by oldclaypaws » Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:23 pm
'general craft purposes' is a very broad brief !
Probably the most versatile species is Hazel, which is flexible, tough, and very well suited to coppicing. Its used for walking sticks, poles, hurdles, green furniture, to name but a few. Willow is good for baskets and 'weaves' well for garden structures, also good for floral purposes as you get the 'pussy' willow flowers. Ash makes excellent handles and turns well. For rigid structures like mirror frames, table or seat tops, benches, chopping boards- you need the big broadleaves such as beech or oak. The fruitwoods such as apple or cherry have nice grains and colour, making them good for small items and turning, yew is also a lovely bi-coloured grain. For floral uses you really want the flowering species or those with attractive foliage; maybe cherry, elder, the various thorns, holly, yew, to name but a few.
Virtually all trees have some practical craft use, but they all have different properties and are each better suited to specific areas. There's no 'perfect' craft multi-purpose tree, you really need a good mix of natives.
