Taking the pith

The other evening I was discussing with Torjus methods of removing the pith from species such as Elder. I have been experimenting with making a threaded piece of wood to use to drill out the pith.

First I removed the bark from a piece of wood, then I scored a spiral around it and cut either side of the score mark to form the thread.

I pushed the point of the thread into the pith of a piece of Elder and started to turn it and the pith started to come out.

I only had Hazel available to make the thread and broke two of them just boring about 15cm, but using something like a piece of Oak might be more affective.