Post #492903 by Tamapoutini on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 12:17 PM

Love those long-weapons BK! I was talking to an accomplished Maori woodcarver a few months back and he told me that the most common wood used for such was/is native NZ manuka or kanuka (slight differences between the two): a very hard slow growing 'scrub' around these parts, grows quite tall and spindly and has a real springiness to the boughs (also good for staking climbing beans). The most interestng thing I learned was that to prep the wood it was often weighted down in a running stream for at least a year(!)to flush out resins which otherwise cause splitting when drying. I spoke to another guy who was fashioning a walking/talking (tokotoko) stick from the same, who claimed his timber had spent 5yrs underwater and a further 2yrs slowly drying - and I though patience was needed for stone grinding.. :)