Where to Find War Club Wood?

[Elnathan]

A little different from the usual accouterments posted here, but I think this goes here as well as any other place.

I've been interested in making a copy of a ball-headed war club for many years now, but have never been able to locate a proper piece of wood. For those that might not be familiar with what I mean, I mean something like these:





I know that Tiger-Hunt sells pre-formed blanks for folks to finish, but 1) I don't care for the patterns they have and they aren't made with enough excess wood to modify and 2) the ball is supposed to be formed out of a rootball or burl piece for added density and durability, and TH doesn't do that as far as I can tell. A piece like this actually requires a pretty unusual piece of wood - it needs a burl attached to enough wood to form a handle 20-24" long, and the grain has to follow a curve. The earlier examples, such as the first two illustrated here, tend to have a really abrupt drop in the handle, and I suspect that the makers got the wood by bending over a sapling, fastening to the ground to get the desired shape, and then waiting ten or twenty years for the tree to grow before harvesting it. The later ones tend to have a gentler curve, such as in the last example, and are more likely to be from naturally curved timbers. I like the earlier type better, but I don't have the lifestyle that would allow me to plant a sapling for the express purpose of making a warclub with it.

Any idea where I might look for a piece of wood with a burl/root ball and bent grain? Nothing like that at the local lumber yard, of course, and  I've been keeping an eye out for one when cutting firewood, etc., for about a decade and a half now, and haven't yet found anything.

[rich pierce]

I think you’ve got to head to the woods for something like that. I’ll keep my eye out. Dogwood is supposed to be very good.

[Greg Pennell]

I’d imagine another option would be to select a straight sapling with a good rootball or knot, and the heat bend or steam the handle to the shape you want. I’ve seen some mighty impressive things done with steam.

Greg

[Eric Kettenburg]

I know I've seen a lot of ironwood and blue beech saplings around with weird looking root balls.  I don't know anything about war clubs though, so I have no idea if such heavy woods would be considered useful.

The comment above about steam is REALLY interesting too - I don't think it would take too much if using green wood to force it into a set.

[jrb]

look for 3 or 4 inch diameter saplings on steep hillsides or banks. the bend will sometimes be natural there. you dig it out if it's bent right, large enough diameter, and a good round shape at the rootball. then cut off the roots and dry it

[Tim Crosby]

This was a piece of fire wood, not the first time I've found good pieces on the pile. The grain was right, I walked my Buddy Jessie  though it.

  Tim C.

 

[Tim Crosby]

 Here's a couple more from the pile that are waiting to be worked, some work as been done just to see what they were like. The first one has a check in it but I think it can be salvaged. The second one has some wicked grain in it, challenging to work.

  Tim C.
 

[Ky-Flinter]

Any idea where I might look for a piece of wood with a burl/root ball and bent grain?

Like JRB posted, saplings growing out of creek banks or steep hillsides.

-Ron

[Elnathan]

Thank you gentlemen.  I do know about looking for a sapling growing out of a slope, the problem is that the quarter-acre of woods my parents have doesn't have any suitable saplings, and I think the National Park Service might get a little cross with me if I went out along the Appalachian Trail with a shovel and bucksaw! Hence I was wondering if anyone had ideas for where to look for odd lumber...

Tim: PM sent.

Greg: Good idea on steaming. Never thought of that.

[Mike from OK]

Always thought it ironic that an instrument with such a grisly purpose could be so beautiful.

Mike

[Nordnecker]

I think you are more likely to find what you need from a branch on a larger tree than a sapling with an unseen, oversized rootball. If you look at Tim's second picture, you can see the grain at the "ball" is a crotch, I think. I would think you'd want a branch about 3 to 4 inches around so you could get down to some heartwood instead of sapwood and bark.

[dogcatcher]

A daily trip to your city's recycling center might be a good spot to start.  Homeowners and landscapers haul brush, tree limbs, even logs to ours.  I know one woodturner that never buys wood, it all comes from the recycle center. 

[Top Jaw]

I have some curly maple, walnut, cherry, and ash halfstock blanks that are suitable and reasonable.  PM me if interested.

[Notchy Bob]

It is my understanding that these were typically made from a billet split or cut out from a large stump.  You'll note that a straight tree trunk typically tapers gently, getting increasingly larger toward the base.  Then, just above the ground, it flares out substantially.  I think the best gunstocks were also cut near the base of a tree, back in the day, so the curving grain would follow the wrist.  Anyway, that's where you cut or split out a billet to make a ball-head club.  That's what I remember seeing in Bernard Mason's Indian Crafts and Costumes, many years ago, and again in Woodcraft and Camping, by the same author.  This latter book may still be in print.  I have a copy of it beside me as I write, with three or four pages devoted to construction of an authentic ball-head club (pp.321-324 in the Dover Publications edition).

I suppose if you are making it just for display, the flow of the grain may not be of much consequence.  If you want to duplicate a real one, though, the grain should probably match the curve of the handle, and root burl wood in the ball should resist splitting.  This is exactly what you would get, making one out of a billet from a larger stump.

Good luck with your project.  You guys who posted pictures do good work.


Notchy Bob

[Lucky R A]

Fred Miller,  sells oodles of pre-carved war clubs of many different styles.  He is always at the CLA and the 18th Century Artisan show.  Phone 570-9221861