something caught my attention. A bunch of yellow bushes. I could hardly see more than that, as we were driving 60 miles an hour. But even with this velocity, I was a 75% sure these yellow bushes were flowering European dogwood (Cornus mas)! There was no other way to find out then to take my bike and inspect the area. So I rode 30 minutes by bike again. When I got at the site, I was amazed. Really gobsmacked. Never seen this many good dogwoods together!
They were obviously planted, but quite some time ago. I estimate the plants are maybe 25 to 50 years old, but that is really a guess. Trunks up to 8" I've seen. The best staves can be get from the inside of the hedgerow. The outer plants grow more sideways, not needing to grow upwards to the light. I cut two staves, nice, straight and long. Both only 1¾" to 2" in diameter, but really good stuff I think. One of the staves has a particularly interesting natural reflex/deflex design. That stave is still waiting for me in the forrest though Both saplings are about 15 to 20 years old.
These are the staves I now have. From left to right: dogwood sapling, elm quarter log, black locust, again black locust, elm sapling (with Dutch elm disease).
Still waiting in the forrest for me are three quarters of elm, and one dogwood sapling.
I think these staves should yield some nice bows!
Hope you enjoyed the quest for wood
Jorik
The past two weeks, I've gathered quite some wood. I've found new woods where I haven't been before, with new species. All areas were reached on my bike only, but these were just locations I haven't checked out before. It appeared I missed some true goldmines the past few years. Now I know where to find specific plant species, which is a valuable thing for many bowyers. I've only cut a few staves actually, but I can always cut more when a woodspecies appears to be very desirable for me.
One especially valuable area is the south side of a steep hill. It is densly wooded, with a very diverse collection of plants. From this hill, I can gather loads of Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), hazel (Corylus avellana), and - best of all - Elm (Ulmus sp.)! Yes, I finally found a bunch of Elms in my country. Elms are getting increasingly rare here, due to Dutch elm disease. The name does not refer to the origin of the disease, but to the site where the disease has first been identified. Just to get rid of that myth
I don't know which elm species it is exactly. It may either be Ulmus glabra, U. minor, or U. x hollandica. I'm having a hard to to distinguish them, since this is actually the first time I've actually seen elms up close.
Anyway, the hillside appears to be very diverse, as said. It is a real heaven for me to walk through
Besides elm, hazel and black locust, there is also some ash (Fraxinus
excelsior) and sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus). There are also some useful individual trees of these two species, althouh not that many.
I was really delighted to find elm this close to home. I've also wanted to use elm, as these natuive species must have been used since ancient times. It was used in times when yew was scarce, and also Holmegaards bow was originally made of elm. So I just had to cut some elm. I spend several houres on the hillside, making sure not to miss a single elm. I think I've seen them all. There must have been at least a hundred. Most are only 2" to 4" in diameter. Very few specimens are up to 10 inches, but none above that.
When I had examined all the trees, I decided I wanted that one P-E-R-F-E-C-T tree. It was about 8" across, and probably 30 feet or so high. Yes, really. "Why don't you cut a smaller tree?" you may wonder. Well, this tree was just too good to be true. All the saplings I'd seen had a few very small branches on the trunk, and/or quite some knots shimmering through the bark. This mature tree on the other hand, was straight, big (yields at least four staves, probably eight), zero knots on the outside, and just plain flawless.
However, I couldn;t cut the tree on that day. So instead, I took a small elm sapling that was also very good looking. It was about 2" across. When I got home with the sapling, I started removing some wood to speed up the drying process. I soon found out the tree was actually infected with Dutch elm disease! I've seen some infected twigs before, and I'm 90% sure this is a typical example of the disease. The dark ring in the sapwood is ring created by the fungus, eventually blocking the veins, so the tree can't transport water any more. I don't think the disease actually damages the wood. Maybe the one growth ring of dark wood is avery nice accent in the bow? If the wood appears to be not as solid as the uninfected wood, I can easily chase a good ring.
