# Harvesting time



## cobalt

Its time of year to prepare to harvest some shanks. The leaves are falling so in a couple of weeks of so they will be ready for cutting.

I cut some time between nov to march so I will be strolling around the woods eyeing up the hazel .Keeping a good lookout for a natural thumb sticks .

Have to check on the folding saw and loppers get some twine to bunch them up and ready to go after a week or so after a good sharp frost

I don't use fallen wood usually its poor quality or worm eaten

So any of you ready for it.as you use a lot of variety of woods in the states


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## Batakali

I've been out a bit already. Got some ash and some I'm not sure of.


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## cobalt

ash is a good sond wood but my preferance is hazel.Hope to cut about 50. but have about 50 + thats two years old and ready for use

I like welsh hazel really good colour snake skin like pattern with a hint of pink and light browns. West Scottish hazel is very nice gives the appearance of crackle glaze. What I cut locally is a basic rich brown in colour

Chestnut is a nice shank rich redish brown


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## Batakali

I admit that ash is a little on the bland side color wise but it grows on hillsides here and makes excellent knobbed shillelaghs. Not a lot of hazel or chestnut here, mostly ash,oak and maple with a bit of birch and walnut thrown in. All great for stick making tho'. Here's a couple I picked up last week.
Before and after the "haircut".


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## CV3

I wish we had the hazel you have cobalt. I do have a new source of pecan Wood. A person I know just got some land with a 2 or three acres of pecan trees. He has told me he got it for the land and I can take what would I want.Hope to go see it in a few weeks. will wait for the leaves to fall and colder weather take the limbs. We have a lot of trees in our community A lot of oak and Dogwood There are many tree serves businesses You can get some good sticks if you can get there before they feed them to the chipper.


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## Pennswoods

Sorry. Haven't posted on here since last year 'cause I've been waiting for last year's cut sticks to dry in the attic. Just a couple dozen. Most are Yellow Birch. They're "OK" natural - but very, very pale - some Walnut stain really makes them look great. Now I've finally got some sticks in the works again! Tried some Sassafras too.  Left bark on at handles of the Sassafras. The grain pattern is really beautiful on them overall. Also had a blow-down Black Walnut this Summer that I'll need to wait at least another 365 for.


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## RATTY

i will be out today hunting for a while , hoping to get find cherry ,hazel , birch and ash . will grab some pics and post on my travels .


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## Rodney

We've had some wind in the last couple weeks. I've gathered a few sticks and have my eye on a few more including some fairly straight hazel. I'll need to go back with some digging tools for it though. I should be able to get a couple good root sticks from it.

I may go have a look around tomorrow, see if anything new has come down.

Rodney


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## RATTY

I just got some hazel , ash , birch and oak shanks today . Only managed to find 4 because the weather turned .


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## Batakali

I see a possible thumb stick in your future!


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## RATTY

you do indeed  lol


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## Batakali

Plan going out this weekend. Marked a few last time I was out.


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## RandyL476

Got some hornbeam spotted maybe I'll get to cut some this weekend.


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## Rodney

Going out this afternoon when I'm done here. I'm taking my daughter with me so we're going to harvest some nice hazel I found. I'm hoping to get some good root sticks out of it.

Rodney


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## cobalt

try to leave the roots cut the main stem it will grow back pretty quick .That way you will have enougth material to make a one piece crook. and potential supply again in about 3-4 years

Its very difficult to get hazel to make a one piece crook most stickmakers here really go well out the way to get it


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## Batakali

Just got back from a productive day in the woods. Picked up four pieces that i look forward to working on.


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## Batakali

cobalt said:


> try to leave the roots cut the main stem it will grow back pretty quick .That way you will have enougth material to make a one piece crook. and potential supply again in about 3-4 years
> Its very difficult to get hazel to make a one piece crook most stickmakers here really go well out the way to get it


 that is the problem with root knob sticks. You kill off your source. Witch is why I only harvest a few at at a time and only in a few areas at a time.


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## Rodney

I ended up getting 6 pretty straight and clear blanks from that clump. No root sticks though. I dug down into the duff far enough to tell the roots weren't going to be anywhere near the right shape so left them alone.

Maybe another time. I'm not giving up on getting some.

There is a lot of alder here. It grows like a weed in freshly disturbed soil like on the edges of logging roads. I'm going to see if I can get some root sticks from them.

I also picked up a couple white oak sticks that had sections with good natural crooks for handles. I like natural crooks when I can get them. They look good, are naturally strong due to no short grain to worry about and generally fit the hand pretty well with only minimal work. They tend to be harder to find than decent shanks though.

I'm hoping to have at least 50 good blanks curing by spring.

Rodney


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## cobalt

goodluck with you stick hunting

I also hope to harvest about 50 but I am getting ore particular what I cut now .Loads of 2nd grade shanks but to get a really good 1st class isn't so easy


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## Rodney

The hazel around here is mostly reject stuff by your standards. Clear straight pieces in the proper size range are rare. 6 good hazel shanks is a very good day for me. I do like the wood though.

I'm working out which species are most likely to give me what I want in my area. Right now that would be clear straight shanks with decent bark. I like the British style of leaving the bark on their sticks.

There's a lot of Oregon White Ash here. It tends to produce nice straight suckers and it seems to be a strong wood. I know other species of Ash are used for tool handles. I'll likely be harvesting more of it.

Maple tends to send out nice straight suckers too. I have couple hiking staff blanks but nothing cane sized. It does have a large pith when young so may not be the best choice.

Alder produces nice straight saplings and has a pleasant bark. That's why I'm thinking it might be good for root sticks.

