Difficult Questions - Variable Materials aka Crapwood City

[JackCrafty]

Ever since I started writing for the mag, I've been slammed with difficult questions ranging from "Where and how do I get good rock", to "Where and how do I get good shoots for arrows and foreshafts?" and the ever-present  "What do I do in the land of crappy materials??  Even the materials in the stores are crap!  And I've wasted lots of money on the internet!!".

Since this is the "Arrows" section, I'll focus on arrow materials.

I've spent lots of time harvesting materials in two states:  Texas and New Hampshire.  And I've purchased and traded for materials from many more.   And one thing is becoming more clear (and more troublesome) as times goes by:  Quality materials gathered in one spot are usually the ONLY spot for quality materials for MANY miles around.   I can't count the times I've told someone where to gather materials only to find they can't go to the exact spot but they harvested materials nearby and they are not seeing what I see.  They have stumbled into Crapwood City.

I think from now on I will begin referring to materials by the city or even the street where I find them.  Midland reed, Austin yaupon, McAllen cane, Marlow New Hamphsire viburnum, etc., etc.

Arg.   

[Comancheria]

Pat,

Let me know if this is a hijack, but If you know, could you compare and contrast Dogwood and Youpon?  I have lived my entire life surrounded by Youpon so thick a snake couldn't get trough it.  Never seen a dogwood clump and knew what it was--but it would be nice to know, when I read about Dogwood, how similar to or different from Youpon the stuff is.  Because there is a ton written about Dogwood and very little on Youpon.

Russ

[JackCrafty]

Sure.  First off, there are may types of dogwood and the properties are different.  Red osier dogwood is softer and lighter than yaupon and flowering dogwood is heavier and harder than yaupon, for example.

Overall, dogwood is heavier and burnishes easier than yaupon.  Is has about the same spine strength as yaupon when the weights of the shafts are similar.  Dogwood and yaupon sand about the same and will burn quickly on a belt sander.

Of course, there are variances with yaupon and with dogwood within the same batch and the same species. I find dogwood to be very consistent when harvested from the same patch.  But the further apart you harvest dogwood, the more variable the properties, in my experience.  Yaupon is more consistent in this regard.  I've harvested Yaupon from many different sites in central Texas and it's about the same.

Dogwood is also going to remember it's original shape more than Yaupon.  I've had a hard time keeping most dogwood straight.  Yaupon is easier.  But neither one is easy to work with overall, especially compared to birch, for example.

Straight shoots of yaupon tend to grow individually were dogwood tends to grow in bushes.   You will find yaupon growing in bushes sometimes but I haven't seen many dogwood shoots growing individually.

Dogwood bark is usually darker in color than yaupon.

[JackCrafty]

Hmmm...  maybe it's me?   Maybe I take it for granted that I can find good stuff pretty easily.

[JackCrafty]

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[Comancheria]

Thanks, Pat.  Exactly the kind of info I was looking for.  I think as you get further south into the brush country of South Texas, you will find huge thickets of Youpon--not so much in central and south central.  I have a couple of pastures in Lavaca County where the stuff grows like a barely penetrable understory with Live, Post, And blackjack oak, all mixed with mesquite an kudzu thorns.  The denser the growth, the more competition for light and the greater tendency for stalks to shoot straight up or outward in a nice curve. 

I know the Comanche primarily used Dogwood, but I'll bet, even though I have no proof, that they also used Youpon.

Russ

[JackCrafty]

I'd love to have a couple pastures like that.   

[Comancheria]

None of my doing, Pat.  My great-grandfather bought up a few thousand acres when he got back from fighting  the Yankees.  (No offense to you Yankees out there--after all, ya'll won)😃--then he had 17 kids, and my Mom was one of three of the next generation--so I ended up with 360 acres.  If I sold it I would be pretty well off--but we don't do that in my family--so the hogs keep tearing it all up and I lose about three grand annually.  Except for this year--bought any hamburger lately?😊

Best regards,

Russ

[Comancheria]

Actually, come to think of it, I need to be real nice to Yankees--otherwise Bubby and Clint will stop feeling sorry for me and handing out free lessons!

[JackCrafty]

Yep, be nice to them Yankees.  They would probably pay you good money to come shoot those hogs...