grace
Helen elvin, having a great time.
louis, tony and dave.
tony morgan just after drinking facist tea. (andy at the work day mentioned that earl grey himself was apparently a facist, which is why andy wont drink it- that and the fact he thinks it has a rubbish taste.
heath and safety officer ian taylor.
everyone who came to the work day having a brew.
Another one hung up, just moved it back with a stick (eventually!).
New axe, re handled and ground. It was really good to use looking forward to using it more. its a four pound ellwell so its got more umph than my other 3 pounder but isnt too wieghty like my 5 and half pound gilpin (also re ground and nice to use now- same shaft it came with which is bit too long but gives me a good big swing on it but still a bit heavy for a full day).
Snedding.
this tree went a bit badly, because the lay of the tree was subtley the opposite way to which the main trunk leant, it fell back onto the back cut (rather than gob). The gob was as big as usual (just over half) but obviously not big enough! this is me looking a bit bemused, about to jump into the safe area to my left!
I took another series of felling/ dressing out pictures which will be on my website soon.
felling birch at Moss and Hieghts work day. the weather was beautifull and there was alot of progress made both in my section (cheers dave noblet for axing with me and grace holland for dressing out on my stuff).
Ive been taking photos for my website – traditionalwoodlandworker.wordpress.com. The photos are taken in Cat Cragg woods, it is my first section of coppice to tackle alone, it is mostly hazel coppice (with small bits of ash and sycamore) with ash, yak and yew standards. Im felling the coupe all by axe (and other hand tools), working on my bill hooking, axing and dressing out technique and experimenting with ways to make my working more efficient. It is alot of fun most of the time although it sometimes feels as though im stepping blindly into a grike, not sure if my stride is large enough or if im just kidding myself and am bound to plumet into a gurt big hole- so when things are going badly its mentally tough to keep cracking on. These effects on my state of mind do also seem to influence my working, potenially making a bit of a viscious circle for me to ride around! The image of me running from camera (set on self timer) to stool and then trying to swing the axe exactly ten seonds after i pressed the shutter must’ve looked hilarious to anyone lucky enough to witness it!
Below are two of the pictures, check the website for the others (… i know its a bit rubbish of me to do that if you are genuinly interested and so I highly reccomend telling me to bugger off and never visiting the website if that is the case, however if you are genuinely interested… please visit my website).
cleaving in stoney hazel
driving the causeway, after a very sketchy start we made a few alteraions and the causeway began to work really well, all the firewood extracted from beyond the mire!
a very cold day at Danny Frosts timber yard doing a sawmilling demo for a cumbria woodlands ‘adding value’ demo day.
cleaving ash from a dry ash log- for my axe handles, took a hammering to welly in the first wedges but cleft straight and looks like good stuff.
aswell as my deepening obsession with axe felling-
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- we have built a causeway track out of a layer of brash and oak off cuts to help us dri e the tractor across the extremely boggy bit in stoney hazel. the weather’s been beautifull and shite periodicly.
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- we visited the Rusland Valley tannery (now closed) this is me with the original stone they used for working the hides.
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- Moving wood.
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- oak benches of Ians. We put them in up at Holehird Gardens by their tarn. the simple design and the bonny bits of oak look great. (plus the ground was sympatheticly soft enough but not too soft!- with the good weather it made for a loely day.)
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- using the chain saw to rip posts for a fences/gates etc. in stoney hazel.
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- ive finally got round to glueing two banjo hoops I steam bent ages ago. (seems to have worked well.)
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- weve also done a course in ‘forestry machinery’ arranged by Ian via Cumbria Woodlands. The actual information on the vehicle(ians small garden John Deere) was mainly just the formalitys- on off switch, how to fill up the tank etc. but the information and trial runs at winching were very helpfull, aiding us to diversify and be more efficient with regards to moving wood out. still like horses more though!
Ive been felling alot of birch in Moss and Heights Spring. Ive been felling and dressing out with axe. Exploring how to grind and sharpen, swing and cut the axe to make felling as efficient as possible. I feel like progress is being made, I have two felling axes- a Kent pattern 5lb Brades and a 4.5lb (not sure of the pattern- sort of an english I think but dont quote me!) Ellwell. The Ellwell, being a shorter head feels as though it has slightly more control upon contact with the tree (as in it doesnt pivot or twist because the point of contact is nearer to the full momentum of the swing). Both are good and sharp and do the the job well, maybe more off the shoulders of the bevel on each would provide a slightly deeper slice and still extract the wood chips from the cut and shorter shafts that fit my height slightly better…. but thats my thinking so far and I am in the process of improving all the intricate details I read about and find through working. Ive been reading the book ‘The Ax Book – The Lore and Science of the Woodcutter.” by D. Cook. which covers all questions I had and more with great depth, both philosophically and scienctificaly- this bloke knows his stuff! Ive also been hugely inspired by my recent discovery of an intruiging photograph of a ‘Lumberjill’ (link below)- the women that worked the woods when the men went to war in WW2. They worked, as the men did, in the woods felling and processing all timber by hand and kept it all going, highly skilled inspiring people.
http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/Lumberjills
I spent a whole day inside on a laptop finding my way around Photoshop, came up with with this as my business card. Website with a similar style/theme is in progress and ill post a link when its up and running. (exciting…)
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- Taking inspiration from Sam Ansells’ wood moustaches, the arborio surealists at lakeland coppice products came up with their reactionary creation.
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- Sizergh Greenwood Fair. Hewing a beam in the beautifull early Autumn sunshine, these are my favorite types of demonstration to do- at shows like this the people are genuine and interested/interesting and the mood is progressive and relaxed, had a great day.
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- APF- (association of proffesional foresters) the show which runs every two years is mostly an enourmous display of tree and fossil fuel munching macho machines that can turn a woodland into a pile of shavings in the exact same amount time it takes the operators to put on their ear defenders, helmets and obscure the whole range of senses that bless everyone elses time. HOWEVER- the British Horse Logging championships was there and i was captivated for a few hours watching some of the most skilled forester workers there are, manouver timber in the peace and quiet at the very top of the show. Inspiring and fun. I also bought an axe and some timber tongs from one of the bargain stalls.
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- Hewing a beam at the Westmorland County show. Its quite an effective demonstration, dramatic and interesting enough to draw a little crowd. It inspired a few good questions and besides all that; hewing is fun.
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- cleaving yak for a cleft oak fence.
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- Lakeland Coppice Products new range of cleft oak glasses.
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- At woodland pioneers, I did my first day of teaching people how to do rustic stools, it went well- everyone got done in time and was happy with their stools. I enjoyed teaching and put some thought into the processes and found it reasonably easy- the whole week was very enjoyable (except fridays hang-over) a great bunch of people and lovely weather.
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- Andy (a fella on woodland pioneers course) had broken his glasses and I used a knotty piece of oak with the right sort of curve in to cleave out a new ear piece bit for him. it seemed to work well and lasted the rest of the week easy!
