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Summer 2007
The redevelopment of the… … woodsheds was completed last year. Apart from the usual suspects the driving force was a young carpenter called Drew. John, the Irishman would probably have been persuaded to lead the operation. However he was hard to pin down and being deaf as a post it was harder explaining what we wanted. In the end we just pointed Drew at the site and he told us what materials he wanted and just got on with it. What looked like being a total nightmare was actually quite painless.
Drew particularly liked using the Landrover as a ladder. It was surprising how many different positions we were able to ram it (The Landrover!). One of things Drew insisted upon was proper timbers. Mark at the sawmill came up with some perfect 10”x 2” x 16’ Douglas Fir timbers and I splashed out on new econclad roofing sheets. The end result… … we think is a functional , tidy looking pair of sheds that will hopefully last many a year. There are a few trees overhanging that are bound to test it out if they fall, but I’m sure we’ll cope with that if it happens.
When Big Mike died… … early last Autumn he left a big gap in the team. He’d battled back from bowel cancer surgery and was full of his usual zest for working , shagging and drinking. He taught me enormous amounts about chainsaws, tree felling and general woodland management. We had about 6 years of sunny winter days, sawing and having a laugh. We both wanted a bit more, but it wasn’t to be.
A typical picture of Mike from 2005, working away without a break with myself and Brian , pictured standing around watching … we’ll miss him! Mike was full of great… … stories usually involving beer and women. A favourite of mine concerned his dad who in 1927 took a local girl up to the woods for a lesson in love the day before she married someone else. Apparently just over 50 years later his Dad now nearly 80 got a knock on the door. Excuse me Mr Cockerell says the caller, the lady from yester year with a long memory. You took me to the woods before my wedding, my husband is now dead . Will you take me again? – Of course he did! It reminds me of a joke about an old couple who revisit the place they first made love some 60 years before. Look that fence is still there, lets do it again. The old boy is stunned but rather pleased by the amount of wriggling and energy his wife puts into it. I don’t think you moved around that much 60 years ago, he remarks. 60 years ago the fence wasn’t electric she replies through gritted teeth. Anyway back to wood… … or at least the recent past. Autumn progressed quite smoothly. Irwin, our most local and friendliest tree surgeon felled a Wellontonia in the village and let us have it for a sensible price. Francis, the Stoke farmer loaded it on Old Harold for a pint of beer and Mark slabbed it, quite quickly for him. Irwin topped that with a superb walnut tree a week later. Francis again loaded it for us, but I felt that I had to shell out £20 this time, I didn’t mind, there was two trailer loads. Pictured below is the second – the first went straight to the sawmill for planking.
The smaller bits shown above are outside the Blacksmiths in St Mary Bourne. Brian helps them out when we are not wooding. Sadly they are about to retire and sell the yard off for housing. They have been a great help over the years mending , storing trailers and taking the piss out of townies playing at country living. By now it was heading… … for Christmas and the days were dark and dingey- bit like Brian really. With a lot of rain - so much for the drought, I looked for a job in the dry. We’d had a go at tidying the Kiln several times without much lasting success. I decided to get Drew in again for a major revamp. This was partially due to the impending arrival of a decent quality band saw. This will make rounding bigger blanks easier and making space for it was a good reason to finally tidy up the Kiln which has always been a mess. We had a nasty… …moment when removing the cladding half way down the roof we found not a decent RSJ but half a rotten Oak Tree. He was rather fond of a bodge my old man. Well, it had lasted 15 years but judging from the sag in the roof it wouldn’t have made many more.
I’m quite attached… … to some of my timber. Particularly, if it’s rare and a bit special. We acquired a walnut tree from Binley in 2004. They are always in gardens and usually inaccessible. Fortunately this garden ran alongside the road and we were able to get an 8 foot length lifted by Gordon’s timber trailer and off to the sawmill. The resulting planks had a stunning grade and I have been holding on to them jealously. A lady called Nicola wanted to make a Linen Press ( posh wardrobe to you , mate ). The planks weren’t the ideal size for her… 5 foot main lengths would have been ok. I had a rare ‘ take them as they are or not ‘ moment. On that basis she travelled down with the family for a gander. She liked them even more than I did. It was great they went off to a good home to become something that may become a family heirloom. Makes all the effort worthwhile.
… continued into January making the woods a rather wild place and sawing difficult. So we got on with finishing off the Kiln and stocking smoking woods for the new venture. The latter part of January brought lovely storms and trees falling down. We acquired a big old Walnut and an Ash from the farm next door and some Cherry , Elm and Lime from other parts of the valley. If I had more help and lifting gear I probably could have collected more. Gordon Barnes was out of action with a virus and a bad back.. (only one excuse needed mate ) but anyway he had a load of trees to clear up. Not for the first time we missed Mike, beavoring away hour after hour for a truck load of firewood. February brought a bit… … of snow but more rain and mud. I had reason to miss Mike even more when calling by to see his widow I found a huge Apple tree had fallen down in their orchard and she had paid someone to chop it up for firewood. What a waste. Smoking Wood Supplies was finally posted thanks to my mate Mike Fuller who had designed the original Wood site back in 1999 and pointed me in the direction of a colleague Helen who has done a great job. Actually getting the wood chipped and into a sellable form is more of a problem - more of this and whether it is proving to be a runner in next edition in the autumn. In March we were finally ... ... able to get the Walnut from Box Farm loaded and back to the woods and had Gordon and Dave for a day felling a couple of Oaks in the woods that were looking like falling anyway.
Andrew, from Box farm is always happy to stop what he is doing and load us up. I also persuaded Gordon to take a load on his timber trailer from Christopher's 300 acres near Whitchurch to beef up stocks. Gordon is talking about selling his forestry trailer as he has his eye on some different toys including a huge new chainsaw for milling - more about that next episode.
Gordon, off loading at Andover Down sawmill. It's a lot more enjoyable moving timber when the sun is shining. It also melts Gordy's granite heart ( very slightly ) and he charges me a few quid less. The old maestro, using his new saw has just made an excellent job of milling some beautiful Spalted Beech 3" slabs that are wide and frankly are worth acquiring, first come... Suddenly... ... as it tends to happen
once a year it was Spring and time for this to be posted. As I always
say, we have loads of great wood to sell you , a few bargains and a guarantee
of a warm welcome , so come on down. Also, with the BBQ season about to
start I will have Smoking Woods on promotional offers. I am working with
Rob the chipper chappie on packing and distribution and will have a lot
more to say about it next time. Regards,
See our page of interesting things produced
by our customers from our wood. Copyright Goulden Management Limited 2006 |
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