harvesting seat materials
Each year I harvest the natural seat materials I use on my chairs. Hickory bark is best harvested in late spring/early summer when the trees’ sap is readily flowing. This is important because it is considerably easier to peel the inner bark from the log this time of year.
Hickory ‘bark’ seats are actually woven with the inner bark of the tree, also known as the bast. To harvest and process this durable material, it is necessary to work a fresh log early in the growing season. Any type of hickory will do. In these photos I am working with a Shagbark Hickory grown in Vermont’s Champlain Valley.
Hickory ‘bark’ seats are actually woven with the inner bark of the tree, also known as the bast. To harvest and process this durable material, it is necessary to work a fresh log early in the growing season. Any type of hickory will do. In these photos I am working with a Shagbark Hickory grown in Vermont’s Champlain Valley.
The process begins by shaving off the rough outer bark. This is the layer of bark that we are all accustomed to seeing on the tree. After shaving down beneath this tough, brittle material, the inner bark or bast remains. This is the living portion of the bark and is typically about 1/4” thick. After scoring longitudinally along the log with a knife, the leathery bast can be peeled clean away from the wood and coiled up for transport. If one were to try this in the fall or winter months, they would find it to be a wholly different task, virtually impossible. For this reason, it is of great importance to work during the appropriate season.
The bast is then dried and stored. When ready to weave a seat, it is simply soaked in hot water for half an hour or so, making it pliable enough to weave with. Once dry, it is a beautiful, durable seat that reportedly regularly lasts 50 to 60 years.
The bast is then dried and stored. When ready to weave a seat, it is simply soaked in hot water for half an hour or so, making it pliable enough to weave with. Once dry, it is a beautiful, durable seat that reportedly regularly lasts 50 to 60 years.