I have a book from the early '70's called 'Natural Basketry', in their method a section of log is soaked in a pond, removed periodically and pounded with a long and heavy wooden maul until the layers begin to separate. The process is repeated, removing successive layers of splints as needed.
anon ymous that's quite close to the ancient European tradition of harvesting Lind trees, in particular for bast, the fibrous bark they rolled into cordage and textiles. That's actually where 'linin' originates from. Lin, linen, line, lignous, lignin, are all derivatives originating from the Germanic lin. Basically, they would cut down the largest and oldest trees, then pitch them into a body of water for several months then harvest it. I can't imagine natives doing it much differently. Not when you consider all the daily activities a tribe must perform to stave off death and maintain shelter. Wasting a massive amount of precious calories beating the shit out of logs seems nonsensical. Especially when they'd almost certainly have access to hectares of coppice rods created by grazing herbivores. But if you had to do it, you'd be looking for any advantage.
@@maxdecphoenix Soaking doesn't help seperate the rings. Probably just slows down the drying and rotting processes. Pounding is not that bad if you don't mind hard work.
@@timothylongmore7325 no dipshit, soaking the trees absolutely does help the rings separate. Can't tolerate when some youtube moron comes along claiming a completely established fact, which they themselves have never attempted nor ever will, doesn't happen. Get the fuck on.
Pound the end to separate then soak for a week. It will peel apart like an onion with little need for a hammer. The soaking makes the splints easier to whip into a basket as they are very supple.
I'm not sure, Billie. Do you follow Peter Follansbee's blog Joiner's Notes? I would look for his posts about pounding splints for baskets and reach out to him there.
Hey Teddy-It's not very green anymore by this point is it? I'll direct you to Follansbee himself and when he gets back from his Euro-tour, he might be able to give you some guidance. Here's one of his posts on ash pounding: pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/ash-splints-you-do-it-like-that-well-some-people-go-both-ways/
Sorry to be slow getting back, bayan. Greener is better for sure. I'm not a basketmaker--I just did the video for Peter. Try him directly through his blog and he will be able to give you a more definitive answer: pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/ash-splints-you-do-it-like-that-well-some-people-go-both-ways/
Hi Josephine-I've only seen Peter use the ash when it's green. I'm not sure if it would come apart as well when seasoned. I'll double check with him now and get back to you. Sorry to be slow responding-
@@thomaslthomas1506 Interesting. I've never heard of it done this way. I've heard indians would use ash splints as lashings for birchbark and temporary canoes and thought it odd they'd pound out splints. Maybe they rived them out with hunting knife and baton or crooked knife. It'd be much quieter and quicker. I imagine its done like any riving , always split in halves?
I been clearing out several mimosas (albizzia julibrissns, Persian silk tree) and I made a mallet in the round out of one of the 5" diameter logs and noticed after some use that it began to shear off in layers just as the ash logs do. I've since tried experimenting with this material as it is considered an invasive trash tree where I'm from so it's plentiful, but had limited success. But that is also due to less than optimal starting conditions. Either the logs have too little circumference, cut out of optimal season, or laid out for several weeks before I have time to get to them. As far as shavings go, not the mechanically separated splints, those seem useful and resemble ash in appearance and function.
Rick McKee oh, i meant to say I've had success with the wood, just not that particular preparation method. If I use, say, the Terry Gibson method, which is to slice weavers off a wedge with a plane knife. I don't have a plane knife, but i have a #8 bench plane, and I get useable slivers. The 'drawback' is that mimosas is less dense than other hardwoods and has a bit of porosity even in the summer wood. When planed the pores present as dark traces of wispy hairs, kinda like borer burrows in beetle kill wood. I call it a draw back because the slivers are probably weaker than oak or something, but the texture and appearance is less monotonous, so maybe call it a 'trade off'. I 've put some rounds to soak in a drum, figure ill test if water logging the wood aids in mechanical separation/rending.
It was split from a larger piece using wedges and a froe. Check out Peter's blog-it's all green woodworking with handtools. Thanks for asking. pfollansbee.wordpress.com/
