Post by Daenerys on Jan 25, 2015 20:07:25 GMT
Here is an interestng question... What would is good for making weapons like quarterstaffs and such? So, I thought I would start a thread,to look at this.
Red oak is common for weapons. Ash would also be a good choice to use. Maple, too, because of its shock-absorbing properties. A great place to look in the modern day is in baseball. Most wooden bats are made from ash. Other woods used for bats include maple, hickory, and bamboo. Hickory have at the present time fallen into disfavour because of the bat having greater weight, which slows down bat speed. At the same time, maple bats have gained popularity following the introduction of the first major league sanctioned model in 1997. The first player to use one was Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays. All this said, in 2010, the increased tendency of maple bats to shatter has caused Major League Baseball to examine their use, banning some models in minor league play.
Hickory and ash are the usual woods for making axe handles. That would seem to call for the same qualities in the wood.
Pine, cedar, fir, aspen, and juniper are all very soft woods (although aspen is strong, it's not very hard), and they wouldn't make for exceptional weapons. Still, getting smacked with any of them would hurt. Hickory would also make a nice smacking stick in addition.
The best in terms of an actual historical quarterstaff would be oak or thorn. Pine, fir, spruce would be useless for this task. However hickory, again, would be a good bet for a modern staff.
One thing to think about with wood is seasoning. It takes time to have all the water come out of the wood. You also need to cap it, putting a thin layer of varnish on the top, to stop it splitting. Ash is a wood, however, that can be seasoned without capping, only producing very minimal splitting. In fact, the wood will become much lighter when seasoned. It takes a year minimum for seasoning, sometimes more, depending on the wood in question.
Also, the longbow was traditionally made from yew, because it had the right properties for such a bow. However, it is a slow growing tree, and if you mass produce, you will quickly devastate your yew population...
In terms or hardwood/softwood, yew is classified as a closed-pore softwood, so is similar therefore to cedar and pine. While it is easy to work, yew is among the hardest of the softwoods; however it possesses remarkable elasticity, thus making it ideal for any products that require springiness, like bows.
The longbow was constructed in a particular manner: the heartwood of yew is on the inside of the bow, whilst the sapwood is upon the outside. This is so the bow can take full advantage of the natural properties of the yew: heartwood will resist compression, while the sapwood will resist stretching. This, therefore, increases the strength and efficiency of the bow. However, there is a big problem with yew: much yew is knotty and twisted, and thus cannot be used for bowmaking. In fact, most trunks do not give good staves; and even in a good trunk much wood has to be discarded.
Links of interest:
www.coloradotrees.org/feature_trees/oak_red.php
www.millerpublishing.com/naw/hw_glossary.html
Red oak is common for weapons. Ash would also be a good choice to use. Maple, too, because of its shock-absorbing properties. A great place to look in the modern day is in baseball. Most wooden bats are made from ash. Other woods used for bats include maple, hickory, and bamboo. Hickory have at the present time fallen into disfavour because of the bat having greater weight, which slows down bat speed. At the same time, maple bats have gained popularity following the introduction of the first major league sanctioned model in 1997. The first player to use one was Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays. All this said, in 2010, the increased tendency of maple bats to shatter has caused Major League Baseball to examine their use, banning some models in minor league play.
Hickory and ash are the usual woods for making axe handles. That would seem to call for the same qualities in the wood.
Pine, cedar, fir, aspen, and juniper are all very soft woods (although aspen is strong, it's not very hard), and they wouldn't make for exceptional weapons. Still, getting smacked with any of them would hurt. Hickory would also make a nice smacking stick in addition.
The best in terms of an actual historical quarterstaff would be oak or thorn. Pine, fir, spruce would be useless for this task. However hickory, again, would be a good bet for a modern staff.
One thing to think about with wood is seasoning. It takes time to have all the water come out of the wood. You also need to cap it, putting a thin layer of varnish on the top, to stop it splitting. Ash is a wood, however, that can be seasoned without capping, only producing very minimal splitting. In fact, the wood will become much lighter when seasoned. It takes a year minimum for seasoning, sometimes more, depending on the wood in question.
Also, the longbow was traditionally made from yew, because it had the right properties for such a bow. However, it is a slow growing tree, and if you mass produce, you will quickly devastate your yew population...
In terms or hardwood/softwood, yew is classified as a closed-pore softwood, so is similar therefore to cedar and pine. While it is easy to work, yew is among the hardest of the softwoods; however it possesses remarkable elasticity, thus making it ideal for any products that require springiness, like bows.
The longbow was constructed in a particular manner: the heartwood of yew is on the inside of the bow, whilst the sapwood is upon the outside. This is so the bow can take full advantage of the natural properties of the yew: heartwood will resist compression, while the sapwood will resist stretching. This, therefore, increases the strength and efficiency of the bow. However, there is a big problem with yew: much yew is knotty and twisted, and thus cannot be used for bowmaking. In fact, most trunks do not give good staves; and even in a good trunk much wood has to be discarded.
Links of interest:
www.coloradotrees.org/feature_trees/oak_red.php
www.millerpublishing.com/naw/hw_glossary.html
