Blackthorn as a carving wood?

[pango]

I spotted a lovely piece of blackthorn about 4" thick and 3 feet in length when gathering sloes in the autumn and went out and cut it in January in about 3 feet of snow.

I wasn't quite sure at first who'd come off the worse for the experience. I suppose the blackthorn, as I ended its days as an individual -although it came from a break of about 100 yards long by 15 yards deep and with plentiful young plants- but I cetainly didn't come away unscathed and neither did my jacket, and was picking thorns out of my head for the rest of the week.

As anyone who has tackled the stuff will know, blackthorn is no push-over. When I got home I did think about debarking it but chose the "I'll see to that later" option instead. :11doh: Laziness I know but not the brightest either as it's better, and easier stripped fresh.

What I did do -I'm Scottish so, to appease Calvin- was to run a knife down the length of the piece in the hope that the bark would curl... or hopefully fall off on its own. It didn't!

The blackthorn being conveniently left behind the front door, I've been using the "I'll see to that later" dodge every time I've left the house and averted my eyes on entering.

The result after some 6 or 7 weeks is that the wood has split along the line where I ran the knife down the length of the bark, probably because of the bark shrinking. It's not such a problem, as I intended splitting the wood anyway to make spoons and a few wee ideas I've been tinkering with for a while now, but it poses the question as to whether splitting is common with blackthorn and it's suitability as a wood for carving.

I've been using blackthorn for sticks/staffs since I was a boy, but have never tried carving it. Normally, I'd oil the bark and leave it to dry but am going to be truly gutted if I discover that cutting the bark too early has ruined a beautiful and uncommonly large piece of blackthorn.

Any pointers from the old-hands out there would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

 

[robin wood]

Peeling a strip of bark will have had no detrimental effect but leaving it indoors in the round is not the best idea. It will have started to fry at the ends and probably the end 2" will have minor checks which could open up later.

I would suggest keep it as moist as possible until you are ready to carve, split in half through the pith, axe away the central couple of growth rings then think what you are going yo make out of it and carve quickly before it begins to dry. Keep in poly bag if you don't get it finished in one session.

Blackthorn is a nice wood to carve, fairly hard but takes a lovely finish off a sharp tool and often has lovely purple stains in the centre of larger pieces.

 

[pango]

Robin, just the man! Thanks for your reply, mate.

I'd left it in the unheated porch in the belief that wouldn't speed drying.

I've taken your advice and split the wood, given it a run under the tap and wrapped it in a damp towel in the meantime.
I'll debark it later and remove the core over the weekend when I have time to start carving.

Thanks for the sage advice.

ps; I'm still a bit concerned about splitting after carving. Should finished pieces be left outside to dry naturally?

Cheers,

Bill.

 

[robin wood]

remove central growth rings, carve to thin even thickness (no more than 5mm at thickest) and you should be OK. Ideal drying environment is not too warm but has some air movement. Unheated porch or garage should be good. If it grows mould it was too wet or not enough air and if it splits it was too warm/dry or too much air movement.

 

[Ruvio]

I love the look of Blackthorn for carving. I'll post some pics of results tomorrow when it's light enough to venture to the shed.

 

[lannyman8]

really nice finish to blackthorn, you can get it really soft and smooth. the colour is beautiful too....

 

[Ruvio]

It oils up well too.

 

[pedro68]

i have done a fair bit of wood turning and carving and thought this may help you out,i found that if the wood dries to quickly it splits especially at the ends, to avoid this coat the end of the wood in emulsion or dip in wax , this stops the moisture leaving the wood to quickly , also a 3" chunk of wood will take a year or more to season to the point where you can work with it.what you might find is as yourwork deeper into the wood the moisture levels vary and newly exposed wood may get slight shakes and splits . if you half or quarter the wood it will become much more stable and workable .when i turn green wood i only roughly shape the bowl etc and leave it to lose its moisture ,which happens more quickly as i have removed alot of the wood.i then go back to it in 6 months and turn in the finished shape as the wood has distorted out of shape whilst dry but is now stable . hope this helps.