Creating Basket Strips
Black ash is unique among all trees in North America in that it does not have fibers connecting the growth rings to each other. This has a wonderful implication for basket makers. Temperate trees form annual growth rings of two types of wood. Spring wood is rapidly laid down early in the growing season and is weak. Summer wood is laid down slowly in the summer and fall, and is much darker and tougher. By literally pounding on the wood with a mallet, the spring wood is crushed, allowing the summer wood to be peeled off in long strips. The absence of the connecting fibers is what allows the summer wood strips to separate. It is these long strips that are trimmed and cleaned and then used in basket weaving.
Read more about this topic: Fraxinus Nigra
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