Postby Jared L. Cass » Tue Apr 27, 2004 3:18 pm
That's wierd. My white ash wasters and staffs are just as tough as any hickory ones they've come against. Part of the problem might be in the direction the grain lies in the waster and how close the growth rings are. As a gereral rule for maximum toughness,/resilency,/elasticity for hard woods, you want wide as opposed to close together (fast growth vs. slowgrowth) growth rings. It's just the opposite for soft woods (which in my mind should never be used for sporting equipment).
My rank of choices for waster woods is as follows (personal prefference only):#1 hickory, #2whiteash, #3blackash, #4sugar maple(also called hard or rock maple), #5white oak, and #6 red oak.
Look for a real straight grain, wide growth rings, and payattention to how the grain and growth rings lie in relation to the "blade". By looking at things like ax handles, baseball batts, and other things which "take a beating and keep on kicking" a fellow can learn alot about how to make a waster (or a staff, or a dagger, or ect.) that's just as good if not better than comercially avialable ones.
Jared L. Cass, ARMA Associate, Wisconsin
