Stuart Reddish and Lynda Mallett are woodland owners and foresters in Sherwood Forest England. Their sweet chestnut and oak woodland has been coppiced for hundreds of years – to grow timber for fencing, for furniture, for pole-lathe turning, and for fuel as charcoal and firewood.
The term 'coppice' means to regularly cut a tree to promote growth so it can be cut again. This can only be done to hardwood trees. Trees can be cut in cycles from every 2-3 years (as in hazel, alder and willow coppice) right up to every 21-30 years, depending on what you wish to use the timber for. The picture below shows 'over-stood' coppice. Coppicing really means 'cut and come again' – and does not kill the tree.
This is a picture of a coppice stool in the wood that may be more than 400 years old. "We have many coppice stools that appear to be at least 150 years old, but could could be much older as it is difficult to judge the age of trees when a closed canopy slows growth" said Stuart. Coppiced trees can live many times longer than if not cut at all – coppicing can considerably lengthen a trees life.
Coppicing is an ancient woodland practice – evidence of it's use goes back thousands of years, and was used to grow a regular supply of firewood for cooking and heating, wood for making charcoal, and round wood poles for building, and fence making.
In days gone past the woodland could be a busy place, with coppice workers, charcoal burners, bodgers, foragers. Bodgers or Pole Lather Turners are green wood workers. They set up in the woodland and 'turned' chair legs, and made bowls and wooden utensils out of the green newly cut wood.
Hazel rods used for fence and hurdle making.
King's Wood Sherwood Forest Recycles its Storm Damaged Trees.
This wind storm toppled tree is to took pride of place at Rufford Gallery, Rufford Park this spring as part of an exhibition of traditional hand-made furniture by Patrick Turk.
Woodland owner Stuart Reddish and Patrick Turk use a method of low impact extraction of old trees based on a portable mill developed in Canada for wilderness cabin building.
By cutting planks and boards on site using an Alaskan Mill damage to the woodland floor is prevented.
In most cases enough of the base of the tree is left so that regrowth can begin. and the planks are taken out of the wood by wheelbarrow.
Patrick wastes nothing when he is working with his Sherwood Forest wood. Even the bark and off-cuts are used in his wood burning range to heat his home and cook his food.
This is a picture of Stuart and Patrick looking at their day's efforts neatly stacked to dry in Patrick's solar powered kiln.
Traditional Fence Making
The trees in King's Wood Sherwood Forest are mainly Sweet Chestnut and that is no accident. The woodland was situated at the side of King John's Deer Park and it is most likely that the trees grown in the wood were used to provide fence posts and rails for the deer park.
Simon Fowler makes traditional hand crafted post and rail fences and he is one the best - he uses cleft rails of Sweet Chestnut because they are the best rails you can get. They have a high tanin content and they can last up to 400 years.
A Coppice of Sweet Chestnut is very productive place - if 'standards' (older (trees) are retained along side for seed and nursery trees - a productive woodland will be created that will supply raw materials to many rural crafts men and women and help to keep your home warm in the winter. You may even be lucky enough to get to the chestnuts first for an added autumn treat.
King's Wood Bodging
Last, but not least, when all the wood has been planked and made into furniture and fences, Bryan Eskriett the Bodger uses the the pole lathe to make chair legs, stretchers and spindles out the branches that are left.
Woodmanship is one of the oldest of all crafts. Man has been working green wood for over 5000 years. Wood is the most remarkable raw material on this planet. As Ray Tabor states in his book 'The Encyclopedia of Green Wood Working': "When properly managed it is infinitely renewable as testified by our ancient woodlands. Every tree species has some unique property of use to man - and who knows what still remains to be discovered".
One of Bryan's chairs is pictured right.
And Bryan is pictured below at one of the many public demonstrations he gives.
So, the 350 year old tree that finally fell over in a wind storm lives on through all the hard work and skill of the people that still know how to work wood with their hands and the right tools for the job. Tools that make the woods and the wood beautiful to look at.
Oh, and guess what? True to the coppice tradition the 350 year old tree has sent up new shoots from the root plate - and so it lives on - may be for another 350 years if we all try really hard to help it.
