WOOD TYPES



Different trees are like personalities, they all have their unique qualities. I thought I would share some of them with you here, in the hopes of helping you decide which wood fits your needs best. But also, I love trees and I'm happy to introduce you to some of these lovely creatures that are apart of my craft and landscape. All of these trees are cut seasonally during trimming, and sometimes we get exotic cuts from rosemary, avocado, Persian lilac, and the like. The trees listed below give off the most sticks year round naturally, so we're more likely to have their sheddings around, but if you have a special request, just let me know.







OAK





Oak is well-known for its qualities of beauty and strength. It is a hard wood with a light to medium blonde color. The bark can have beautiful knots or speckled bark. It makes a superb backdrop for artful designs and also looks wonderful when you incorporate the beauty of the bark into the hook. Our Live Oak is about 160 years old with a trunk too big around to hug! (I tried.)



Australian Pine





Australian Pine wood is so exceptionally hard, strong, and heavy that it can bend saw blades and nails! The wood is light blonde unless water-cured, then turns a grey/brown color. It has interesting teardrop shaped knots even underneath the bark and the sticks are usually extremely straight. You can see the lines of the wood grain upon close inspection. I find the sticks to be very lightweight and extremely durable for yarn work.



PECAN





Our beautiful Pecan tree...-if only the squirrels would stop eating it's fruit! Pecan is a very dense and strong wood commonly used where strength or shock-resistance is important. The sticks it sheds vary in color. The older (larger) sticks are medium brown, with a reddish hue and the smaller sticks are paler and more yellow. The bark can yield very interesting colors and textures both raw and sealed.



CAMPHOR





Camphor is probably best known for it's use in cooking and medicine. It smells lovely, similar to a Eucalyptus tree.The young branches have a very smooth dark brown bark that I find perfect for crocheting just as they are, but the smooth bark can be removed to reveal a lighter colored moderately dense wood. The color is anywhere from light blonde to medium pink. (Fun fact: raw Camphor is anti-bacterial and is said to keep silver from tarnishing.)



Maple





Maple is a hard wood known for it's strong, close-grained, and typically uniform texture. The color has quite a range from blond to pink all the way to a much darker brown even black tone. It has excellent resistance to abrasion, indentation, and shock. (Fun fact: bowling alley floors are normally made with Maple!)



AZALEA





Technically this is a seasonal wood since the Azalea gets a trim once a year, but I couldn't leave her useful beauty out of this because when she gets trimmed, boy she blooms and I love keeping her beauty alive in the form of hooks! Azalea is a softer wood, so it dents easily unless varnished. The wood has a pink hue to it with medium brown bark. (And yes, that is a chicken under her bountiful branches.)