splitting hazel

[splodger]

your success with splitting hazel will really depend on where and how it is grown

we grow a bit of hazel in our chestnut copse - but it will never cleave cleanly - as the copse is too light deficient and the hazel rods twist as they try and get more light - so when you split it - the twists become more apparent and they look like corkscrew sticks

what i am trying to say is - like any recipe - it's the ingredients that you have to get right - to create the great meal

[woodbodger]

Yes of course you are right, when I first started making Windsor bows I had great trials until the penny dropped that the wood I had bought had grown fast in a hedge row and was quite unsuitable for bending, I made chair legs out of it and sourced my wood for bows much more carefully.