Mastercrafts

On Friday 12th February BBC2 will be broadcasting the first in the MasterCrafts series, with the initial episode focusing on green woodworking and chairmaking. Three candidates spent six weeks learning how to work with green wood at Guy Mallinson’s woodland workshop in Dorset. They each then had to make a chair, which were judged by our own Mike Abbott. We’ll have interviews with all three and with Guy Mallinson in the next issue of Living Woods.

We don’t know which of the three green woodworkers, Charlie Hooper, Sarah Charlton or Tom Vaughan wins the first BBC2 Mastercrafts episode, which will be broadcast on Friday 12th February. Each one was trained by Guy Mallinson, and then had to make a chair, which Mike Abbott judged.

Because we don’t know which has won, and we go to press very soon with the next issue, on Wednesday Living Woods is going to hurtle round Britain to interview and photograph the trio. Find out more on Nick Gibbs’s Wood Blog (nickgibbs.wordpress.com).

National Forest Oak

We heard today that the National Forest has felled the oak tree that’s to be used as material for their One Oak project this summer, but sadly there weren’t any interesting elbow pieces to make a chair. We had planned to mimic a chair shown in Bill Cotton’s new book, Scottish Vernacular Furniture.

The time is also approaching for the annual Poplar Challenge at the National Forest Wood Fair on Bank Holiday at the end of August. This year I plan to make a pool table for children, so at least if we don’t win again people will have had fun with our entry. So far our recycling bin and magazine display stand have been beaten by a model house and a model crib! We’re attending the show this year, just in case that helps our cause. We’re not competitive or anything!!!!

Hampshire Green Fair

On Sunday Living Woods was at the Hampshire Green Fair, at the Sustainability Centre near East Meon, basking in the sunshine. Indeed at 3.15pm we signed up our 1000th subscriber, which after only four issues is something of a shock.

Every county should have a fair like this. Full of music, creativity and good humour (not to mention beer and cider) it is frequented by friendly visitors and there’s a lovely feeling of shared purpose.

We met many friends, but spent a fair amount of time chatting to Gerwyn Lewis, one of the founders of the Green Wood Centre near Telford. Gerwyn’s daughter Mary is one of the organisers of the Green Fair, living there in a yurt with her partner and their lovely little bairn, Holly, who was resplendent in knitted dungies, made by Katherine McNidder, who is currently volunteering at the Sustainability Centre.

Gerwyn now runs one-on-one courses from his home, in a purpose-made workshop near Telford. He’s promised to teach me how to make a Shaker box in a day.

Gerwyn is a versatile man, and especially good company, and has recently made some remarkable cabins at the Green Wood Centre. He was telling me how he wants to make more sheds/huts, and I was explaining how the author, Bill (Bernard) Cotton (famous for The English Regional Chair) had recently introduced me to a book called Fishing Huts of Britain.

I’ve known about Bill’s books for ages, but didn’t realise he now lives in the street behind my youngest daughter Sasha’s school. Bill wants to make a hut from green oak on the stretch of the river Coln near us, and rang me for advice on locating a local supplier of wood. I went round to his house to chat about the project, and discovered he’s just published a new book called Scottish Vernacular Furniture. And on it goes! I should obviously write this blog more frequently and in less depth!!!!!

Latest issue

Contact us if you'd like a copy of the latest issue of Living Woods.

The latest issue of Living Woods has just gone to press, and it will be out at the end of the week. We’ve been advertising Living Woods in Permaculture magazine recently, and have been receiving some fascinating responses from readers.

I spoke to one, who will remain nameless, who is planning a way out of his conventional career and aims to set up with his partner in a self-sufficient style. They wisely set themselves a Five Year Plan two years ago, and have been saving hard to free themselves of a mortgage and the trappings that lock most of us on the treadmill. I hope they succeed, and will stay in touch to watch their progress.

Over in France, Stuart Anderson has already made that leap. They run a permaculture operation in Brittany, and have a blog at permacultureinbrittany.blogspot.com. There’s a great photo of them trying out their local baker’s mobilette on a recent blog. Stuart and (I think) Gabrielle run a gite there (brittanycountrygite.com). They’re not far from Le Shack, so when things get too hard there, I’ll have to visit for some R&R.

