Coppicing - A Bit Of Variety

Another week, another interesting job!
My brother booked me in a few weeks ago to give him a hand for 4 days coppicing along a stream for the same farmer who we did the coppicing for last year. The wood in the area has been untouched for some time and all the Hazel and alder are overstood and need coppicing back, as well as a few ash and birch.
My job mainly involves driving the tractor, operating the winch, hooking and unhooking the wood. This is as well as dragging brash - although my brothers log pick made moving timber easier (a lot less bending down). The weather today hasn't made moving stuff any easier (I think water proof trousers are something you should buy and never have to use!) and it looks worse for tomorrow.
Pretty psychical work but its good to have a change. As well as this it gives me a greater understanding (and without wanting to sound like an arse - respect) for the material I work with everyday of my life.
Mind you, when I normally work with timber I don't normally end up getting this dirty!

Worcestershire Woodin'

After our tree felling course I wanted to learn a little more about coppicing and the history of it. I was recommended to read Worcestershire Woodin' - Hazel woods in a nutshell, the recommendation was biased though as it was from the author!

The book isn't a how-to but more a way things were told by someone who had coppicing in their blood, seven generations had worked and coppiced the same woodlands and Geoff Osborne was to be the last. The book is transcripts of conversations with Mr Osborne about what his family used to do. Talking to Ron and Richard, (the two that put the book together) Mr Osborne had long ago decided that coppicing was a dieing trade and when they asked him questions he said "why do you want to know this? Nobody wants it anymore. It's not needed is it?". They thought it was and managed to record and write these peals of wisdom before they were lost forever.

The book isn't a long read (about an hour), but it's really interesting and has many nuggets of information about coppicing and the way the countryside was in the past. It's told mainly through colourful characters and stories; illustrated with hundreds of photos. This book will sit nicely on my shelf along with my other woodland and woodworking books, a worthwhile read.

Chainsaw Milling

This is a continuation from the last post.

The second day of the course was chainsaw milling, as my brother has just brought a chainsaw mill we were keen to learn a few tips.

It stated off fine, a short talk on fuel mixes and chains then fixing the guide frame and cutting the top piece like butter. Sliding it off revealed beautiful grain under it, I love that we're the first people to see the tree like that.

One thing we did learn was not to clamp the frame of the mill to near to the end of the bar on the chainsaw as this is what the instructor did and ceased up the chain, preventing us from milling anymore. It didn't matter though as we'd seen what we wanted to see and we even got to take some oak home in the process. My little van was unimpressed with the weight of three slabs of green oak on the way home though!

In all it was a lovely weekend where we learned loads and found muscles we didn't even know we had. I always think a much better way to learn about history is to go and do it. I think now though I want to learn more about coppicing and how to use the wood you gain from it, I've already got some more courses in mind!

I had to put this last picture in as it's like a painting of the past. I think its great that people are still practicing these crafts and for me this picture sums up the beauty of a coppiced woodland.