How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Bob Carriere]

Most hard wood will bend once steamed but some are better than others for ease of bending and strength.

The best is Black Ash or Brown Ash which grows in wet ground areas. Used extensively in basket making. Brown ash was also used as a poor man oak in the early 1900 when Oak was harder to come buy.

White Ash would come as a close second as well as White Oak.

The reason the above wood bends easier is in the physical structure of the growth rings. Looking at a close up of the growth rings one will see a very dense ring followed by a more open ring structure reflecting the wet early growth compared to late Summer. These kind of woods are referred to as open grain compared to maple, which will also bend but not as easy, which is a very tight grained wood.

The different layers in the growth rings allows the wood to stretch and give to some extent as long as it is wet.

For example Brown ash, absolutely knot free, as to be worked green for best results. That means a fresh cut log as to to be kept soaking wet until worked. A long plastic sewer pipe is ideal. Having the wood cut as "quarter sawn" allows the grain to be all flat and parallel to the bend. Adding a cup of Fleecy or Bounce to the soaking water will increase the wetness of the water and facilitate deeper penetration.

Wet Quarter sawn Brown ash, in one inch wide boards, are beaten with a two pound hammer over a log..... as the ash is beaten, the water logged wood squeezes the water with such force that every single growth ring will separate from one another giving you one inch wide splints for basket weaving.

The only other wood similar is the sassafras.

Once dried any of the above wood will retain its curved shape and can be glued in layers for greater strength.

........ my wife learned to be a basket weaver from native Canadian indians and most of these tricks were passed on to her by helders from Cape Breton Island.

Cheers