A couple of my coworkers were talking about some people they know and were referring to them as "wood hoarders". I asked what that was, and they said it was someone that collects and stores pieces of wood compulsively. One guy laughed, looked straight at me and said "You know...like you do!" So I have been officially labelled a wood hoarder by my coworkers.
My reasoning for gathering bow wood is simple...I hate to see a potentially useful piece of wood go to waste! The guy calling me a wood hoarder had cleared several acres of timber on the family farm, and I got permission to go get anything I wanted. I got some nice pieces of hackberry, walnut, hedge, and oak. Problem is that my drying racks have been full for over a year now, and I doubt I will ever use all the wood that I have, but I still have this little "tik" in my brain that makes me pick up anything that I think would be useful for bows, arrows, atlatls, darts...get the picture? I drove past a farm last weekend and seen where the new owners have pushed over several acres of hedge. I am trying to find out who owns it to see if I can get in there before they burn it all. I have no idea where I would put the staves that I would get, but I must try to save them. And yesterday while working, I found a grove of straight grained hawthorn trees, many of which will be removed when we start our new project. The first thought in my brain is "I do not have any hawthorn. Must cut some." After looking up hawthorn bows in the bow section last night, I found out that it is a beautiful wood that makes good bows. I see cutting hawthorn in my future...
I know we refer to bowmaking as an "addiction", so I was just wondering if there are any other "wood hoarders" out there or is it just me?
Neal