The website for their gite features a page about their woods. It is headed with a quote from Nelson Henderson, a WW1 soldier, Irish pioneer in Canada, farmer and father: “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

New charity

I’m off tomorrow to meet the founders of a new charity called Sylva, which aims to promote the economic development of woodlands and forests. I think it’s a bit like Woodland Heritage, but with wider aims. We’ll tell you more in the next issue of Living Woods, which is out at the end of April.

My trip next week to my shack in Normandy is developing nicely, mainly because we’ll have so much to do. My mate, David, who is joining me for a festival of felling and general hilarity, has advised me to bring a second chainsaw, just in case my beloved Stihl breaks down. I’ve put it in for a service anyway, which contradicts my normal edict not to service anything until it fails, based on the observation that machines tend to pack up just after they’ve been given some care and attention. If it’s working, leave well alone, I say. Instead of getting hold of another chainsaw I rang the Sheffield sawmakers, Thomas Flinn, and asked if we could borrow a 4ft, two-man crosscut saw for a week to fell some trees and cut up some firewood. It arrived the other day, and is a terrifying object. I can’t wait to see David’s face when I show it to him. He has legs that could kickstart a jumbo jet, and arms that can stop the Titanic, so it could be an interesting experience sharing a saw with him.

We’ll probably have to declare it to customs before we embark on the ferry though at Portsmouth. Last time I went over there I forgot I was carrying an air rifle, and got a bit of a ticking off from customs who said I had to stow it in the hold. Previously we went over there once during one of the fuel strikes in the UK and France. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to get petrol in France, so I stored an army jerry can of petrol in the boot. I wasn’t sure this was legal, in fact I suspected it was not, to I also added a decoy 5litre carry-can of petrol where it could be seen. When, sure enough, the customs asked if we were carrying petrol I was able, with hand on heart, to say, “Yes, we’ve got this 5 litre can.” They forced us to empty it. And then, when we got stopped again by customs, I was able to say that we’d just emptied 5 litres of fine fuel into the tank of some lucky taxi driver’s cab. Ironically, there were no problems in France, and we ended up bringing the jerry can back to Britain, still full of juice! Did the nice French officials care? Not a jot!

So this trip to the shack will feature some cutting and felling. But I also want to take an inverter and a large 12v battery to see what we can charge. I love it at the shack, with no electricity and just candlelight, but life is made easier with some power, especially as David has great plans to watch the box sets of the two great Ashes series, in 1981 and 2005, I think. We’ll also be taking a Tormek T3 wetstone grinder with us, because I’m told you can use one of those from an inverter. Of course we’ll have a generator, if all else fails, but they’re noisier, and we’ll have to play our music even louder to cover that racket. I’m taking my drums and David his guitar, I hope, so we should have some good jams of an evening, over a few beers (probably!), some wine and great laughs. Can’t wait.

Aga stove

My daughter Lara stoking the small stove we fit on our Aga for spring, summer and autumn

We have a perpetual argument in our kitchen about the future of our very old Aga, which was installed by my grandmother (not herself, I expect) in 1946 when she bought our house. So it’s a bit of a family heirloom. But I’m embarrassed by the oil it consumes and the fumes it exhales, and would love to see it go. I’ve looked at an Esse, which we wrote about in the second issue of Living Woods last year, and I’m told a Lohberger is fantastic, and we’ll certainly be featuring them in the future. My compromise has been to buy a very small woodburning stove which goes on the top of the Aga in spring, summer and autumn. I disconnect the Aga flue, and shove the stove’s pipe up the chimney. I had seen a small Husqvarna woodburning oven, which I’d love to find, because it combines a woodburning section with an oven, so is great for cabins, caravans and the like, but I’ve yet to find one. However, last year I did come across Kevan Vaughan, who makes delightful little stoves for about £100. We bought the smallest, but could probably have done with the next size up, though most people suggest you should opt for a smaller stove if you can because then you can run them hot and more efficiently. A large woodburner has to get too hot for a lot of rooms to burn really well. You can email Kevan on kvaughan150@aol.com to find out more about his stoves. I couldn’t recommend them, and the service he offers, more highly.

Splintered history

I have to confess to be writing about the same topic on both this blog and our British Woodworking journal. Today, through the post, arrived the most remarkable book about wood I’ve seen in many years. Spike Carlsen’s Splintered History of Wood is a study of all the great uses of wood, from guitars to boats, tennis racquets, snooker cues and much more. It’s not full of colour, it’s not got many photos, but my it’s full of life.

