I started on this year's coppicing work last week, with the help of my Dad. We were working in the area where several trees blew down last Christmas - my plan is to finish clearing up the windblow and then coppice around the naturally created clearing up to the borders with a ride and wayleave. Here's what we were dealing with:
It was looking better already after several hours' work:
There's a few chunky logs in there, like this one:
I decided to see if it would split straight, so that I could make it into two benches later on... If you're wondering why I'm wearing my helmet in this photo, it's for eye protection, in case the steel wedge splinters, and also for ear protection as it's pretty loud!
The wedges didn't quite reach through the log, so I had to do a bit of work on the other side with an axe to finish it off:
And here it is - a nice, straight split! Looking forward to making benches some time in the next few months...
We got some other useful produce out of the work as well, such as these sweet chestnut poles, which a friend of mine may take for fencing work.
And of course a growing pile of firewood, seasoning for the 2016/17 winter...
I've got some awkward stuff to deal with next, I may well use the tirfor winch to pull some of these trees out of the pile to make them easier to get at...
Finally, Tracy picked an apple from one of our fruit trees, and it actually tasted very good!
Mike
2 comments:
Have you ever considered milling any of your bigger trunks?
Hi Giles. I have, but milling is quite a lot of work, and I don't have all the equipment necessary for it.
However, a friend of mine has ordered a mobile mill recently, so I may get to do some soon...
At present the larger chestnut stems are converted into stools or benches if they're straight enough.
Cheers, Mike
Post a Comment