These are the photos of the infected Elm sapling:
The dark ring of wood is very typical for Dutch elm disease.
This is the growth ring as seen from the other side.
A week or so later, I came back to the hillside. I wanted the big elm tree
It was not easy to bring down, but I don't regret it. A few things made my
job difficult:
- The tree was really big, as said. That makes it dangerous and unpredictible to cut.
- It was about ten yards from a fairly busy bike road. I didn't want to get busted cutting wood from the forrest...I know I'm doing illegal things here.
- The canopy of the tree was connected to two smaller trees nearby. Even if I did cut the entire trunk, chances were it would remain erect, because other trees would keep it upright.
- I had to use hand tools only. I don't have a chainsaw, but that would also make too much noise for this illegal activity. So cutting the tree was fairly labour intensive...
I cut it, trying to make sure no-one was around when the actual tree came down. I had to cut the two other small trees as well, which had their canopies connected. Luckily all went fairly well, although some elbow grease was necessary.
The elm tree on the right, a small tree I had to cut to get the elm down on the left. I actually already cut off the main trunk from the big elm at this stage. You can see the river Rhine just behind the trees in the background.
The big elm again.
This is the log I was after! Really a nice log.
Straight as can be.
Using an axe to start the split. The small log on the right is the hammer used to drive in the wooden wedges I made at the site. Splitting goes nicely.
A really nice interior! Perectly straight, with nicely coloured heartwood. Now I could also smell the typical elm odor. It's hard to discribe, but it's quite strong, and not really pleasent. A mix of acidic cat's urine with blue French cheese. Or something like that.
A close-up of the wood. The knot should not be of any problem, as I cut right through it. It should fall off when laying out the bow.
At the moment, I've only got one quarter log at home. The other three quarters are still on the hillside. Why, you ask? Because I can only bring one quarter log each time I go by bike. I had to ride 20 minutes by bike with the log under my arm, to get home. My arm was sore for the next two hours. I weighed the quarter log: it was 33 pounds...no wonder!
I only have my bike for transport, so I just have to spread it out over some time to get all the wood to my house. The wood won't rot that quick in the forrest.
I also found one dead black locust on the hillside. As a matter of fact, the hillside is just LOADED with perfectly straight locusts! I find it a real rarity to find this many black locusts this close to one another, this straight and tall. There are a few dead ones, so it was little work cutting on small log section. It's about 6" across. There are some holes in the log, so I can;t get four staves. But I got two staves at least.
These are all black locusts on the hillside!
The dead tree on the foreground, providing me two staves.
A few weeks ago, I was in the train, not too far from here. I was looking out the window, when something caught my attention. A bunch of yellow bushes. I could hardly see more than that, as we were driving 60 miles an hour. But even with this velocity, I was a 75% sure these yellow bushes were flowering European dogwood (Cornus mas)! There was no other way to find out then to take my bike and inspect the area. So I rode 30 minutes by bike again. When I got at the site, I was amazed. Really gobsmacked. Never seen this many good dogwoods together!
They were obviously planted, but quite some time ago. I estimate the plants are maybe 25 to 50 years old, but that is really a guess. Trunks up to 8" I've seen. The best staves can be get from the inside of the hedgerow. The outer plants grow more sideways, not needing to grow upwards to the light. I cut two staves, nice, straight and long. Both only 1¾" to 2" in diameter, but really good stuff I think. One of the staves has a particularly interesting natural reflex/deflex design. That stave is still waiting for me in the forrest though
Both saplings are about 15 to 20 years old.
These are the staves I now have. From left to right: dogwood sapling, elm quarter log, black locust, again black locust, elm sapling (with Dutch elm disease).
Still waiting in the forrest for me are three quarters of elm, and one dogwood sapling.
I think these staves should yield some nice bows!
Hope you enjoyed the quest for wood
Jorik
