Cane carving materials

[Thomp]

I have been tinkering with the idea of digging some wild small 2-3 inch dia dogwood trees with the root ball attached , and use them for cane stock, as louisiana is lousey with wild dogwood, and lots of them have big roots comming out the bottom, where as the nursery raised trees seam to have smaller root system maybe becuse of cramped growing space,
thinking on the fact that the root could be steamed pealed and put into a jig to make the turn or hook or just slight curve, waxed raw ends to keep the drying process slow through the bark left on the shaft. then dried over a year,,,

Any information on drawbacks to this method.

[Irish]

Dogwood makes a wonderful walking stick. In our area we can't cut dogwood because of a virus that is killing off the tree.

Sassafras also has a wonderful root ball that makes a good chelalee (Irish stick - bad spelling). And if you find just the right tree one of the larger roots can become a cane handle.

Susan

[Thomp]

guess i better look into the virus around here before i cut or dig one, we may already have the virus. ?

ill have to look up sasafrass on a boteny site I know we have then but i wouldnt know one unless it was skinned or otherwise damaged as the peptobismo smell would be what would trigger me off to knowing i was near one.

[Irish]

Thomp, just give your county agriculture extention agent a call. They would know. Our property had a kazillion dogwoods about ten years ago. Now we have about ten, maybe fifteen, left.

Sassafras is a beautiful small tree that grows along the edge of the forest and along fence lines. It's a favorite for me because if you want butterflies in your flower garden ... plant a sassafras tree! The swallowtail butterflies use the tree to lay their eggs and the caterpillars live out their life cycle eating the leaves.

I have several nice large ones in the fence line plus a couple of clumps in the yard. You can plant two or three small trees very close together to create the clumb effect. That way they don't take up a lot of room in your yard but offer a lot of tree space for the butterflies.

Sassafras is one of those great twisty stick trees. Because they grow quickly into walking stick sized trunks you can start a piece of honeysuckle at the base of a sapling. In about three years the vine will have turned the tree into a great twisty stick.

Susan