Debarking your Small Diameter Poles

Bugs of all kinds will seek shelter, hiding just under the bark, and munch down on the wood, leaving the wood to rot. Therefore, if you want your project to last, it is highly recommended to debark the poles. 3 to 9 days after the New or Full Moon is optimal.

1) you have the outer bark, the hard crusty protective layer;

(2) the cambium, which is only one or a few cells thick and despite its thinness, is where growth occurs in a tree. When the springtime hormonal signal hits, the cells in the cambium layer begin dividing rapidly every week or so. When a cambial cell divides, one of the new cells becomes inner bark or phloem, and the other becomes;

(3) sapwood or xylem. While that rapid dividing occurs in the cambium, the bark is "loose"; the new cells are thin-walled, shorter, and weaker. Next is the sapwood, xylem, the upward transport of moisture and growth signaling chemicals, then the

(4) the inner bark (the phloem), the downward sugar transport lane from leaves to roots and energy or storage, is around 1/16"-1/8" thick, sticky/slippery, and full of sweet bug food and is the layer that will give you trouble draw-knifing /debarking as your logs dry;

(5) heartwood.

When there is growth in “Springtime,” the transport system/sap begins to flow. This sappy flow will facilitate the debarking immensely, and de-barking during this time might get the whole pole peeled in one piece. However, as the growth cycle season goes on, the bark will begin to dry out, and peeling will become exponentially more difficult. With that said, an Indigenous friend recommends following the Lunar Cycles. And just like the Tides, the best time to debark your timber logs is around the New Moon and Full Moon; he says 3 to 9 days after the New or Full Moon is optimal. Another point is to get a close cut on the limbs because the shoulder around the stubs will be the most challenging peel… Old Ways Into a New World.