I am extremely interested in pursuing this project, however my area of Alaska is extremely limited in wood choices. I have easy access to basic 4 woods, spruce, aspen, cotton wood and Birch. Of the choices I guess birch it is. I will probably limit myself to extremely short range and groups of winter Ptarmigan ( basicly well feathered small grouse). If I get it done I will let you know how it works.
Yes, do it, and use the birch! Paper birch has a published 12% moisture content specific gravity of 0.61, which is only slightly lighter than the ash (which is 0.67) I used to make the red stick in this series, it will work well and should easily make a 60-80 yard stick with the proper tuning and fluting shown in the last 2 vids. of the series! Just don't compare yourself to somebody using polycarbonate or heavier-than-water acacia to make 120yd sticks. But, real talk, would you actually try to hit a little bitty grouse at that range any how? Make your best stick for your best hunt, respect the lives of the animals sacrificed for your food, ask your permissions, give thanks, and give something back in the process. Best wishes, and let me know how it goes! PS--I did not mention it in the series, but I recall reading accounts (a long time ago) of Hudson Bay Company agents observing crooked sticks being thrown at long range into flocks of waterfowl--so there precedent for this technology in your forest type...somewhere...but nothing better than paper birch exists in the Taiga forest so it has to work. I did not mention it because I don't remember and can't re-find the source of that tidbit...but I wish I could. The historic info I have been able to collect is collated in the "Scholars Notebooks" series of resources on our patreon. Here is the wood database entry on paper birch: www.wood-database.com/paper-birch/
Well i learned alot from this. Thank you!!!
You are most welcome!
I am extremely interested in pursuing this project, however my area of Alaska is extremely limited in wood choices. I have easy access to basic 4 woods, spruce, aspen, cotton wood and Birch. Of the choices I guess birch it is. I will probably limit myself to extremely short range and groups of winter Ptarmigan ( basicly well feathered small grouse). If I get it done I will let you know how it works.
Yes, do it, and use the birch! Paper birch has a published 12% moisture content specific gravity of 0.61, which is only slightly lighter than the ash (which is 0.67) I used to make the red stick in this series, it will work well and should easily make a 60-80 yard stick with the proper tuning and fluting shown in the last 2 vids. of the series! Just don't compare yourself to somebody using polycarbonate or heavier-than-water acacia to make 120yd sticks. But, real talk, would you actually try to hit a little bitty grouse at that range any how? Make your best stick for your best hunt, respect the lives of the animals sacrificed for your food, ask your permissions, give thanks, and give something back in the process. Best wishes, and let me know how it goes!
PS--I did not mention it in the series, but I recall reading accounts (a long time ago) of Hudson Bay Company agents observing crooked sticks being thrown at long range into flocks of waterfowl--so there precedent for this technology in your forest type...somewhere...but nothing better than paper birch exists in the Taiga forest so it has to work. I did not mention it because I don't remember and can't re-find the source of that tidbit...but I wish I could. The historic info I have been able to collect is collated in the "Scholars Notebooks" series of resources on our patreon.
Here is the wood database entry on paper birch:
www.wood-database.com/paper-birch/