There's a lot of willow not far from here. It also produces nice straight suckers . It's also a little weaker so slightly thicker shanks would be needed.

Those are probably the most common species I'm likely to get good sticks from.

Rodney


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## JGB

i will be out soon looking for good tea tree sticks which make real good hiking poles


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## Batakali

I've only used tea tree oil. Does the wood have that tea tree smell?


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## cobalt

waiting for good weather before I harvest any , just hope I didn't leave it to late and someone beats me to it


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## Rodney

That's one good thing about here.

I don't think I have much competition to worry about.

So far I haven't seen any signs that anyone is harvesting sticks but me.

Rodney


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## Batakali

About the same here. I sure get some odd looks coming out of the woods with a bunch of sticks slung on my back! Looking forward to some of those looks tomorrow.


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## Rodney

Good luck!

Rodney


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## cobalt

thers always the odd look when gathering shanks


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## Rodney

My daughter and I went out stick hunting for a couple of hours yesterday. The sun was out and the drive was nice. We came back with 17 potential shanks. 9 alder and 8 maple. A few are a little on the heavy side but even with some waste there will be at least 12 good ones from yesterday's hunt. We even got one alder root stick and one maple knob stick. The alder saplings were easy to dig, but usable roots weren't easy to find.

Around here alder is one of the first species to grow in disturbed soil like on the cut banks of logging roads. The saplings grow fast and close together until they crowd each other out so you get a bunch of nice straight saplings of pretty uniform size. It makes for easy gathering. The maple shanks are from suckers growing from tree stumps where the area was logged a few years ago. Again, nice straight growth. The hardest part is finding a logged area of the right age for the right size of sticks, especially since most logging roads here are gated these days.

Overall it was a very good day.

Rodney


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## MJC4

Wish we had some logging roads round here to visit. In my neck of the woods stick harvesting is usually accompanied by the area woods being bulldozed for development. A double edged sword I'm afraid, large piles of scrub bushes, saplings for the taking, if one beats the chippers. But the other shoe is the tracts of woodlands that I grew up with are forever transformed into homes and business.


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## Rodney

I understand people have to live somewhere but I do hate seeing the development too.

When I was growing up only a very few of the logging roads were gated. Too many people abused the privilege (vandalism, theft, illegal dumping and hurting themselves then suing the land owners) so the logging companies gated off their lands.

The state and forest service leave a few main roads open but the small spur roads are usually either plowed under or a ditch is dug across them to prevent driving on them.

Rodney


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## Rodney

The daughter and I went out again today. We just stayed close to home. I ended up with 4 good shanks for sure and one "maybe". The maybe stick is a little on the small side, probably 5/8" diameter at the small end. It's oak so I kept it. I'll know more after it dries and I peel it. Anyway a total of 3 oak sticks, a hawthorn, and a really oval holly stick. The holly stick is twice as wide in one direction than it is the other. It should make an interesting stick.

The only downside to today is I was hoping for some good handle material and didn't find any. I prefer natural crooks for handles when I can get them.

Rodney


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## Batakali

I am forcing myself to buck up and face the cold this weekend. Haven't done any stick work in months and I'm getting itchy.


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## Rodney

I prefer going out when it's cold-though I'm thinking my cold and your cold are two different things. Cold for me is anything below freezing.

Advantages of cold weather include frozen ground so you're not slogging through mud. It's not as good if you're digging though. Things are dry, the sap is down and there's no mosquitoes, biting flies, ticks, etc to deal with.

Rodney


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## Batakali

I agree. I do prefer going in the winter for the same reasons. I forget about the cold once the thrill of the hunt kicks in, it's just getting myself out there that takes awhile!


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## Rodney

It's going to be pruning season here shortly, it might already be that time again. For those in urban settings it might be worthwhile to keep your eyes open and if you see someone pruning their trees ask if you can harvest a few sticks. I've gotten a few shanks that way. It can also be an opportunity to get species you wouldn't normally find growing wild.

I'm going to try getting out at least one more time before the weather warms up for real.

Rodney


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## CAS14

I know where some of the power company's right's of ways are cleared, but I'm seldom fortunate enough to snag the saplings before the rot or the chipper gets to them.

Maybe I should call the power company, but then they'd probably consider me a nuisance.


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## Batakali

Just got back from the woods. Got three nice root knobs and was working on a forth when... My saw SNAPPED right at the handle! The surrounding neighborhood may be reporting an angry bear in the woods!


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## cobalt

I am supposed to be going into the wood . just lack motivation at the moment for harvesting ,Still have about a hundred shanks but by the time i selet a few bet now i would only use half. I need to be more selective and not waste time and storage space . As the boss says sort out what you want to keep get rid of the rest


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## Gloops

I had a good cull of my early cut shanks and got rid of approx 80% made great firewood, I am now very selective in what I cut as I don't make many , got a few ideas for future ones but only work when the feeling takes me, don't make more firewood that way.


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## Rodney

I think I've gotten more selective. I still bring my share of firewood home though. I have what I thought might be a nice birch stick that is actually growing mushrooms in my shop at the moment. It's always the found dead wood that gives me trouble.

Rodney


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## cobalt

Wonder how many of us have cut the shanks and found them not to be so clever when it comes to making a stick. I have several where the bark has rubbed a few with a slight dog leg on and cant be straightend. If I cant get a walking stick out of it its firewood. Maybe you get 3-4 out of ten that's reasonable .which offers potential but try to be more selective now.


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## MJC4

Still looking for that "perfect" stick here. Every time I make one and I think this is it I find something wrong and have to do another!


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