I have a way of judging good writing when someone sends me an article. I half close my eyes and scan the text for capital letters and numbers. These indicate the number of names, places, dates, quantities and generally facts that fill the pages. If there aren’t many capitals and numbers the chances are it’s puff. Spike Carlsen’s book is fact after fact, but written in the most engaging style, and full of humour and enthusiasm. The only problem is that it is the book I’ve always wanted to write (but never considered doing) and it pains me to flick the pages. Thanks, Spike. You’ll be seeing more of this in Living Woods in issues to come.

Wilderness Opportunity

Jobs running woodlands are rare enough, and then two come along on the same day. Wilderness Wood in East Sussex has two job opportunities, and are looking for people with practical and business skills and a willingness to take responsibility for strategy and day-to-day running of the small private estate. The 61 acres of chestnut coppice, plantations and Christmas trees has been developed into a commercial concern over the last 25 years by chris and Anne Yarrow, who are now retiring. The new owners are Joanna Yarrow and Jonathan Smales, who together founded Beyond Green, and they intend to run the woodlands with the same focus on sustainability and social responsibility that has won Wilderness Wood a Green Tourism award and the Duke of Cornwall’s Award for forestry and conservation.

They are looking for a Woodland Business Manager and a Visitor Business Manager, reflecting the way the woods survive through commercial forestry and product manufacture, plus education and recreation. Applications must be in by 26th March and interviews will be held in mid April. ‘You will need to be highly flexible,’ says the advert, ‘and take a hands-on role in most areas of work as and when required, and flexible working hours with some weekend work will be necessary.’ Sounds fantastic. For details or to apply email enquiries@wildernesswood.co.uk or mia@beyondgreen.co.uk.

Wilderness Wood: www.wildernesswood.co.uk

Beyond Green: www.beyondgreen.co.uk

Firewood moisture

I’ve been asked by a friend to see if you can buy a moisture meter for firewood, to check if it’s ready for burning. Ideally you want firewood to be 20-25% moisture content to burn well, without giving off too much water vapour, which will condense in the flue and cause build-up and decay. Most moisture meters that are designed for furniture makers, to show them when a board is ready for use only go up to about 25%. So they will tell you when the firewood is dry enough, but won’t give enough detail to show how much longer you’ve got to go if the content is off the scale. A moisture meter for firewood doesn’t have to be nearly as sensitive nor as accurate as one for furniture making, but we’ve not heard of a dedicated meter for woodfuel. If you’ve heard of one please leave a comment, or return in a few days when we’ll probably have the answer.

Scottish Wood

Maggie Birley with evidence that there are red squirrels in the woods. Red eat the cones of Scots pine, while greys strip the bark on sycamore and beech

Maggie and Jim Birley at their community sawmill, with the house they built in the background

I was in Scotland yesterday, at the funeral of a friend in Dunblane. In describing James, the minister quoted that great philosopher Henry David Thoreau, or Toro as he pronounced the author of On Walden: ‘If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.’

I went on, afterwards, to see Maggie and Jim Birley who run Scottish Wood, a community sawmill, at Inzievar Woods between Alloa and Dunfermline, on the north bank of the Forth. In fact you can see the Forth bridges from their 55 acre woodland, which they bought 15 years ago as somewhere to live. When they couldn’t sell the oak trees they felled to make room for the home they’ve built, they decided to rent a Wood-Mizer mobile sawmill and see if they could sell oak boards themselves. They haven’t looked back, and from those small beginnings they have created a sawmill that employs five people, and is no overwhelmed by demand for local, Scottish wood, particularly larch and oak.

They too live their lives to the rhythm of a different drum. Their woodlands were previously part of the Inzievar estate and very much off limits to local folk. Now Maggie and Jim have made paths everywhere and encourage locals to walk and play in the woods. They’ve suggested fires can be made around the pond, so that young adventurers can have their own fun and build dens and do stuff. They work in partnership with local organisations to use parts of the woodland for mountain biking, with the kids building their own tracks. They try to take a soft approach to litter, leaving it to walkers to pick up what’s left by less thoughtful visitors.

There will be an  article about Maggie and Jim’s woodland in the next issue of Smallwoods, and an article about their community sawmill in a future issue of Living Woods.

Scottish Wood: www.scottishwood.co.uk