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General >> Other Primitive Weapons >> Ironwood shillelagh
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Message started by fattybones on Oct 31st, 2011 at 2:28am

Title: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by fattybones on Oct 31st, 2011 at 2:28am
I finally made an ironwood shillelagh!  I poached an ironwood sapling and did most of the work in the woods with a utility knife and folding saw.  I fire-hardened both ends and air dried the rest.  The head is the root ball.  

I guess European clubs are shaped like they are due to sawing off part of the root ball.  I oiled it using paraffin oil and a bit of red paint, then painted on stripes.  It curved a bit while drying but I'm happy with it.

The ironwood here is very light.  It's way easier to work green and has a consistency like an apple while you carve it.  It even shrinks a bit while drying.  It became a formidable and wieldy weapon, and it's part of my heritage.
CIMG1940.JPG (70 KB | )

Title: Re: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by fattybones on Oct 31st, 2011 at 2:28am
Detail of head.
CIMG1941.JPG (65 KB | )

Title: Re: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by Steven on Oct 31st, 2011 at 12:15pm
nice stick once it dries, what is density similar to

Title: Re: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by fattybones on Oct 31st, 2011 at 1:23pm

Steven wrote on Oct 31st, 2011 at 12:15pm:
nice stick once it dries, what is density similar to

Thank you.  If I was a smartass, I'd say the density was similar to ironwood, but I'll try to describe it.  It's like someone made some wood out of plastic -- the grain is almost not there, and it's the opposite of porous.  This particular wood is very light, most ironwoods are heavy.  Any wood called "ironwood" can be used as a substitute for metal in clockwork, or as a mortar and pestle.  

Police batons are usually ironwood, the cops in my area all have light batons because they make them out of this gray birch.  If you live in the Maritimes or New England, ironwood has "leaves like birch and bark like maple".  There are different ironwoods in different places, in England it's solenum vitae.  Check wikipedia for "ironwood" to find the tree in your woods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood

Title: Re: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by Steven on Nov 1st, 2011 at 9:40am

fattybones wrote on Oct 31st, 2011 at 1:23pm:

... ;D... I'd say the density was similar to ironwood, but I'll try to describe it.  It's like someone made some wood out of plastic -- the grain is almost not there, and it's the opposite of porous.  This particular wood is very light, most ironwoods are heavy.

Thanks I didn't realise there was an "ironwood lite". Thought it was all dense and heavy

Title: Re: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by fattybones on Nov 2nd, 2011 at 6:15am
It's the hardness, not the weight.  Most ironwoods are heavy, but the test is whether you can substitute it for metal in certain functions -- it doesn't wear easy, hence mortar and pestle, etc.  It's a pain in the neck to saw through once it's dry too.  It's not dense like in physics, but the fibres are densely packed.  I like the lightness, though -- it's lighter than maple and therefore quicker, but it'll break a maple cane in half.  I believe it's by far the lightest ironwood.  What I have here is either http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrya_virginiana or some wood that's only called ironwood in my part of the world and isn't famous.  It's not really a birch, it just looks like one.

Title: Re: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by Rat Man on Nov 7th, 2011 at 7:52am
Nice shillelagh.  It looks quite formidable.  

Title: Re: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by Wiegieboard on Nov 7th, 2011 at 9:47am
Good thread. I always wanted to get my hands on some ironwood and make nunchaku.

Title: Re: Ironwood shillelagh
Post by kuggur slingdog on Nov 7th, 2011 at 4:27pm
How big/heavy is it? It looks on the small side in the first picture.

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