Willow

[Forest2Furniture]

I've been offered a couple of Willow trunks,

has anyone milled willow before, if so what's it like, is there anything I need to be wary of?

[Big Beech]

Soft as s***e and twice as nasty! For what purpose other than wasting time are you milling it for, or is it spalted or a rare Willow?

[Stubby]

Be quick planking it up or it will sprout !

[agg221]

It's not that soft and not that nasty! I milled some for someone last year who wanted to make a particular type of basket out of it. A bit harder to mill than some as it doesn't chip out nicely - the grain is long and stringy. Once milled it makes a general purpose white wood. It used to be used a lot more than it is now, for most of the things which you would find spruce used for today.

 

Alec

[openspaceman]

It's not that soft and not that nasty! I milled some for someone last year who wanted to make a particular type of basket out of it. A bit harder to mill than some as it doesn't chip out nicely - the grain is long and stringy. Once milled it makes a general purpose white wood. It used to be used a lot more than it is now, for most of the things which you would find spruce used for today.

 

Alec

 

IIRC yokes for carrying two milk pails were traditionally carved willow

[Ilnumero]

Maybe the OP has a big order for cricket bats....

[skyhuck]

Poplar was used for carts, its hard wearing and flexible.

 

Anyone who does not think willow is tough should stump grind a few big ones.

[openspaceman]

Poplar was used for carts, its hard wearing and flexible.

 

Anyone who does not think willow is tough should stump grind a few big ones.

 

It's tough and fibrous so I always fitted a few new teeth in the mulcher if I had some willow to dispose of, with hard wood like oak or birch the 22 tonnes of push allowed you to shatter them with rounded teeth.

[agg221]

Poplar was used for carts, its hard wearing and flexible.

 

Yes, also because it has excellent strength to weight and doesn't splinter so you don't catch yourself on the cart floor. Still used on some flatbed lorries for the same reasons.

 

On willow, my book of such things says:

 

'Sawn willow is remarkable for its resistance to shocks that would split other timbers, so it finds a use in the flooring of carts, trucks, and barrows, particularly where rock or stone has to be carried. It is also resistant to friction, and does not readily catch fire, so it is preferred for the brake blocks of carts, which bear on iron tyres, and has also been used for drums over which wire haulage cables are wound. Although perishable in contact with the ground, it lasts indefinitely if kept constantly wet, and the blades of steam-boat paddle wheels were often made of willow, as well as the similar strouds on the wheels of water mills.

 

Other uses of willow wood include the making of scythe snaiths; here its light weight and pliability are of great advantage. It is also used for making toys, clog soles and boards for whetting knives. It is a passable substitute for ash in tool handles, being used either in the round or else cleft. Another occasional use is in the framing of packing cases for furniture, where lightness in weigh is a consideration. The same property caused it to be chosen for the yokes used by milkmaids to carry their pails, and sometimes also for the pails themselves.'

 

Alec

[Pinkfoot]

Sounds like a very useful wood.