Well now I want to make a Hazel bow! I think I'd feel conflicted about removing branches from a Hazel, since I love their nuts.
That bow looks great, and you're right about the color, it looks almost creamy.
Don't worry about the shrubs. Some have more than 30 branches so losing one isn't going to influence nut capacity haha. After all I make up for that by being nuts.
From a single shrub you can take 2-3 good staves if you are lucky. Some of those will still be to small. Mark them and leave them a few years. The rest is either to bent or too twisted to be of any use. You can train some of the smaller saplings. Tie them to a straight pole and keep retying them until they are big enough to use. Like bonsai but bigger.
These were found in the middle of the ticket so they grew straight up towards the light. Not twisted like those at the edge of it.
Thanks for your compliments guys!
So removing the bark and then sealing the ends would do to dry it properly? The end sealing is to keep the branch from splitting right? Any work done along the length, like removing belly wood, can safely be done before drying?