Question about wood and splitting for a comb

[THOaken]

Hello. My next project will be a bushcraft comb made out of seasoned wood, but I'm having trouble finding a suitable piece, even out of the pile I have in storage. I'm looking to split a thin slither of wood, preferably ash or any durable hardwood, but I can't seem to really visualise what I need. Perhaps I'm over thinking it. I need a straight grained block of wood and I need to split it, just as you see Jon do in his tutorial. Have a look at my image of the wood I have. Do you think any of these are suitable? Most of the pieces I've examined are fairly wavy or have some type of indentation or curve to them. If you can see any ash there, feel free to point it out, or elm or yew.

http://www.jonsbushcraft.com/comb.htm

 

[demographic]

I was recently at the Roman museum called Vindolanda and amongst the exhibits there was a well preserved comb.
Made of boxwood which is a hard wood with very fine grain.
Google images throws up a good few images of them and I suspect that the very fine teeth are sawn (or filed) at a far flatter angle than the wide big teeth.

That's the sum total of my knowledge on the subject though.

 

[mr dazzler]

Holly wood be a good bet
That and a fine jap saw to make the teeth

 

[THOaken]

I really just can't find a suitable piece of wood. It's strange. This is supposed to be the easy part, yet all the logs I had and off cuts are wavy or damaged in some way.

 

[mrcharly]

I can't advise on the wood, but thanks for the topic. You've given me an idea for some stuff to make.

A yew comb would be pretty but finding something large enough could be difficult.

 

[Kong]

Would some animal bone be better alternative?

 

[mr dazzler]

or animal horn such as deer, antelope or rams horns?
To get finely cut and spaced teeth that wont snap easily you will require a dense finely and evenly grained wood such as boxwood or holly. Ash/oak/chestnut etc are too coarse for it, although there is sure to be someone who has made a comb from those.... Not sure if any wood is suitable to be honest. The yorvik ones appear to be antler, and they have reinforcing bars rivetted on.

 

[mountainm]

Hornbeam may do the trick, very hard wearing wood - fairly common in hedgerows.

EDIT

in fact it's in use as a comb material due to its break resistant grain
http://store.kaufmann-mercantile.co...any/products/handmade-wooden-mens-pocket-comb

 

[Baelfore]

I can't advise on the wood, but thanks for the topic. You've given me an idea for some stuff to make.

Ditto! And I think I have a nice peice of holly at home. Anyone know if apple wood would work?

THOaken, apologies for hijacking the thread!

 

[Mesquite]

If you read the first paragraph completely you might understand why you can't split a piece

When the wood seasons it will become harder and stronger.

This means Jon is splitting the wood green.

He's also using a section that almost the same size as the finished comb which makes it easier to split a piece off of than it would be off of a large log.

If you can't get a suitable green log then try cutting one of your logs down to 50-60 mm and split what you need off of that. If you had a froe to do it that would make the splitting easier as well