Barry,
I wonder how you feel about the trees used to suspend the electrical wires to your home. We all use wood; to me Russ' use of dogwood as a walking stick is a practical use that is long lasting and appropriate (maybe he used a dead tree?). I use trees for "support" everyday. My house is wood, my paper is wood, my livelihood/career and inspiration is wood. Trees rule! (dead or alive). Will F. Blozan President, Eastern Native Tree Society President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. "No sympathy for apathy" _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Barry Caselli Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 9:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ENTS] Re: What's the hardest hardwood walking stick examples To me it seems a terrrible shame to waste a perfectly good dogwood tree to make a walking stick. --- On Sat, 10/31/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [ENTS] What's the hardest hardwood walking stick examples To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, October 31, 2009, 11:21 AM ENTS: Of all the smaller eastern trees I would give dogwood, Cornus florida a vote for one of the hardest woods. Over the years I have used all sorts of woods for walking sticks and I have found that dogwood does not split or splinter like hickory and it doesn't shred or warp like hophornbeam. Hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana, seems to be fairly soft, it is easy to cut with a knife it splits extremely easily and it will rot while you are looking at it. Ostrya viginiana, hophornbeam splits extremely easily and warps very badly. Walking sticks made out of dogwood never split on the point end and with daily use will wear at a rate of less than half an inch a year. Nothing else compares in terms of wear and no tree I have tried for a walking stick has been more stable than dogwood is once it has seasoned. Oak and ash walking sticks break much easier than dogwood and are much heavier If you make a walking stick out of dogwood it is best to dig out the entire tree and trim the roots with loppers. The best size tree is, usually about 1" in diameter and has a straight stem for at least four feet above the root collar. Carve the handle out of the root ball. You can almost always get a very comfortable hook to it. In my walks around the steep hills of WV a dogwood walking stick has become my third leg....the one that never slips. When freshly, cut a dogwood tree can be carved into a walking stick with just a jack knife but once it dries it is like trying to carve bone. When completely dried the wood is very light, which would mean it is weak if one of the measures of strength is density. The walking stick in the photo is over five years old. The patina that develops from long term use makes it very comfortable to hold and after several years of use it becomes a fairly reliable tool.....that hook on the end is extremely helpful to pull the tip of a 10' high limb down close enough to tie plastic ribbon when you are marking a trail in dense brush. Other woods may be slightly harder in certain uses but nothing I've encountered compares to the utility of a dogwood tree. Russ -----Original Message----- From: Timothy Zelazo <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, Oct 31, 2009 1:52 pm Subject: [ENTS] Re: What's the hardest hardwood? Carpinus caroliniana is American hornbeam (bluebeech, water beech) and Ostrya virginiana is Eastern hophornbeam and had the common name "ironwood" often applied to this species. The Textbook of Dendrology by Harlow and Harrar Fifth Edition published by McGraw-Hill. This was the info they were pushing over thirty years ago when I studied forestry. The two trees look very different in the forest. On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 1:36 PM, Josh Kelly <[email protected] <http://us.mc544.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]> > wrote: Don, On the contrary, I think I noted hop hornbeam (Ostrya virgiana) in my earlier post. Josh On Oct 31, 1:11 pm, DON BERTOLETTE <[email protected] <http://us.mc544.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]> > wrote: > Josh- > > I guess that 'ironwood' (aka eastern hophornmeam, American hornbeam, Ostrya virginiana; member of the Betulaceae), member of the doesn't rate in this exotic group? > > -Don > . Learn more.http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pc-scout/default.aspx? <http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pc-scout/default.aspx?%0ACBID=wl&ocid=P.> CBID=wl&ocid=P... </table --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
