Hello Len,
        I just come back out of the woods and need some extra cash so's I
can buy salt and kerosene before I heads on back. Ain't got no white oak
on me just now but you might find some if you call Roy Black at
Williamsburg, 757 229 1000.

        Now if its hickory you're wantin'. Well them ain't splits now.
Them hickory strips is bark - and now is a good time to makin' em. You can
do these yerself real good. Cut yerself a hickory tree, bout six to eight
inches round and bout as long as you got a straight section, bout eight ot
ten feet or so. Lay it down an drawknife off the rough outer bark but
leavin the inner layer of bark just under the rough stuff. When you got a
long section clear of the rough outer bark, take yer knife and cut long
cuts thru the inner bark into the tree spaced as wide as ya need yer
strips ta bee. Grab holt of one end of the strip and peel it right off
the tree. This works good this time o year cause the tree is growin fast
and the bark comes off like shoes off a Dutch girl, lord she was a pretty
thin..... oops, irrelevancy alarm went off. Anyway, take yer strip now
and split one end with yer knife and peel the bark strip into two pieces.
The inner layer is the one ya wants and ya can put as many as ya want
aside to dry, just wet em down sos ya kin werk em when ya gets ta weavin
and you'll heve the nicest sittin seat ya ever kud want.
        Now you can do this yerself. I know you can cause yer a
museum-ler, and my daddy usta tell me that a museum-ler kin make anythin
they need with a rock and a piece of string. But if you want a
fancy-pants anthropologicalizerated reading book on this here bark
seatin, try "Craftsman of the Cumberland" by Michael Owen Jones. Its a
good readin book with pictures and a real good ISBN (I Sleep at Barnes &
Noble) number 0-8131-0183-2.
        Well now my mule is call and I gots to head back up in them hills
now so good luck to ya!

Roy Underhill

Whoh mule, I don't think this extension cord is long eno