Replies

1. 
   YesMaam27577 | May 28, 2003 01:11pm | #1

   Sounds like you need to go to the Library, and see if they have any of the old (70's?) Foxfire book collection. I certainly don't remember which volume, but one of them had a chapter that dealt with white oak "splits".

   It explained, in reasonable detail, how to start with a white oak log, and end up with very thin, smooth strips -- thin enough that they could be bent without steaming, and used to make baskets or woven chair seats.

   So, get the book, then get a mallet and a froe (Woodcraft should have one), and let us know how it comes out.

   Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.
2. 
   jjf | May 28, 2003 03:05pm | #2

   Any ring porous hardwood sapling, like ash, can be pounded to crush the springwood.  This allows it to be separtated into summerwood strips.

   when splitting a small log in half and it is verring off to oneside, try bending that side more than the other to get it back to the center.  Always split in half if it is very long.

3. 
   ron61 | May 29, 2003 12:44am | #3

   split it off.

4. 
   Manchild | May 29, 2003 01:55am | #4

   An old fww article dealt with this. There also was an article about the different ashes and there properties. It came down to the best ash was grown slowly in a mature forest despite the species. As I remember they beat the wood in order to separate the layers.

1. 
   jtc | Jun 11, 2003 05:19pm | #5

   David-

   Was ash the only wood used for this application?  And how exactly would one beat a board?  I've got kiln-dried 4/4 boards, not a raw log.

   Thanks,

   JTC

1. 
   jonsherryl | Jun 11, 2003 08:51pm | #6

   JTC, the Eastern Woodland Indians preferred using black ash for making their woven baskets, hoops and snowshoes ...and the method they used was to soak the quartered logs thoroughly and then pound on them with a wooden club. The ashes are vastly superior to the oaks in this process, since ash easily delaminates when the earlywood is crushed. Oak's dominant rays tend to resist the separation of the earlywood from the latewood...In fact, they often split along the rays rather than through the annual rings.

   Unless you've already decided on a species, probably the easiest of our domestic woods to get to delaminate along the annual rings would be catalpa...however, once delaminated, the latewood strips are a little more brittle than is the case with ash...So, if you intend to go for any sharp bends in this project, ash is probably your best bet. 

   Edited 6/11/2003 1:53:31 PM ET by Jon Arno

1. 
   jtc | Jun 17, 2003 10:43am | #7

   Jon-

   Thank you for your help and interest here.  Do you know why some woods break down along growth rings easier than others? Is it chemical?  I'm hoping for a greater range of choices.  I'm not interested in bending strips at all, just separating them and using them as is, especially boards that aren't very straight-grained.

   Thanks again,

   JTC

1. 
   jonsherryl | Jun 17, 2003 03:08pm | #8

   JTC, I think it's more physical rather than chemical...based mostly on two features of the anatomical structure of the wood: it's ring porosity and it's rays. Woods that are extremely ring-porous and also have fewer or finer rays tend to fail more easily along the annual rings.

   While ash and catalpa are two of the better known ones...and, in the case of ash, perhaps the most available and least expensive...there are others. Russian olive, sumac and chestnut separate along the annual rings pretty easily...And to some degree, so does sassafras...but sassafras splits less predictably both tangentially and radially.

   There are very few tropical species with this feature...mostly because there are fewer of them that are ring-porous. Some of the tropical ("live") oaks, with their dominant rays and radially aligned pores can be popped apart radially. They tend to yield rather wavy strips with interesting ray patterns. But the tropical  true oaks (roble) aren't often available on the international market...and you've got to be careful, because the common name "roble" is sometimes used for species that aren't true oaks.

   Some of the softwoods that have an abrupt transition between earlywood and latewood split easily...Especially if there is a large differential in density between the two tissue bands (some of the cedars, for example)...But most softwood species that have this kind of anatomy produce wider bands of earlywood, while the latewood is very thin. The latewood also tends to be more brittle than in the hardwoods that are used for this purpose.