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Blackthorn stick finish.


deeksofdoom
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Good luck with that, blackthorn will take about 12 months to dry out before you can straighten and wear thick gloves because the thorns can cause any scratch to turn septic

Indeed... I cut my blackthorn sticks in January or February with a pruning saw and immediately de-thorn them with secateurs. I then steam them while they are still fresh and straighten them out as best I can before storing them in a dry shed hung from a beam with a concrete block tied around the other end. They stay like this for 6 -9 months before I can be ***** to do anything with them. I don't normally have to do much straightening thereafter.

 

I'm still searching for that holy grail of sticks the blackthorn/columbine twist.

 

I've always used natural bees wax on blackthorn..buffs up a treat.

Edited by Adge Cutler
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As a 'newbie' to this forum and thanks to the info here, I have just now discovered that my permission, in particular, the 100 yards + of hedge, is (possibly) blackthorn...(nice small purple berries)...and looking at the craftsmanship of the sticks, I have found another possible interest. So instead of being bored/ numb whilst waiting for a solo woodie to land in my decoy pattern, I can now look for potential 'sticks' to season, etc! Hope it doesn't sound too 'cheezy'...but what a great forum this is!

Ok if you find a nice stick cut it now before someone else does .oh but ask the land owner first .and the berries have them as well take a thorn of the bush and ***** the berry if its nearly soft take then soon .or someone else will and get a bottle of gin and make sloe gin .will be nice if ready for christmas

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post-60674-0-43656900-1474037543_thumb.jpg

 

Hi Adge Cutler

 

I did find a twisted blackthorn but it is just a bit light for me, so made this for the wife. It is 43 inch long and has turn out quite nice, the only other one I have ever found was to heavy for me so made a stick for a good mate who is much bigger than me so will have to keep searching for the right one

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  • 3 years later...

Hello, my dad asked me to make him a blackthorn stick, so I went out today and cut what I think is a fairly good example, I will upload a picture now. I've made the rooky mistake of not doing enough research though. I've sanded the handle down already but get the feeling I shouldn't have. What do people think? (I'm yet to try and straighten it).

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On 15/03/2020 at 18:09, johnphilip said:

Make one of these and use and electric  heat gun , as used in paint stripping .just heat the stick a little at a time and use the jig , as shown in the picture below . Take your time . Realy the stick should be left for a years to season, 

Screenshot_20200315-180550_Samsung Internet.jpg

Can you put some pics of both sides of the straightening jig on please

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This is what I use, which is my adaptation of the one sold by Thestickman, but using hardwood which hopefully will last longer and is less susceptible to dents etc.

I use double sided tape to stick it (temporarily) to the vice jaws. 

Obviously the convex bend of the stick goes against the convex part of the padded wooden block, such that it can be `overbent` as necessary to allow for the inevitable spring back.

This I find allows the stick to be held in one position for as long as is necessary.

stick_straightener_002.jpg

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2 hours ago, Diver One said:

Mine is held on with a couple of rare earth magnets countersunk into the flat sides......I can never  find  my tape and when I do it has usually lost its stickiness

That`s a brilliant idea. The double sided tape holds the two pieces of wood together OK, but is a bit messy when taken off.

OB

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  • 2 years later...

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