Skinning trees

Just back from demonstrating at the Stafford show with Gudrun, Owen, Jeremy, Sherwood and others. I demonstrated fan birds as well as a few other greenwood crafts. Pete felled a few oaks and I thought I would choose a few tripods and forks to skin, and use for future projects. I got children involved in the debarking using simple wooden spuds. Children loved it and I would recommend it as an activity for children of all ages. It is satisfying and safe, no sharp tools are used, just wooden spuds that need to be sharpened every now and then. The oak was a bit sticky, but came off reasonable well.

I am running a shrink pot course at the Husbandry School this Sunday and need to cut some wood. I have access to a few sycamore trees, (old hedge) and I always save the tops for coat hooks. The bark of the sycamore almost falls off. I use just my fingers to part it from the wood. I love the look of naked sycamore, the textures and the rings around the base of the branches.