Making switches and birches

Posted by Tanos on Wed 23 Jun 10, 7:43 PM

Tags: bridgewood, gear

Last week there was a thread about birches on IC so while I was at Bridgewood this weekend, I decided to take some pictures of cutting switches and making a birch from the hazel which is abundant in the wood. Birch itself and willow are also good woods for this, but I naturally concentrate on hazel.

The first step is to identify a likely tree: this picture shows a "hazel stool" with a wide base at soil level, from which come lots of stems and small trunks. This one had signs of being cut in the past and this causes the tree to sprout even more vigorously. Some of the hazels I've cut in good sunlight have grown back 2m in a single season! Hazels also put up "suckers" from shallow roots a foot or more away from the central stool and these can be particularly straight: you can see one on the righthand edge of the picture. Whichever stem you choose, make sure it has leaves on, as hazel trees allow some shaded stems to die, and these are brittle and not suitable.

The next picture shows a variety of stems cut and laid out with the leaves still on. I'm going to use them to make two switches (rather like canes) and a short birch with a spray of thinner stems. Some people leave the leaves on when making a birch, but I cut them, the side branches and any snags off completely on both birches and switches. Professional woodsmen make different products from the various thicknesses of the same stem or branch, and we can do something similar by using the thicker parts for switches and the thin ends in a birch.

The only tool I use are the anvil secateurs shown in the next picture. It's the easiest way to get a clean, square cut even across stems as thick as your thumb as the blade comes down onto a flat plastic block or "anvil", rather than trying to use a sharp knife and maybe end up hacking at it. Once I've cut the stem off the tree, then cut off the side branches and leaves, I use the secateurs' blade like a paring knife or penknife to shave off the snags to make the stem smooth. If you want to cut people, you might want to leave them on

Once this is done the switches are finished, but the birch still needs its stems cutting to the same length and then tying together with some twine. The birch shown is rather short at about 18 inches, but still very effective. If you're making your own, then lengths of several feet, different woods and ones with leaves are worth trying. The picture also includes some hazel leaves with their distinctive long point which is the easiest way to identify the trees in summer. The switches are on the heavier end too and more thuddy, and lighter whippier versions are more usual.

If you want to keep a birch or switch going, it's traditional to soak it in water as you would with a vase of flowers. Place the thicker, bottom end in the water so the plant's sap-rising mechanism draws the water up. However, I've done some comparisons and never seen water making a huge difference, but then I've not tried to keep one going for more than a week.

Traditionally, birches (along with whips for flogging) were soaked or washed in salt water as an antiseptic, and they were one of the staples of 19th century flagellation houses, such as Theresa Berkeley's as described by William Dugdale in his preface to "Venus Schoolmistress; or, Birchen Sports":

"Her supply of birch was extensive, and kept in water, so that it was always green and pliant ... Holly brushes, furze brushes; a prickly evergreen, called butchers bush; and during the summer, glass and China vases, filled with a constant supply of green nettles, with which she often restored the dead to life. Thus, at her shop, whoever went with plenty of money, could be birched, whipped, fustigated, scourged, needle-pricked, half-hung, holly-brushed, furse-brushed, butcher-brushed, stinging-nettled, curry-combed, phlebotomized, and tortured till he had a belly full."

Edited Fri 25 Jun 10, 8:48 AM by Tanos