My gran gave me a golf trolley to which I have taken to strapping planks to. This is a real back-saver, I hope you are as excited as me about this!
Mini mill in action for the first time
Straight sided planks at last! I take a first cut on the log with the horizontal Alaskan chainsaw mill, then I use this flat surface to attach the guide board to. The mini mill then runs on this guide, cutting vertically. This allows me to square off the sides and produce dimensional timber, as well as quarter sawing to produce more stable timber, so very excited!
New portable shelter
I've just returned from Dowland country fair where I was selling furniture. Having finished the shelter in the photo (a Mike Abbott design) the night before, here I am enjoying a nice sit down! I had the most successful show yet, which I put down to having my own space and coherent image. Now I look more professional maybe. The wood of the shelter is ash split from larger trunks, and smoothed in the same way in which I make my furniture. So lots of work, but it paid off. Cheers!
Tree felling in the amazing oak and holly woodland in Highampton
I was tree felling today because it is getting towards the time when the sap is rising in the trees. The presence of the sap in the eventual timber means that the durability of the timber is diminished, so I cut down the trees I am hoping to make planks from this summer.
Very happy to have used the big Husky 395xp for its first plunge cut on this oak tree
Cutting a biggish holly with the trusty Stihl ms.201. Holly is an amazing white, dense wood which takes shape very well. I'm hoping to make a few chairs out of holly soon, I think they will be beautiful. I feel very lucky to have access to holly wood of this size, and to work in the amazing woodland where they grow.
The holly tree grew very much interlocked with its neighbouring oak tree, so I had to use the winch to pull them apart. Their intertwining reminded me of the equinox mythology. The oak king and the holly king do battle on the longest and on the shortest day. The outcome is that the holly (evergreen) king rules in the winter, and the oak (deciduous) king rules in the summer.
This is certainly the case here, where the oak remains to grow on this summer, and the holly (eventually!) falls. However, the holly I have cut down today will coppice, so that the summer regrowth will do battle with the oak king and reign supreme in the wintertime again. Woods work on such a long time scale, and there is always such resurgence. My hope in this woodland is to make small changes to the advantage of the whole wood, so that it remains healthy for the future.
Chainsaw mill
I've just bought an alaskan chainsaw mill which will enable me to make planks out of logs more easily (at the moment I'm splitting all logs up with axe and wedges). pictures to follow