Raw wood to handle

The ends will crack if you don't seal them. Sometimes they still crack even though they were sealed.


Thanks for the offer on the wood scraps. It looks like it lost those dark colors when it dried out.
 
I do appreciate all of the advice. The ends got painted last night so we'll see what comes of it.

You would think something as simple as getting, processing, and drying wood would be intuitive to a guy. I'm pretty adept at cutting it with the intention of feeding a fire.

There is a lot of woodworking and ground up craft skill/knowledge here that I don't readily have access to through the folks I know day to day so all of this really is helpful.


osage outlaw said:
The ends will crack if you don't seal them. Sometimes they still crack even though they were sealed.


Thanks for the offer on the wood scraps. It looks like it lost those dark colors when it dried out.
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Oh for sure - just thought I would put that out there. The color comes back with a touch of oil rubbed in.
 
I carry a small squeeze bottle of Elmers glue with me when I harvest staves. Those that are axe cut get sawed off square hanging off the tail gait of my pickup and promptly sealed. If they are saw cut I seal immediately after felling and bucking.

When they are stored I will clean up the debris that the wet glue collected in the field and give them another coat.
 
Agent_H said:
Oh for sure - just thought I would put that out there. The color comes back with a touch of oil rubbed in.
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Cherry develops it's rich colour over a long period of time. It's ugly greenish when you start out but 6 months later you'll start to recognize the familiar colour. I'll try to post pictures of a Black Cherry canoe paddle from 1978 and one from 2011 for comparison sake. The aging and darkening process progresses very slowly!
 
Square_peg said:
It's UV that changes cherry and gives it its rich color.
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...along with oxidation of ferrous compounds within the wood. Coating with sealers and varnishes only serves to slow the process down in the presence of sunlight. Even a chunk of wood hidden away in a dark basement (thank you exposure to oxygen) will continue to 'colour' as time goes by.
 
300Six said:
Cherry develops it's rich colour over a long period of time. It's ugly greenish when you start out but 6 months later you'll start to recognize the familiar colour. I'll try to post pictures of a Black Cherry canoe paddle from 1978 and one from 2011 for comparison sake. The aging and darkening process progresses very slowly!
Click to expand...


Square_peg said:
It's UV that changes cherry and gives it its rich color.
Click to expand...


300Six said:
...along with oxidation of ferrous compounds within the wood. Coating with sealers and varnishes only serves to slow the process down in the presence of sunlight. Even a chunk of wood hidden away in a dark basement (thank you exposure to oxygen) will continue to 'colour' as time goes by.
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See, I didn’t know any of this - this is another reason why I ask this kind of stuff here.

A picture of that paddle would be really cool 300six.
 
Osage reacts to sunlight and darkens quickly. I've heard that you can wipe it with bleach to quick "age" it. Fuming with ammonia also works. I bet it would with Cherry also.
 
osage outlaw said:
Osage reacts to sunlight and darkens quickly. I've heard that you can wipe it with bleach to quick "age" it. Fuming with ammonia also works. I bet it would with Cherry also.
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Osage example:

33795133136_44a57b1e17_o.jpg



Bob
 
Agent_H said:
A picture of that paddle would be really cool 300six.
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Here you go. To my chagrin there's still lots of snow around here (I took this photo 1/2 hour ago) and the low afternoon direct sunlight really 'lightened up' the appearance of the wood colours in this picture. Both paddles have similar wood grain, were made on the same copy lathe, and were identically spar varnished. One on the left was crafted in August 2011 (and darkened quite a bit more than I expected over the past few years despite having been stored in a dark closet!) and other has had lots of use and was carved in July of 1978.

Lolk%20paddles%20002%20Medium_zpsinkzzhpy.jpg
 
300Six said:
Here you go. To my chagrin there's still lots of snow around here (I took this photo 1/2 hour ago) and the low afternoon direct sunlight really 'lightened up' the appearance of the wood colours in this picture. Both paddles have similar wood grain, were made on the same copy lathe, and were identically spar varnished. One on the left was crafted in August 2011 (and darkened quite a bit more than I expected over the past few years despite having been stored in a dark closet!) and other has had lots of use and was carved in July of 1978.

Lolk%20paddles%20002%20Medium_zpsinkzzhpy.jpg
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Nice.
 
Agent_H said:
Yeah, those are beautiful.
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One on the left was made by a military-pensioned fellow that bought out the paddle-making business and machinery when lifelong wood worker Mr. Lolk retired (when he was 70+ years old) 30 years ago and the one on the right is an original. Craftsmanship of the originals (take notice of the subtly raised spine along the blade) has never been adequately replicated ever since and yet the 'new' fellow has been at it for quite some time and probably makes 500-1000 custom and commercial paddles every year.
 
I guess I'm not old enough to enjoy cherry, now it makes sense. Every time I work with it (seasoned that is), it looks so ugly that I leave it alone for a while. I just need to wait 30 years to judge it I guess.
 
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