Blacksmithing
and Cutlery
by Gérard HEUTTE
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Wood
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Here is the minimum a cutler must know to supply himself of wood. I will not speak here
about wood stabilized with resin; My option is rather to work with wood of
my area and which I collect myself.
Species
One will preferably choose hard and
pleasant wood with pleasant look (color, veining, nodes). Here are some ideas:
- Fruit trees.
In general, they have beautiful colors and are well veined.
I have a few promising pieces walnut, lemon tree and plum tree...
- Holly wood.
A beautiful white wood, very hard and pleasant to work.
On the other hand, I find it a little pale with a light veining.
- Box wood. A
beautiful white or yellow wood, splendid and pleasant with the touch.
- Hawthorn.
Shrub ignored wrongly. The shrubs of reduced size and a
little tormented give beautiful veinings. Attention, use solids gloves to cut it; Its thorns
were formerly used as nails!
- Olive wood is a pure
wonder. But it pushes only in the south of France and around the Mediterranean Sea. In
Crete, it is used as stakes for clotures or firewood!
Other species are usable, but I have not worked with them:
False acacia, Blackthorn...
Caution:
> Some species are protected.
> Some species emit or content more or less dangerous toxins.
Cutting and storage
It is better to cut the trees in winter preferably, when there is the minimum of sap. The old ones
would specify "with the dying moon"...
Of course, you need the agreement of the owner!
To preserve wood and to dry it, I proceed as follows:
- Possibly cut of the pieces to the desired length (in general
great pieces are about one meter long, short pieces for handle are about 12 to
15 centimetres).
- Energetic brushing with a wire brush. On the other hand, the bark should be kept.
- Filling the two ends with hot paraffin or a fine layer of wood glue.
- Natural drying for one year duration per centimetre of radius.
Here is a part of Box wood ready for drying. In order to
avoid any risk of error, it has been marked (spicies abbreviation, month, year).
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