Tis a very English thing. Oh yes, without the weather we would be aimless and silent. If we lost our loquacious opener, I fear that our little brains would collectively short circuit. Not at all surprising when this little green island has been sodden for the last three months. Apparently, the wettest three months since records began. Not three months of winter though. No, our little blessing has been delivered during the height of summer. Lovely.
This amount of water is going to dampen the heartiest of souls, it is, after all, the time that we should really be enjoying the woods. What gets you through the winter, is the thought of summer but, apart from a beautiful April, what we’ve had can only be described as shit. It adversely affects the work that you can do as well. This week, we went off to a different woods to do some felling of Western Red Cedar for roof shingles on the barn and some Sweet Chestnut for a memorial chair that the Chief is making.
So we load up the truck with a couple of chainsaws, axes, wedges, a kelly kettle and jump into the rather deceptively cramped Hilux. Cramped for me at least, as I entertain a couple of over excited Labradors in the back. The drizzle starts as we leave Cherry Wood and follows us over towards our destination and on arriving the plans change to fell the Western Red at a later date. We do however take a stroll through the woods and marvel at the several Yews that were obviously planted in a sort of avenue. These Yews are awe inspiring and probably 500 years old. Imagine what these monoliths have lived through. 500 years of history. I still find it hard to comprehend now. Around the trunks were fallen branches that were still green; so we took some for turning into spindles and a couple of forked pieces for seat or bench backs. The Yew has very distinctive sapwood and heartwood, the latter being much darker. Steve also took a couple of man sized pieces, for making long bows. A process which I would like to blog on these very pages.
This leisurely picking took us pretty much up to lunch time, whereupon The Big Chief decided to speed through a puddle, soaking Steve, just to remind us who is in charge, less there was any doubt. It didn’t matter. It started to piss down, so we all got soaked. This downpour made the kelly kettle hard to light but, light it we did and I have to say, it is a fabulous invention. Check it out for yourself here… http://www.kellykettle.com/. So – tea, sandwiches, fell Chestnut, load truck, eff off ‘ome. And still it fell out. I am glad I don’t live in Tewkesbury. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6911226.stm.
Returning to Cherry Wood, we lit a fire and dried out. Eventually, the sun poked his head out, just like a little turtle except warmer and too bright to look at. It’s warmth reinvigorated us and we were dispatched with shavehorses, to prepare roof shingles. The roof shingles are made from Western Red Cedar. After the tree is felled, the branches are removed (snedding) and it is then sawn into 18 inch sections called “cheeses”. Using a froe and a beater, the cheese is cleaved (cleft?) in half, then half and half again. You just keep cleaving along the centre line, were the wood will naturally split, at the weakest point. You end up with a shingle that is wedge shaped being about an inch or so thick at its spine. We also leave the bark on. Once we have a wedge, it’s off to the shavehorse. Take the smoothest looking side and make it even smoother with a drawkife. The other side remains untouched, where the natural grooves and gully’s in the wood will help the rain run off. These are so much easier to make when the wood is wet; when it is dry, blisters abound.
Here they are, up on the roof…
anyway, since last week, our weather has slowly improved and we are now in throes of what can only be described as a heat wave. Why, we have had temperatures soaring into the early seventy’s for three straight days! I tell you, if this carries o, it’ll be a hose pipe ban for sure.
