Time to skin a tree

The sap is rising and the trees are coming into leaf. So if you have a tree or stick in the woods that the bark needs to come off it is time to begin thinking about it. The texture and shapes of skinned wood is wonderful and I often make shrink pots at this time of year so that I can, just, slip the bark off.

I have been told stories of bark peelers skinning big oak trees, climbing right up into the crown. The tree would be left standing until the winter months to be felled for timber. What a sight that must have been.

You can also ring cut a willow stick and pull the bark off as a tube to make whistles.

Go on, bring your inner wood butcher out, and skin a tree.