Working in the Woodland

Working in the woodland is probably one of the most rewarding things i've ever done.

Not for me the noisy chainsaw and tractor spewing out fumes, but hand tools, often handed down through generations.

There used to be a thriving coppicing industry in Wales, servicing woodlands big and small.

Walk into any old woodland and you can see the remnants of past working.

Hurdle makers, charcoal burners, hedge layers, old skills rekindled in this modern carbon fuelled world.

Working with the hand tools, learning their uses, becoming profficient is a joy initself but I've learned so much more about quality of craftsmanship and the quality of steel used in the making of the tools.

I have a lovely Elwell billhook, beautifully balanced and now expertly sharpened by young son.

It slices through small branches with a conviction I am sure its own. The handle had been varnished in order to present it for sale. Varnish scraped away and now oiled with linseed it will last confidently for a few more years.

The 4lb Brades felling axe I have could well have been used by fire fighters in the blitz or land Jills in the Scottish highlands. It was made in 1939 and now sharpened can fell an oak, birch, ash and willow without splitting and spoiling the wood.

I don't have a two handled singing saw....yet

When you work together well sawing through a large trunk, the saw sings and the rhythm of using your whole body to power the saw, hypnotic. It's amazing how effortlessly and quickly it can cut through the largest of trees.

What i find wonderous about coppicing is that you cut a tree fairly close to the ground and in the spring it shoots forth new growth in abundance.

You can have a tree to process and from that you can have firewood, wood for charcoal, beensticks and peasticks, wood to make furniture, wood to cleave to make posts and hurdles and gates.

..........and 8 to 10 years later you can do that all over again.

Renewable.