Dead Aspen

[JerryH]

While attending the Creede Woodcarvers Rendezvous I saw one of the most beautiful hiking sticks I have ever seen. I asked the guy what type of wood it was and he said aspen. I told him I had been carving aspen for several years and never saw one that was a rich brown color like his. He said it was dead aspen, not live as I harvest. So, long story short, I went out and cut me a few. Now live aspen is very easy to peel the bark off. The dead ones are a totally different story to remove the bark. Since I did not ask the guy how he debarked them, do any of you have any experence removing the bark from dead aspen? I have scraped on one for about an hour and I am only half through.
JerryH

[AlArchie]

Sorry, can't help ya Jerry. My wife is always telling me to get off my dead as*pen and do something!

Al

[Tom-H]

Jerry, I think it takes about two hours to scrape the bark off a dead aspen walking staff. Sorry I couldn't resist.....Tom H

[JerryH]

Gee, with the help I get here I should find another hobby!! Thanks anyway guys. Maybe someone on this board has some smarts!
JerryH

[Just Carving]

As I have been reading though different threads, and posts, I've been reading about how this wood is hard to carve, and that one is tough to debark. And I wonder, if green wood is easy to carve because it is still "wet", and we can steam wood strips to bend into place--as evidenced by different pieces of furniture that I have seen over time--why can't we apply the same principle to situations like this one--steam the bark off the wood? There are several ways to do this. Use a steam chamber, but that would entail having such a device, i.e. a long piece of pipe, a tea kettle with a hose attached to it and connected to the pipe with a cap permanently attached to one end, and a threaded cap on the other, and a pressure release so that one doesn't create a pressurized vessel that would explode.

A simpler alternative would be to use a towel wrapped around the wood, and hold the area over the tea kettle, or if you have one, use a steam jenny and spray the towel wrapped around the wood, or maybe in this case, directly on the bark on the wood until it softens up enough to remove the bark. Can't say it would work, but it might be worth a shot on a piece of scrap.

[Don by the lake]

Jerry,
I have had some experience with dead aspen and I don't beleive there is an easy way to remove the bark. I have tried also. I saved some aspens once and didn't take the bark off. Big mistake! Who was it you talked to at Creede? I used to live in Colorado and know quite a few people who go there. Mark Gargac, who instructs at Creede really does a nice job with aspen!

[JerryH]

Don, the guy I talked was Phil something. We swapped cards but, somehow I lost his. He was from Arvada.
JerryH

[fishcarver2004]

try a high presser washer , works for me
Stacey

[Hugh]

I don't know about aspen, but I found willow that had been cut by a road crew, and left for a year in the weather. A lot of the bark had lifted, and the rest I had to scrape off. It turned out a nice rich brown, and is a beauty. Since that I have picked up a few more sticks, and not all of them willow, don't really know what they are, but they weathered nicely, and are interesting sticks.

[bbeery]

I've always harvested the Aspen green, debarked it and waited one or two years before carving. It is always a beautiful white, super light wood, but with no grain to speak of. Interesting about the color change when waiting to debark till after it has aged a year or so. I've always been told to debark while it is still green; don't understand the philosophy but have always followed the rule. Maybe I need to color outside the lines.