hickory bark harvest
I guess harvest is a strong term, it’s not like we planted this crop.
I just got back from a whirlwind 2-day trip to peel some hickory bark with Brendan Gaffney https://www.instagram.com/burnheartmade/ . He & I have done this 3 out of the last 4 years now and we’ve got it down to a system. This year it went even smoother than before because a friend of his who is a semi-professional felled the tree. We didn’t shoot any photos of the process this time, it’s not different from what we’ve done before.
At the rate I make chairs, this pile of bark should last me til next spring/summer, when hopefully we’ll do it again.
The two of us worked about 6 hours each day, shaving off the outer bark, thinning the inner bark to the thickness we want, then scoring it with a fabric cutting wheel. Then Brendan dramatically yanks on one end of the 40-foot strip & pulls it up so it whips off the trunk. I usually just walk up alongside the log, lifting the strip as I go.
What we discovered last time is the minute you take it off the log is the best time to split the bark’s thickness in half. I can’t remember where I learned to do this, it’s not in Jennie Alexander’s book for sure and I don’t think it’s in any of Drew Langsner’s writings. I feel like I must have learned it from Drew and/or his wife Louise. I’ll make a note to ask him - or maybe he’ll chime in - Drew?
Splitting the bark in half gets you two coils of bark per strip - the one that was against the tree and the “top” half. Both work perfectly fine for weaving the seat, both will last decades and wear well. My preference is for that “inner” inner bark. I think it’s smoother than what I get from the top half of the split. But that might just be the way we shave the bark when it’s on the tree. Because we’re going to split it, we leave it a bit thick. Sometimes I still have to thin the outer section when I weave with it. That’s a slow process - easier to shave it when it’s on the tree. But it goes faster when you take that thicker (maybe 3/16” thick) strip & split it. Says me, but many do it otherwise…
I’ve taken the video-chapter on harvesting hickory bark that’s part of my vimeo-on-demand series about making the Jennie Alexander chair and put it up on youtube for free - so people interested in how Brendan and I harvest the bark can see that as a stand-alone thing. We shot it 2 years ago - but what we did this week was barely any different. As I watch that, the main thing I see is that I was beginning to show symptoms of lyme arthritis then (& didn’t know it) and that I thankfully feel & function much better now!
You can buy the series I did on making the JA chair here
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jachairpf
The place we worked is beautiful - upstate New York - wonderful woods. This shot was from the first year we did it, 2021 - this week we worked in those same woods.
The added benefit for me is the birds there - like this blue-headed vireo (Vireo solitarius) harvesting materials herself - for her nest.
Not I! No one who we know - not even Dave Sawyer - has managed to sub-split hickory bast with bark from a tree growing on our place. We don't know why. Perhaps the subspecies here, soil quality, or ??? When we start to subplot ours it just runs out, almost immediately. That makes hickory bast all the more precious for us. And has led to experimenting with tulip poplar bark, which is plentiful. And, honestly, not hickory, but an acceptable substitute if you don't require the very best.
A pleasure as always having you! I’m lucky to have Franklin Chthonics give access to this incredible bounty.