Sunday 13 April 2014

Getting started on next winter's firewood and clearing windblow

With the spell of good weather we're having at the moment, I took the opportunity to get into the woods and start preparing logs for next winter, and clear up some more windblown trees. For the first time I took the logs home in 2m lengths, as we now have the Truncator to cut them up at home:

DSC_8269 Trailer of logs

Back in the area I coppiced last autumn, the birch I'd left to grow bigger didn't really work out due to the storms...
DSC_8270 Windblown tree

There was also a sweet chestnut stool knocked over there too:
DSC_8273 windblown coppice stool

They were dealt with pretty quickly, I decided to pollard the birch a few feet up, and coppice the sweet chestnut in the hope it will recover in some form:
DSC_8275 pollarded tree

DSC_8278 Sweet Chestnut coppice stool

There was still some space in one of the racks for the logs produced from the work:
DSC_8276 logs

The stools I coppiced back in the autumn are showing some new growth now:
DSC_8286 Sweet Chestnut coppice regrowth

The blubells are picking up too, as the wood anemone start to fade...
DSC_8289 bluebells

... much to the delight of the bees of course!
DSC_8287 bluebells and a bee

Once I got back home, we got the Truncator out and Tracy helped me process the logs - I chainsawed the logs in the Truncator, then Tracy took them for stacking while I loaded the next lot from the trailer to the Truncator.
DSC_8302 truncator logging

DSC_8303 truncator logging

We reckon for the volume of logs produced, it had saved about 60-90 minutes compared to our old method of processing and transporting logs, and was much easier on our backs, as there was not much need to pick stuff up form the floor and all the logs ended up in a wheelbarrow.

So we're now started on the road to next winter's firewood...
DSC_8307 logs

Of course, the side effect of using the Truncator at home is that the saw chips are all over the drive... Next time I'm going to try putting a tarp down to collect it, and see if anyone wants it for animal bedding.
DSC_8308

Oh, and if you missed it, I also uploaded a video of how to make a simple log bench in five minutes!

Mike

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