Willow

[Forest2Furniture]

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?

 

Because it's free and in the field next to the mill

[Forest2Furniture]

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

 

In that case I might mill it into 3/4" boards and use it for the new floor or my trailer!

[skc101fc]

Alec, what's the book you have? Sounds historical, but we shouldn't dismiss old techniques -always useful stuff for the practical and adaptable mind.

Shaun

 

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Arbtalk mobile app

[agg221]

Alec, what's the book you have? Sounds historical, but we shouldn't dismiss old techniques -always useful stuff for the practical and adaptable mind.

Shaun

 

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Arbtalk mobile app

 

Woodland Crafts of Britain by Herbert L. Edlin.

 

It's an excellent read if you like such things. It was first published in 1949 and he spent time going round talking to people for whom this was in living memory and recorded it.

 

The other book which is quite good on such things is Evelyn's Sylva but my copy is less to hand.

 

I agree that there is a lot to be learned from old knowledge. People had time to try things out and generally settled on particular strategies for a reason. For example, if they had poplar, willow and sycamore to hand, all were probably tested for the same purpose at some point and they would have chosen the one which worked best. We lost a lot of this knowledge from general consciousness in half a century of mass production but the pendulum has swung a bit, due I think to the low cost of power tools making hobby/small craftsman production possible and the raw materials being perceived to have no value.

 

If Forest2Furniture goes ahead with making his trailer floor out of willow I would expect it to weigh less and perform better than most alternatives, at a very reasonable cost without taking a ridiculous length of time to do. Not a bad outcome for a bit of rubbish.

 

Alec

[Pinkfoot]

Woodland Crafts of Britain by Herbert L. Edlin.

 

It's an excellent read if you like such things. It was first published in 1949 and he spent time going round talking to people for whom this was in living memory and recorded it.

 

The other book which is quite good on such things is Evelyn's Sylva but my copy is less to hand.

 

I agree that there is a lot to be learned from old knowledge. People had time to try things out and generally settled on particular strategies for a reason. For example, if they had poplar, willow and sycamore to hand, all were probably tested for the same purpose at some point and they would have chosen the one which worked best. We lost a lot of this knowledge from general consciousness in half a century of mass production but the pendulum has swung a bit, due I think to the low cost of power tools making hobby/small craftsman production possible and the raw materials being perceived to have no value.

 

If Forest2Furniture goes ahead with making his trailer floor out of willow I would expect it to weigh less and perform better than most alternatives, at a very reasonable cost without taking a ridiculous length of time to do. Not a bad outcome for a bit of rubbish.

 

Alec

 

I suspect a lot of this knowledge still flourishes in eastern Europe.

[peatff]

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?

 

Is that why they make cricket bats out of it ? I never managed to break one

[agg221]

I suspect a lot of this knowledge still flourishes in eastern Europe.

 

I think that may well be the case.

 

I have just come in from the annual sort-out of the willows down on our riverbank. These are mostly cricket bat willows grown for J.S.Wright, who provide them as very long cuttings, already with a 4m stem. We have difficulty getting some to strike on our land, so I have been taking extra ones, growing them for a year and using them to fill in the gaps. In between these are various varieties which I am trying to get going as short pollards (just above deer height) to yield rods for baskets. They are chosen to give a wide range of colours which also means they look great under the winter sun in reds, purples, greens and yellows. I will head these back in mid-February when I've had the best of the view of them and harvest the rods. Willow is certainly versatile.

 

Alec

[openspaceman]

Is that why they make cricket bats out of it ? I never managed to break one

 

The reason it was chosen for bats is that it is light and the surface can be hardened by crushing the bat in a press. This gives a tough skin around a open grained core. They are also cleft which gives the bat strength as there is no cross grain.

[Pinkfoot]

I think that may well be the case.

 

I have just come in from the annual sort-out of the willows down on our riverbank. These are mostly cricket bat willows grown for J.S.Wright, who provide them as very long cuttings, already with a 4m stem. We have difficulty getting some to strike on our land, so I have been taking extra ones, growing them for a year and using them to fill in the gaps. In between these are various varieties which I am trying to get going as short pollards (just above deer height) to yield rods for baskets. They are chosen to give a wide range of colours which also means they look great under the winter sun in reds, purples, greens and yellows. I will head these back in mid-February when I've had the best of the view of them and harvest the rods. Willow is certainly versatile.

 

Alec

 

If it's viable , putting willow cutting in polyethylene bags for a while , just round the first foot or so , will start them rooting and help in difficult conditions.

We generally tie them in bundles before bagging them.

[agg221]

If it's viable , putting willow cutting in polyethylene bags for a while , just round the first foot or so , will start them rooting and help in difficult conditions.

We generally tie them in bundles before bagging them.

 

Thanks for that - very much viable for us so I'll give it a go.

 

Alec