EWB Imperial College students visiting the woods

It's become traditional for a group of students from Imperial College involved with the charity Engineers Without Borders to come for a camping trip in the woods each year, but this time they couldn't come in March so it ended up happening in June instead - which was probably a good thing, as it was snowing in March!

I didn't have any major building projects for them to get involved with this year, but that left time for various other activities, such as making wooden mallets and learning to use a chainsaw for logging - under careful supervision! They did give me a hand moving some logs though, which was a huge help!

There was of course plenty of time for camp fires and cooking...

Hope to see some of them again next year!

Mike

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EWB Imperial - building a log bridge in the woods

Last weekend members of EWB UK from Imperial College London came down for what's become an annual camping trip to our woodland. As always, there was a project to get involved with - this time building a bridge over a stream that can support a vehicle! During previous visits they built a firewood shelter and a foot bridge, so this year was a step up in scale.

I made a timelapse video of most of the bridge building, it's about 7 mins long (it's in 1080p HD, so put it full-screen). Take a look, and then read the rest of the post to see the pictures and description.

Here's the full team that came down this year:

The bridge is needed to allow access to a new ride that I cut last winter. I saved some of the stems I'd cut to make parts of the bridge, and we felled a few others as required to complete it. The first steps were digging some foundations, which took quite a while:

and peeling the long logs that were going to be used as the main supports:

We put some chunky logs into ditches that had been dug on each side of the stream:

and then got the main supports in place, bolting them down later on:

In the centre of the stream we also drove in some stakes (see the timelapse video above), and I used the chainsaw to cut a notch in the top of them for the main supports to rest in:

On top of the main supports went some crossbeams (all of this was Sweet Chestnut, by the way), and again I cut some notches for them to sit in:

Then there was a lot of drilling and nailing...

Some of it by hand:

though we did have a solar panel and inverter on hand to recharge the electric drill:

Once that was finished, it was time to start making the ramps to lead on and off the bridge and also lay down some planks (the only bit of wood that was bought in for this):

The planks were also nailed down, and it was starting to look like it might be OK to drive on...

Of course, there's a signature on the side of the bridge:

We posed for a photo or two:

and then it was time to put it to the test...

There were some creaking noises, but it was rock solid!

A job well done - thanks to everyone who came from EWB Imperial to help with this!

Mike

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Woodpeckers, Spring and Bridges

The woodland is looking amazing at the moment. The ground is green,

The buds are budding (including our fruit trees)

Flowers are ... flowering!

and the woodpecker is lovely. I spend ages watching this little fellow. Not easy to get decent photos because of all the twigs.

There are loads of pheasants around

and lots of butterflies.

Anyone know what this is?

While I was being quiet watching birds, Mike and some engineering students were being noisy, building a bridge in another part of the wood. More to come on this topic from Mike!

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EWB students build us a firewood shelter

Last weekend we had a group of students from Engineers Without Borders UK (Imperial College branch) come to camp in the wood and also build us an additional firewood drying shelter.

We started off with a walk round the wood to admire the Wood Anemones:

and also the bridge that EWB built last year in Sweep Wood:

Then the first part of the shelter building started - carrying back some of the Sweet Chestnut stakes we'd made during this winter's coppicing:

Before starting on the new shelter, we all had a good look at the old one, to see how it could be improved:

Then an area was measured out so that the tarps we have would cover the roof:

and work started on peeling the stakes, so they'll last longer in the ground:

The stakes were put in with the post driver:

and then the rest of their length was peeled - this was easier to do once they were in the ground, which is why we'd only done the first bit earlier:

While all this was going on, some of the group was off felling small trees to use for stakes in the walls and also for roof slats:

Before long the outline of the shelter was taking shape:

Because the ground was slightly sloped, but we wanted the roof to be level, we used an old plastic pipe with water in it to check the relative height of thet corner stakes:

After all that work it was time for a break, and the rope swing was put into use...

The trees that had been felled earlier were cut to length and sharpened with a side axe:

then these were used to create posts that Hazel rods could be woven in between to form the walls:

The longer poles to form the ridge and edges of the roof were flattened using a draw knife until they sat neatly on the posts, then they were bolted down:

By the end of Saturday the shelter was really taking shape:

Sunday saw work start on using a froe to cleave the freshly felled chestnut poles to make slats for the roof:

Each of these then had to be smoothed with a draw knife or billhook to make sure it wouldn't tear the tarp later on:

The slats were then put on the roof:

with each being nailed in at the top to secure it:

near the end the drill battery ran out, but fortunately I'd come prepared!

And finally, on went the tarps, fixed down with zip ties and paracord, just in time for a team photo before it was time to pack up camp:

In case you were wondering, there was also some time for food, camp fires and beer!

Tracy and I are very grateful for all the help we received over the weekend - it would have taken us at least a week to get it done ourselves! Looking forward to another visit next year...

Mike

p.s. there are more photos than the ones in this blog, visit the set on my Flickr page to see the rest.

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