The best wood for feathersticks?

[Tiley]

I have usually tried to use hazel for feathersticks, ideally catching it while there are still some longitudinal fibres there and before it goes all punky. This is simply because that is, in general, what's most widely available to me. It curls up OK but I feel as though there might be better woods for feathering out there. That being the case, what are they?

Over to you!

 

[C_Claycomb]

Pine. Spruce. Some aspen. Willow. Lime.
There is a pattern here....all fairly soft, without knots or kinks

 

[British Red]

I like birch for probably the same reasons that pine works - an oily wood with straight grain. I also like blackthorn because it burns like the fires of hell. Not so easy to feather but burns really hot so great for igniting kindling

 

[Mesquite]

As Chris said, any of the softer wood so long as it's straight grained and free of knots is ideal for feathersticks.

The trick is to have a sharp knife as that along with good technique is what produces the best featherstick. It also helps at the begining to have a longer piece of wood so you've got plenty to grip. Once you've developed a good technique then start using shorter pieces until you can featherstick a matchstick

 

[Broch]

A problem with pine and spruce is that they flare up very quickly - too quickly if you've made those really fine feather sticks so lauded by all the bushcraft instructors. They'll often burn out before lighting the next stage because there's too much air to fuel ratio. It's a good thing to practice but, unless you're trying to light the feather stick itself from a spark, you're better off making a fuzz stick which is more like what indigenous peoples use.

Although I do demonstrate feather sticks I encourage people to try less 'feathery' sticks

 

[Jay131]

I can’t recall choosing a particular wood beyond it being dry, straight grain and knot free where the feathers are going to be cut. Given my location it’s normally sessile oak or pine.
I do however, find the technique of feathering makes a huge difference. A broad brush of thin curls rarely disappoints!
Angle the knife handle down and the curls will bend and curl towards the blade tip side. Angle the handle up (tip pointing down) and the curls will bend towards the hilt. A horizontal blade with produce curls that roll straight down the wood. Mix it up and you produce a broad fan of curls.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Regarding pine and spruce, I find I can get larger feathers, wider and thicker, with pine and spruce than well aged hazel or birch. I want thicker shavings as they burn longer. The bushes of fine shavings look good, and catch quick, but a longer burn has much to recommend it.

As per Mors book, ring orientation can make a big difference in how well the knife makes curls, different for different woods.

 

[Stew]

Regarding pine and spruce, I find I can get larger feathers, wider and thicker, with pine and spruce than well aged hazel or birch. I want thicker shavings as they burn longer. The bushes of fine shavings look good, and catch quick, but a longer burn has much to recommend it.

As per Mors book, ring orientation can make a big difference in how well the knife makes curls, different for different woods.

I was just going to mention grain orientation. Can make a big difference, for me at least, to the point of being either successful curls or slices off.

I haven’t really given particular wood choice much thought. I’m now thinking that if we were in the realms of writing research papers that it could be a good source of study.

 

[Toddy]

Ash, gean, birch, fresh pine, hazel and willow. Basically it's what do you have.

M

 

[C_Claycomb]

Ash, gean, birch, fresh pine, hazel and willow. Basically it's what do you have.

M

I suppose it is a double sided coin. Acquire the knife skill to feather whatever wood you find, and on the flip side, have the skill to identify and understand which woods will make the job easiest and know when other fire lighting methods are more efficient.

on the US forum there are folk showing finely shaved osage and oak. Osage is about the most difficult wood you could pick, so a great example of knife control, but an absurd choice in all other ways.

When it comes to collecting resources I try to remember that it’s okay, good even, to search widely. There might be nothing but gnarly oak in a 20yd radius of camp, but there could be a stand of hazel or birch 60-100yards away.

 

[Broch]

Bernard S. Mason - Woodcraft - 1939

 

[Kadushu]

Aside from their workability, I think pine, thuja and spruce are good because they contain terpenes. Even when the wood doesn't seem obviously resinous it can flare up like a match head.

 

[Tiley]

All interesting stuff - thank you! I'm intrigued by the benefits of thicker curls. Does this mean you require fewer feathersticks than you might need if you'd curled them finely?

I think I must try some other woods. Hazel is the most plentiful locally but there's also beech, birch, oak, ash, holly, hawthorn, wych elm and, occasionally, Western red cedar to try. I suppose I'd better experiment though I will take on board the recommendation of softer woods that are dead, dry and straight-grained!

I have to admit, it's a job I really enjoy, so it won't be any sort of burden!

 

[C_Claycomb]

All interesting stuff - thank you! I'm intrigued by the benefits of thicker curls. Does this mean you require fewer feathersticks than you might need if you'd curled them finely?

I think I must try some other woods. Hazel is the most plentiful locally but there's also beech, birch, oak, ash, holly, hawthorn, wych elm and, occasionally, Western red cedar to try. I suppose I'd better experiment though I will take on board the recommendation of softer woods that are dead, dry and straight-grained!

I have to admit, it's a job I really enjoy, so it won't be any sort of burden.

Not sure that you would need fewer sticks with thicker shavings. The thickest shaving is no shaving, and one unshaven stick isn’t going to work as well as a dozen reduced to wood-wool

@Broch said it well. Too many thin curls burn too fast. Big flare and all the heat has gone before having a chance to raise the temperature of the next stage.

If thick shavings can be made, they take fewer passes, are easier to stack and burn slower.

It is hard to get thick curls from harder wood. Ideally so much of the stick is turned to curls that the curls ignite the remaining stick. In harder wood with fine shavings the tendency is to curl a smaller percentage of the total stick. More passes with the knife take longer and every pass there is a risk of cutting off earlier shavings.

While there are some good videos on YouTube showing beautiful feather sticks, I like the Mors videos, including “How to light a fire in adverse conditions”. Less pretty, more practical, including showing that even Mors could struggle with some wood…solution…find a different stick

Mors Featherstick

Adverse conditions

 

[Robson Valley]

Softwoods as opposed to hardwoods. Best if you can find some that's straight grained because the individual wood fiber cells are far longer that in any hardwood. Mechanically these should cleave much more uniformly.
It's common knowledge among wood carvers that this tendency to split in lengths will confound the ability to hold any fine detail.
Of course, once you have some experience, working hardwoods won't be quite the same puzzle.

 

[Stew]

Not sure that you would need fewer sticks with thicker shavings. The thickest shaving is no shaving, and one unshaven stick isn’t going to work as well as a dozen reduced to wood-wool

@Broch said it well. Too many thin curls burn too fast. Big flare and all the heat has gone before having a chance to raise the temperature of the next stage.

If thick shavings can be made, they take fewer passes, are easier to stack and burn slower.

It is hard to get thick curls from harder wood. Ideally so much of the stick is turned to curls that the curls ignite the remaining stick. In harder wood with fine shavings the tendency is to curl a smaller percentage of the total stick. More passes with the knife take longer and every pass there is a risk of cutting off earlier shavings.

While there are some good videos on YouTube showing beautiful feather sticks, I like the Mors videos, including “How to light a fire in adverse conditions”. Less pretty, more practical, including showing that even Mors could struggle with some wood…solution…find a different stick

Mors Featherstick

Adverse conditions

Thanks for those videos. I’ve only watched the first so far but it was such a pleasant thing to watch.