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Last bit of 2018 |
It's 20 years this December ...
... since my Dad had to retire from the wood business due to being dead. He'd had a good 15 years playing with Austin Gipsys and dodgy equipment after buying the woods off a bloke in a pub!
He was none too pleased to learn of his impending resignation - he'd just bought a new diesel bandsaw from the USA and a load of Ash and Yew from the farmer up the hill.
Having avoided his wood business ...
... for fear of getting roped in for free labour I was faced with a v steep learning curve having no knowledge of timber or in fact anything related. As I've been flogging wood for longer than him now I'm confident one of these days I'll get the hang of it.
I once told a woman her eyebrows ...
... were painted on too high - she looked suprised! This is of course just a jolly link to introduce a new volunteer helper - Mike.
I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly Mike mastered the bandsaw and became a valuable member of the team. He brings years of woodworking and turning experience but also is a team player fitting in with the established Tuesday & Thursday Daves.
My three helpers all bring a bit of something different skills and interests and rude jokes wise. Mike also brings a knackered shoulder & knee but also a good eye for timber!
Thursday Dave is an all rounder with an engineering background and Tuesday Dave also very versatile is good at fixing. For example one day I presented him with the workshop Hoover - I think it's married I said ...
What are you on about he asks ... Well, it won't suck any more I inform him. Later that day he had it mended so I sent him to sort out my wife!
On the day pictured, Mike cuts some Beech whilst in the background Tuesday Dave works on the trailer lights which need more attention than a spoiled child. |
Thanks to everyone who has bought ...
... timber from me to enable me to upgrade the Pick Up. To be honest the money I've made from selling timber would only buy the wheels but I thought I deserved it!
Deserve or not it's great, drives and tows brilliantly and is a big improvement. I just have to be brave when it gets dirty and perish the thought, scratched.
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During the summer ...
... particularly the hot periods we tend not to cut stuff like Oak and Elm. To keep our hands in we did some adding to the Ash collection which disappears quicker than I can stack it in the sheds.
The bit pictured below at 8 foot long and 26" wide is about the max that Doris the tractor can lift and we ol' boys can cut on the saw.
When I first started ...
... we used metal calipers to grab the logs but they often let go suddenly. By using straps as pictured below has given control and safety - new pants are exy and arms and legs even our knackered ones like ours worth hanging on to!
Some great boards with a couple of book matched pairs will be available in a year or two. |
Other woodland jobs ...
... to do late summer and early Autumn included rebuilding the tree house, creating a little sitting post with a view over the fields at the back of the woods and improving the tracks and rides around the woods that get v muddy in the winter.
The tree house work was subbed out to Jem and his mate Simon who like to observe the wildlife and want the elevated position.
A viewpoint overlooking the fields ...
... in a quiet spot of the woods is where we are going to have a covered sitting area. The hazel is very dense so an offer from Erwin for a few hours of his valuable time with his digger was gratefully snatched before he could change his mind!
The actual construction of the sitting post is being done by Basil the master carver - more of this in the next edition.
Erwin soon had the work done - if you've ever tried doing this without a digger as I have you'd enjoy taking a few pics and making encouraging noises a lot more. |
I was sat watching Gold Rush ...
... as you do when I was contacted by Bob who stated he had 40 cu ft of beautiful book matched Walnut that he had air dried for 10 years for sale.
Although he wanted top dollar and it was in the arse end of nowhere near Stansted it still sounded too good to be true. He announced he was moving in two days and had contacted one other timber merchant and best offer secures, decision the following day.
I offered more than I ever have ...
... for any timber on the grounds that if it was as good as he said it would be worth it & on being the higher bidder (he wouldn't let on who the other party was or what they offered) got up at 5am and braved the M25 & M11 arriving just before 8am.
It was stacked on that ledge you can see below under the Satelite dish. My immediate thought was there wasn't 40 cube there and after lifting it all down spread it over the garden to examine my fears were confirmed. Bob and his lovely wife ...
... Thelma used to own the 34 room mansion next door from which the Walnut came. I asked & he said his business was to do with buses (I doubt he drove my local 116) he clearly has skills in marketing as the pics he sent were from great angles with generous rounding up.
Discounting the unsaleable I came up with a cubic footage under half his and adjusted my offer. To be fair he only haggled a bit squeezing another 50 quid off me.
I suspect he wasn't that thrilled ...
... with the what I still think was a generous bundle of 20 squid notes as he left me to load it on my own and to cut off the rot with the bluntest chainsaw you ever handled, provided by his mate Bernie.
Blunt though the saw was it enabled me to get it all in the truck without having to do another 5 hour round trip. |
As 2018 faded away ...
... restocking was the order of the day, well the few short wood days we do each week. Volume is small, after the saw has been running a while it's tea time, then lunch and followed by that'll do let's go home!
Getting bigger logs cut means Helmdon Sawmill the direct opposite - a log morphs into a stack of timber in minutes. That's the easy bit, sourcing good stuff in the first place is the biggest challenge followed by carting it back to the woods which is always tough on our aging backs.
I bought three Elm logs ...
... from the Scottish Borders. I get pictures but have to take the word of the seller that they are sound. To be fair mostly they are ... I do expect them to be as I pay almost twice as much as locally sourced timber. When you add the dreaded 20% VAT it won't be a surprise to you Maths savvy readers that it makes it an additional 20 per cent more exy than my non Vat registered tree surgeons.
I generally end each blog with ...
... a pic of some delightful timber to lure you down but you'll see below this particular log isn't going to do that for you. In the words of one of the lads stacking it at the sawmill ..." It's shit innit " !
The long split went right through the log with rot either side - the side shake ruins the decent side of it!
No need to be too sad ...
... dear reader these things happen and as the dealer is a decent geezer I'll get a better deal on my next log and 'til then I've got loads of great stuff for you to come and lick - or buy if you prefer!
Plans for the coldest darkest bit of the year involve staying warm ... well that's it really. I can probably be tempted out of the warm hut to flog you some wood but only if you beg.
Regards,
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