Along with ash and chestnut, hazel is one of the most widely used materials for making stick shanks. Here in Britain it grows in hedgerows, woods and forests, parks, waste ground, railway embankments, beside canals and rivers, and just about anywhere else you can think of. It will grow in almost any sort of soil - alkaline, moderately acid, dry, damp, wet, chalky, loamy, sandy, stony or humus. Hazel naturally sends up many shoots from the base, growing into multiple stems which compete with each other and neighbouring trees to reach the light. This produces long, straight stems, often with very few side branches - just what we need for stickmaking. The resulting clump of stems is known as a "stool". In his Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe, describing some 800 species of tree, Alan Mitchell admits hazel only grudgingly, claiming it is a shrub rather than a tree. However, some imported hazel species do form undisputed trees of considerable size. I know of some impressive specimens growing here in Bedfordshire that I took for lime (linden) when I first came across them, they were so big.

A hazel shank combines adequate strength with light weight. The bark can be very variable in colour, ranging from dark reddish brown to light grey. The outermost layer of bark is sometimes a thin film of silver or gold with a metallic sheen to it. Mottled forms, combining a range of different colours, can look particularly attractive. As the stem matures into a thick branch, the bark usually changes to a dull grey colour. I have heard it said that the best mottled colours are found in hazel that's growing slowly in stony soil near water.

Without its bark, a hazel shank is a uniform pale colour, but an interesting effect can be obtained by sanding the shank down to reveal patches of pale wood contrasting with the richer colours of the remaining bark.