here we go ... again
hi Bootthrower
its awesome to build your own shafts, the sense of accomplishment is awesome.
as said above building from shoots is a neat way, very effective and well proven through the mists of time.
however primitive man did make split shafts as well. i have seen some pics of some old artifacts in this regard.
the great thing about making your own split shafts, is that you can take a wee bit off, spine them, take a bit more off etc etc. ensuring you get a perfectly spined shaft, you can taper them too if thats what you want.
now for splitting, and this is from experience, DO NOT take a chunk of wood and try and split off a flitch- no matter the wood the spit will run out towards the weaker side- ie: the side that is narrower- never landing up with a parallel board/flitch.
think about how shakes are split- they are always tapered- that is kinda planned, by splitting a thin shake( flitch) off of a big block- the flitch is weaker and will flex when the block is not flexing- and the split will run out towards the flexible piece.
so the key is... always split in halves- so that each piece either side of the splitting tool , flexes the same.
so split the big block in half, then each piece into half again, and half again and again etc etc
until you get right down to your final splits.
you can draw a pencil line down your final pieces- that will follow the grain perfectly- this is easy, as there will be undulations in the wood following the grain, and then you can split along this line.
now at this point you can do one of two things, and both will work.
1. you can drive in some mini wedges at different points down the line( stolen steak knives will work quite well- let us know how that works out fer ya
), and then starting the split from one end, the wedges along the way will help keep it in line- if you see it starting to deviate from the line- you can drive a wedge in at that point, and redirect the split.
or 2. start your split in the middle of your stave, on this pencil line. That just halves your distance where something can go wrong.
if there is equal material either side of the split, you will have a lot greater success with splitting.
either way, you are going to have to make slightly oversize pieces, and shape them down- but it will work very well!!
once again- sincere apologies for the half message, was not intentional!!
good luck, and keep us posted!!
