Gathering the raw material (Part 2)

Late Autumn and Winter are the best time to harvest shanks for stickmaking. There are many reasons,foremost being the simple fact that the 'sap' is not rising in the wood making it so much easier to ensure good seasoning.
It is also a great deal easier to select and cut good specimens when the foliage has died back - trying to fight your way through undergrowth is tiring and has the added disadvantage of disturbing nesting birds and other wildlife! So, whenever possible I harvest from October to February (unless there is a very good reason not too!).
The best wood shanks are usually found in copses and woodlands - especially older ones which may have been coppiced (cut back almost to the ground to promote new growth) in the past. Old and disused railway lines make good hunting grounds but I'm always on the lookout for unusual sites. Quite often friends or neighbours will be hard pruning, or even cutting down, some of the more unusual trees such as Laburnum, Laurel, Lilac, Pear etc and this gives me a great opportunity to experiment with new woods.

There are however three or four all time favourites which the majority of stick collectors still prefer. Hazel for it's light yet strong qualities and often unusual bark colorurations
Ash for it's strength and straightness (great for staffs!)
Blackthorn for it's heavy weight, sturdiness and knobbly appearance as well as beautiful colour. Lastly is the humble Sycamore which tends to produce some strange and interesting shapes for handles. (the bark isn't too exciting, but is often partially stripped for a pleasant effect).
I have (and still do..) use many other woods when I can - Holly, Wild Privet, Applewood and Hawthorn - all of them make superb knob sticks.

Collecting requires a certain amount of preparation as I never quite know what to expect. I tend to take the full range of tools in a haversack - the most important probably being my trusty pruning saw and I always take good stout leather gloves especially when attacking Blackthorn or Hawthorn spinneys!
I look for relatively straight and even shanks without 'doglegs' or poor quality bark. Like most people who work in wood I follow the old saying ' Measure twice and cut once' I have to be certain that the piece is suitable before commencing any sawing so as to reduce the damage to the parent tree or bush. I also try not to take more than one shank from each tree if at all possible.

Once cut and bundled I take the sticks back home for a bit of a clean up before sealing the cut end ends of the wood with an antifungal sealer. This helps in two ways - first it protects the raw wood from rot and decay and secondly it allows the wood to season in a more stable fashion without too much moisture loss in the early stages.
They are then stored in a cool and very dry and airy place for anything from 1 to 3 years depending on the thickness and type of wood. The average time is 18 months.
All I have to then is wait!!
Luckily enough I nearly always have suitably seasoned shanks waiting to be worked so there isn't a problem in that respect - I can get on with the next stage of the operation which is that of cleaning and straightening.