Does a dead branch season on the tree?

[tombear]

For a few years now I have walked past a yew tree that had a small dead branch (no leaves on it at all about 2.25 inch diameter) at the bottom . Today when I wandered past it had finally been trimmed off by the council and since the wood looked healthy, hard and no rot, I liberated a 8 inch lenght in the hope it will make a suitable handle for the middle sons seax.

No my question is can I work it as is or do I need to seal the ends and hope it doesn't split and leave it to season for another job? I've never used yew before and google has been less than useful.

Cheers

Tom

 

[HillBill]

If the branch has been dead for a few years then yes it will be well seasoned. The bit that was attached to the trunk may still have some moisture content, so take a couple of inches from that and you should be good to go.

Yew is one of the most durable woods out there, some report a yew fence pole will outlast an iron one.

Wear a dust mask when sanding as the dust is highly toxic, i occasionally get headaches from it even when im wearing a mask. If you have a dog, keep it well away, chewing the wood will likely kill it, or make it very ill at the least.

 

[Sean Hellman]

Yew will be good for this, I would rather it be a bit bigger in diameter, but as I have found over the years it is amazing what people do with wood by breaking all the rules.
Just do not bring it straight into a warm house, leave in an unheated room for a bit.

Yew dust is a nasty irritant and can make you ill, asthma, migraines etc. The wood as I know is not that toxic and I have used it for spoons. just do not let animals eat the leaves and bark.

No need to sand, use a scraper, if you do not have one broken glass does a brilliant job..
Would love to see the finished handle, when made and good luck.

 

[tombear]

thanks for that, especially the H and S stuff as I must admit to being complacent about that so I dug out a decent filter mask and wore that whenever I was making dust and will put it back on when I am sweeping up in a minute.

Unfortunately I only read them after the wood had been chucked on the floor near a radiator overnight. Its not split so far and if it does I will write it off as practice!

The lad (middle son, 11 last weekend) had a forged seax blade that needed a handle putting on it

Heres the blade he got for £20 including P and P and the bit of branch after I'd mainly peeled the bark off waiting for them to come out of school.

I squared up two sides with a plane, marked out the shape of the hole etc and used a drill guide to rough out the hole, which I cleared out with a very thin chisel.

Once I had hammered on the handle, wetting myself with each tap I was sure it was going to spit, I shaped the hande with a saw and a surform, them my beloved power file and some coarse and medium sand paper. The lad wanted it not to be overly finished and anyroad until he gets home and tries the fit I may well be removing more wood. I have given it a first coat with Tung oil in the vague hope it will stop it splitting.

I did tape the blade in case your wondering and will do a final sharpening when I have made the sheath. I'm waiting on a couple of referance books and need to find some 2mm leather so that will be at a later date. I think theres enough Yew left to make a awl handle for myself.

ATB

Tom

He's tried it and by luck it doesn't need anything doing to it. there is however a faint crack at the butt end. Depending on how bad it gets I will either fill it with wax polish or knock it off and start again with a properly seasoned bit, I love the pattern in yew and it was very easy to work.

 

[Sean Hellman]

Superglue is great for small cracks and splits. For hairline cracks use the super thin stuff and for all other cracks use the normal stuff, I often fill holes and cracks with fine sawdust and then dribble (or is it drizzle) the glue on over it. Well if you are using normal superglue a bit in the hole and then the sawdust and then more glue is best.

 

[tombear]

Cheers thats a great tip, I've some of the super thin stuff so if any cracks do develope but so far despite being kept in a warm room no real cracks have formed. Normally I soak a handle in warm linseed oil for 24 hours but this time I was scared it may cause the wood to swell and with the tang being a incredibly tight fit crack around that, instead the lad is rubbing in tung oil everyday for a week etc.

ATB

Tom

PS we are waiting on a copy of a 9th C axe head coming from the same chap. We were let let down by a company that said they had some Paul Chen Viking axes but didn't ( lazily there website still says they do) so for the cost of a complete mass produced job we are getting a hand forged head I need to put a handle on myself. It's shape will be as an original but scaled down to make it more usuable for the lad and more useful as a tool. Now I need to score some riven ash!

 

[lannyman8]

thats awesome grain on that wood, nice blade too....

 

[tombear]

Cheers! Going to take the Silky for a walk tomorrow and see if the rest of the branch is still there.

ATB

Tom