I spotted a lovely piece of blackthorn about 4" thick and 3 feet in length when gathering sloes in the autumn and went out and cut it in January in about 3 feet of snow.
I wasn't quite sure at first who'd come off the worse for the experience. I suppose the blackthorn, as I ended its days as an individual -although it came from a break of about 100 yards long by 15 yards deep and with plentiful young plants- but I cetainly didn't come away unscathed and neither did my jacket, and was picking thorns out of my head for the rest of the week.
As anyone who has tackled the stuff will know, blackthorn is no push-over. When I got home I did think about debarking it but chose the "I'll see to that later" option instead. :11doh: Laziness I know but not the brightest either as it's better, and easier stripped fresh.
What I did do -I'm Scottish so, to appease Calvin- was to run a knife down the length of the piece in the hope that the bark would curl... or hopefully fall off on its own. It didn't!
The blackthorn being conveniently left behind the front door, I've been using the "I'll see to that later" dodge every time I've left the house and averted my eyes on entering.
The result after some 6 or 7 weeks is that the wood has split along the line where I ran the knife down the length of the bark, probably because of the bark shrinking. It's not such a problem, as I intended splitting the wood anyway to make spoons and a few wee ideas I've been tinkering with for a while now, but it poses the question as to whether splitting is common with blackthorn and it's suitability as a wood for carving.
I've been using blackthorn for sticks/staffs since I was a boy, but have never tried carving it. Normally, I'd oil the bark and leave it to dry but am going to be truly gutted if I discover that cutting the bark too early has ruined a beautiful and uncommonly large piece of blackthorn.
Any pointers from the old-hands out there would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
I wasn't quite sure at first who'd come off the worse for the experience. I suppose the blackthorn, as I ended its days as an individual -although it came from a break of about 100 yards long by 15 yards deep and with plentiful young plants- but I cetainly didn't come away unscathed and neither did my jacket, and was picking thorns out of my head for the rest of the week.
As anyone who has tackled the stuff will know, blackthorn is no push-over. When I got home I did think about debarking it but chose the "I'll see to that later" option instead. :11doh: Laziness I know but not the brightest either as it's better, and easier stripped fresh.
What I did do -I'm Scottish so, to appease Calvin- was to run a knife down the length of the piece in the hope that the bark would curl... or hopefully fall off on its own. It didn't!
The blackthorn being conveniently left behind the front door, I've been using the "I'll see to that later" dodge every time I've left the house and averted my eyes on entering.
The result after some 6 or 7 weeks is that the wood has split along the line where I ran the knife down the length of the bark, probably because of the bark shrinking. It's not such a problem, as I intended splitting the wood anyway to make spoons and a few wee ideas I've been tinkering with for a while now, but it poses the question as to whether splitting is common with blackthorn and it's suitability as a wood for carving.
I've been using blackthorn for sticks/staffs since I was a boy, but have never tried carving it. Normally, I'd oil the bark and leave it to dry but am going to be truly gutted if I discover that cutting the bark too early has ruined a beautiful and uncommonly large piece of blackthorn.
Any pointers from the old-hands out there would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,