Stacking Logs on Boxing Day

On Boxing Day, James, Tom and I went down to the woods to stack some of the logs that I'd cut down a couple of weeks ago.  For the last stack we set up the camera on time-lapse - we don't normally work this fast!

A Day in the Woods Felling the Coppice

I spent the day in the woods today felling the 30 year old Sweet Chestnut.

Coppicing - The Tools

The last few weeks I have been getting started on coppicing the Sweet Chestnut.

I say "coppicing" but as the majority of the trees are around 34 years old, its actually a case of "felling"!

The woodland hasn't been managed for many years so we are progressively felling the large stools of chestnut so that they can return to a correct coppicing cycle.  The first area was cut five years ago and is now growing well.  Two and three years ago we did some more but last year we were fully occupied in thinning the larch plantation.

I'll post some pictures of the work in the near future but in the meantime here are some details of the chainsaws that I use.  In another post, I will describe the hand tools that I use.

The Finished Larch Retaining Wall

At last its done but the ground was pretty wet. 

We felt like we were working in a quagmire!

Milling Larch for Garden Retaining Wall

My brother, Jim, wanted to replace a collapsed retaining wall along one of his garden flower beds.  It needs to be 32' long and about 1' high (that 10 metres x 25cm for modern people!).  He thought of buying old railway sleepers, but @ around £20 plus delivery each that was going to cost almost £200.

So, I offered to make some up from larch, cheaper and more attractive.

Wood Gasification

This has to be the way to go!

Charcoal Update

Just a note to say that the last time I did a burn, the results were:

 100% charcoal, 

0% unburnt wood!

It takes around 3 hours in the drum and 2 1/2 hours in the retort.

The Charcoal Retort

Here's the story of how I made this charcoal retort and the results.

Logging Arch

James and I made a Logging Arch for getting larger tree trunks out of the woods to where they can be milled.  The trunk is secured to the chain, then as you drive off the chain is pulled up the diagonal pipe to lift the trunk clear of the ground; then it moves off, only dragging on the end.

Oil Drum Charcoal Burner - Part 2

Much better result this time, still a few "browns" but not nearly as many as the first time.

Oil Drum Charcoal Burner - Part 1

I got an old oil drum from the local garage to try my hand at charcoal making.

The Alaskan Mill - Part Two

There is a previous post about my Alaskan Mill.  Now that I have made the supporting framework it's much easier to use.

The New Logging Saw Horse

Home made, but it works well!  Wooden battens at the bottom to prevent damage to the chain.

UXBs and Bugs

A couple of visitors to the woods found this buried metal object and wondered if it was an unexploded WW2 bomb.  I hoped it wasn't but decided to dig it up and see!!!

Trees and Ruts

A sunny day today, so I did some more clearing in the Larch Plantation - must be about half way through the job by now.

Deer in the Woods

A few photos of deer passing through, taken with the Wildlife Camera

Spring in the Woods

At last, lots of bluebells.

Clearing up the Debris

Posting Your Comments on the Blog

I hadn't realised that you couldn't post comments if you didn't have a Google account.  

I've now changed the settings so that anyone can post their comments.

Its been a bit wet this week to get much done and I've also had other things on.  However, I hope to be back in the woods soon with more news.

Log Stores (and bluebells)

Filling up nicely in time for next year!

The Wildlife Camera

We have a motion activated Wildlife Camera which we set up in different parts of the woods to photograph different animals.

The Rocket Stove

Lovely day today for some jobs in the woods.  I did some log moving and splitting and had a couple of bonfires to burn up some of the old larch rubbish.

At lunchtime I used my rocket stove to do the cooking.

I made this stove a couple of years ago as a project.  I understand that rocket stoves were originally designed to help people in the third world who had little fuel to cook with.  Instead of lighting a fire with valuable wood and losing most of the heat, the rocket stove just uses a few twigs to do the cooking with. Also, with the third world in mind, they are cheap to make.  The design of the stove concentrates the heat where it is required.

The Buckingham Woodstation

This is a frame to hold logs while you cut them to size.  It also hinges at the back so that the cut logs can be tipped straight into a trailer.

Alaskan Mill

I have a project at home to build a new compost bin so it was out with the Alaskan Mill.  This is attached to my Makita 7901 chainsaw.

Clearing Up after the Harvesting

After the larch had been thinned, there was lots of clearing up to do.  There is a lot of usable timber that has been cut down but I can't get to it for all the brash and branches left behind by  the harvesting machine. So, slowly we are clearing away the larger pieces of material that are blocking our way.  Lots of bonfires as well. It will probably take another year to completely clear up the mess and be able to access all the timber.  In the summer, when the tracks have dried out more, we will start moving the timber under cover to season for selling in a couple of year's time.  The wood I sell is chestnut, hornbeam and birch.  Most of the larch has been taken away by the contractors and what's left I will use for fencing etc.

A Bit about the Woods

About half is chestnut coppice with oak standards and the other half is larch which was planted about 40 years ago over the coppice!  The entire woodland is classified as Ancient Woodland and prior to the chestnut coppice would have been predominantly hornbeam.  There is still a fair amount of hornbeam around.  Both the chestnut and the larch, in common with other woodlands locally, have been unmanaged for many years.

We have started coppicing the chestnut and have also had about 30% of the larch thinned.  A lot of the larch went for fencing and the rest, which was bent or odd sized, went for chip.  The larch was felled and forwarded by machine which was fun to watch but made a bit of a mess of the tracks!

We use a lot of the wood for our woodburner at home which also provides hot water and central heating so its quite hungry.  I also sell loads to friends and acquaintances.

Welcome to my New Blog

Welcome to my new blog all about life in Den's Wood.  Well I don't actually live there but I do spend a fair amount of time cutting down trees, coppicing, cutting logs, having cups of tea and checking out the wildlife camera for photos of the resident animals.

As I get time, I will add more details of what's happening down in Den's Wood.