09-20-2012, 01:56 AM
Quote:For what are you thinking of using the ash??
A Hardwarestore might help, most farmequipment like spades and shovels use ash. So the hardware or agricultural stores most have spare parts to.
Good hunting
It was my understanding that the most common (and more importantly, historically accurate) wood for use in pilum shafts, along with handles for such items as the furca, ax and dolabra - is ash. Due to the tight trade restrictions as a result of the emerald ash borer (an invasive asian beetle larvae), all of the implements in hardware stores are made of either maple or hickory. Restrictions have loosened up a little in the last year whereby you can now import it, but the cost of the necessary paperwork for anything other than a large shipment is prohibitive. There is also legislation in place to prevent transporting ash out of areas of known infestation without some official documentation (more cost). I have found a supplier of blanks for making ash baseball bats in the United States, but he is unwilling to export due to the burden of the required paperwork.
The area that I live in has not yet been declared as infested. My hopes are to find a Canadian distributor that is either local or in a similarly uninfested area so that I may order a sufficient amount of material for all my future reconstruction projects. Hopefully before my area is declared infested and it becomes almost impossible.
If anyone can provide information regarding alternative species of wood that are entirely acceptable as authentic, it would be greatly appreciated.
