Gypsy Pegs

[Bhod]

I know that they are traditionally made from a Hazel rod but does it really matter what type of wood is used for Gypsy Pegs? Are there any totally unsuitable woods, ie those likely to leave a stain through high sap/tanin content etc?

I've made a couple today out of Beech, more for practice rather than anything else and lesson learnt today, use a thinner rod

 

[Woody girl]

Hazel is traditional as it's a common wood, freely available in the hedgerows. If you can find willow, that makes nice white pegs.
Tin cans were cut into strips and nailed with a pin nail to stop them splitting .
I've watched them being made by a real old , vardo dwelling Roma gypsy many many moons ago. One of the last real old school.

 

[Toddy]

I know that they are traditionally made from a Hazel rod but does it really matter what type of wood is used for Gypsy Pegs? Are there any totally unsuitable woods, ie those likely to leave a stain through high sap/tanin content etc?

I've made a couple today out of Beech, more for practice rather than anything else and lesson learnt today, use a thinner rod

I think @Woody girl pretty much nailed it

Elder isn't good. Holly's not good, Alder isn't good (sometimes stains red).

 

[Pattree]

Nowt wrong with privet, rowan, dogwood or hawthorne if you can find straight bits that are long enough and wide enough.. It just needs to split easily.
As I remember them they were split the whole length anyway and then held with the tin strip and a tack as @Woody girl .

 

[Bhod]

Hazel is traditional as it's a common wood, freely available in the hedgerows. If you can find willow, that makes nice white pegs.
Tin cans were cut into strips and nailed with a pin nail to stop them splitting .
I've watched them being made by a real old , vardo dwelling Roma gypsy many many moons ago. One of the last real old school.

I too have seen them made by Roma Gypsys (granted I was very much younger as this was the early 1970's), my Nan lived in a little country village in West Yorkshire, the Roma came around every year to help with the harvest and Nan never missed the opportunity to top up her peg bag when they arrived.

My post wasn't so much about how to make them but as to which woods are suitable, I live in an urban area and as such we don't have many hedgerows here so there is very little to none existent supplies of Hazel. We do have a country park on the doorstep though, with Beech, Birch, Oak, Sweet Chestnut etc

I'm going to steer clear of the fruitwoods because of there propensity to split when drying, also steering clear of the spruces because of the sticky resin.

 

[Pattree]

Your might be able to make hundreds out of a bag of kindling bought at a garden centre or cut them from firewood logs.

 

[Kepis]

Woody Girl absolutely nailed it, Hazel and Willow, it's what i use and the only two woods the old gent who taught me used and said were worthwhile bothering with.

 

[Pattree]

How’s this for a modern take on an old craft. No nails, which was always the weak point in the traditional peg.

This one is green privet; the same stuff that the Romanies used to make flower stems. I might make a fire wood version but I’m making bread right now.

I bet you could do exactly the same with some split withy instead of wire and have something totally natural.

Making time - less than six minutes.

(I don’t travel without a reel of tying wire and a roll of gaffer tape.)




Edited to add:
I’m quite impressed.
In reasonably calm weather it would certainly hold canvas into a rope or guyline.

 

[Bhod]

Interesting idea.

 

[Big Si]

The technique can be interesting, as always, cut the tin strips with the outside of the tin facing outwards in a spiral. This takes some time to master. Doing this means the burr of the cut is always facing one way. When wrapping it around the peg, make sure the burr is facing into the wood. Finish with a homemade pin cut from some previously stripped wire. Steel or copper, as sometimes more money could be made from pegs than from weighing in scrap. It was fifty-five years ago, spending an afternoon sitting with some travellers at the side of the road. He was an old man, and I was a five-year-old boy.

ATB

Si

 

[Pattree]

Twice a year a number of horse drawn vans come through our village and sometimes park on a verge just up the road.
They are totally welcome (as opposed to the notorious white van family that occupy car parks in the town centre)

They still make pegs and flowers but mainly sell wooden garden ornaments these days.

 

[Woody girl]

Funnily enough, I was shown how to make them in the early 1970s by an old couple who regularly were to be found at certain times of year at a roadside pitch, but I've forgotten where. Somewhere in hampshire, I can vividly remember that old couple, forgotten the man's name, but the lady was called Rosa. Used to make tea over the fire in a kettle, so strong that it took the hair off your chest...I've had a hairless chest ever since...
I adored their vardo. It was imaculate, with pretty China in a glass cabinet that was only brought out for special guests and occasions. We always got a tin mug!

 

[Pattree]

Yay! I’m seriously pleased with the firewood pegs. It’s sisal string but could as well be nettle or bramble etc. It’s the frapping turns that really make it work (as well as hiding the working part)

Again, not beautiful but very quick to make whether it’s for your shelter or your kecks. You can burn them (the pegs! ) for that last coffee before you leave camp.

 

[Bhod]

The more I've looked into this, the more 'styles' or variations on the end product I find. There seems to be a couple of ways to wrap the tin around and fasten and several ways to actually carve the pin itself. I think it's going to be an interesting learning journey for me to see which style suits me better.

Reet, orf art t'countryside to go see if I can source me some hazel

 

[Woody girl]

Real gypsy made pegs.

 

[Kepis]

Real gypsy made pegs.

Likewise

 

[Toddy]

The folks who came annually to knock on Granny's back door, selling everything from flowers to clothes pegs, they didn't have tin wrapped around the pegs. They were more like squarish dolly pegs.

 

[Pattree]

That makes sense.
The tin wrapped ones always rusted and the tin-tack came loose.

 

[Big Si]

That makes sense.
The tin wrapped ones always rusted and the tin-tack came loose.

I think repeat sales were a thing even then?

Si

 

[Bhod]

So went and got me some hazel today, came home and try as I might I couldn't find my tin snips so an Ali coke cola can and scissors had to be used instead. Quite pleased with the results, very rustic and authentic looking apart from the shiny Aluminium but I'm sure that, like the wood itself, will eventually weather in.
Was almost tempted to put a wash on so I could go out and use the first batch but that will be tomorrow's job, along with making some more pegs.