CONTRIBUTORS - WOOD WORKS
Hitting a six with willow
With so much cricket being played lately, it seems fitting to
highlight willow wood for this month's article.
By Stephanie Dyer
W
58 JUNE / JULY 2018 //
illow is a hardwood that is provided by various
species of salix. It is also the timber used
worldwide for the manufacture of cricket bats.
As the striking equipment for most sports has been
replaced by synthetic materials, the traditional material
for cricket bats has been the same since the 18th
century. There was an attempt to try other materials,
though. In 1979 Australian cricketer Dennis Lillee briefly
used a ComBat aluminium metal bat in a match against
England. After complaints by the English team that it
was damaging the ball, which was later proved untrue,
and some discussion with the umpire Lillee was urged
by the Australian captain Greg Chappell to revert to a
wooden bat. Shortly afterwards the rules of cricket were
amended, stating that the blade of a bat must be
entirely made of wood.
The tree species that produces cricket bat willow
wood is Salix alba subspecies caerulea. This species
grows in England and trees intended for cricket bats are
felled when the stem diameter reaches 0.5m. The
company Bellingham and Smith, in Thornhill near Port
Elizabeth, manufactures cricket bats in South Africa
from imported cricket bat willow wood (also called
English willow).
The genus name, salix, is derived from two words, sal
and lis which means ‘near water’ the preferred habitat
of willow trees. The willow family, the salicaceae,
consists of two genera, salix (about 400 species) and
populus (about 25 to 35 species). The wood produced by
salix species can be mistaken for poplar (to which it is
closely related) as they are very similar in appearance
and properties. Poplar wood (produced by the genus
populus), will be discussed in next month’s Wood
Works article.
Willow species grow naturally in the northern
hemisphere and are commonly found in China, Europe,
the US and northern Asia. Apart from providing flexible
stems, known as osiers, for basket-making and being the
source of the cricket bats used in the great stadiums of
the world, the willow has been singled out as a major
player in the global energy crisis. Fast growing willow
hybrids are grown in short rotation by farmers in other
parts of the world for biomass production.
According to the national list of introduced trees,
nine willow species have been introduced into South
Africa. Of these, Salix babylonica (weeping willow), S.
caprea (goat willow) and S. matsudana (Peking willow)
are the most commonly found.
Quarter-sawn sample of weeping willow wood.
Willows were introduced mainly for windbreaks, the
reclamation of dongas and as ornamentals. Weeping willow
(S. babylonica), the most widely grown and naturalised
willow species in South Africa, is the focus of this article. This
is the same species that grows naturally in the public parks in
China, from Bejing to Shanghai, beside which millions do
their morning exercises. It is also the tree that appears on the
blue and white willow pattern crockery that we are all
familiar with.
Weeping willow is a medium sized, deciduous tree with a
spreading and weeping crown. The leaves are narrowly lance-
shaped, with pointed tips and toothed margins. The erect
green inflorescences, produced in spring, are 15 to 30mm
long and male and female flowers appear on separate trees.
Male willow trees are rarely seen in South Africa and
reproduction of the species is usually by cuttings or suckers.
The young, flexible stems are used in basket-making and the
bark is used for medicinal purposes (as is the case for most
willows). Leaves are eaten as fodder and the nectar produced
by the flowers is harvested by bees for honey.
Salix babylonica is also the only salix species of which the
wood has been tested in South Africa. The wood is light-
weight, with an average density of 510kg/m 3 for air-dried
wood. The colour of the heartwood is light pinkish to
brownish and the sapwood is white. The wood has a fine
texture and straight grain. The timber does not rank as very
important on the timber markets, but, based on its
properties, it is suitable for uses such as kitchen utensils,
brake blocks, matches, wood wool, pulpwood, agricultural
implements and poles.