Making the most of a tiny woodland (by coppicing)
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- Опубликовано: 28 мар 2018
- What does it take to be self-sufficient in firewood? How much woodland do you need and can it be harvested year after year?
I've lived here for well over a decade, always heated with wood and never had to buy any in - here's my take on (small) woodland management...
If you've enjoyed this video - feel free to buy me a beer via paypal
www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
"It might not be murder, it might be management"...best forestry quote ever, bent over double with tears and snot 😂.
Can't count the irate public I've encountered when working the woods. Often a complete lack of understanding when viewing coppice or commercial timber stand.
I think because trees grow so slowly it's presumed that many woodlands are "naturally occurring". People often are blind to the fact that they might simply be a crop.
It's interesting with the biodiversity on the fringes. I recently had to explain to a customer that the shelter belt she planted 30yrs prior was in danger of becoming a monoculture.
Nothing had been thinned or managed since planting. Canopy was interwoven and despite being mixed native broadleaf, the woodland floor resembled that of a conifer stand. Not a single ground dwelling plant or animal to be found.
Most of the trees were in distress and dying.
I thinned out and clear felled in selective areas and within a month the customer reported a dramatic increase in wildlife population and then later plant life.
Your videos are an inspiration and your enthusiasm for sustainable living and wildlife management shines through...you could easily teach the subject, very engaging and a delight to listen to!
People forget, or just don't know, that up to just 100-150 years ago most of England's woodland was regularly managed and without this constant work it would a desolate and congested mess.
@@oldbatwit5102 Today people waste time and energy on mindless entertainment, instead of using their resources to benefit their community. They behave like 2 year old's needing to be looked after constantly.
I read that the UK National Grid is working at 92% all the time.
Sometimes I long for a 4 week power cut. Just to watch who survives without their sky box and microwave.
@@LittleCarol
I am new to this channel, and LOVED your comment!
You are spot on 👍😉.
All these fools keep pushing this so called climate change, but only seem to suggest taxation of the public has a solution!
They keep talking about taxing the public to death in order to reduce our use of fossil fuels, yet at the same time allow large corporate companies to keep making Billions from the sales of the very fuels they say are responsible for the damage!
But I don't see any Governments offering cheap or free solar panels and a battery storage system for the public!
Because even if solar power only reduced the use of the grid by 25%, that certainly would be a step in the right direction!
But I suppose FREE energy from the sun wouldn't be in the corporate interest would it? 👍😉
@@MrNed09 Eh many civilized governments offer tax rebates, exemptions and/or refunds if you get solar panels hooked up and fill out proper paperwork. Same with modernizing a house/building with proper insulation and windows. It is done in many US states and Canadian provinces nowadays although taking time to get popular or seeing mainstream use. However, Germany has been on solar for a while. Best thing is, when the weather is agreeable and sunny, your personal electric use (since you arent cooling or heating) may be lower than the power your panels generate resulting in your power suppliers paying you back since the panels are feeding the grid. It isn't much but it's a damn sight better than owing them the usual monthly fee.
@@RandomPlaceHolderName
But I would rather have NO monthly fee!
By running my own power and not supplying the grid at all!
That's why they say Sola power isn't viable!
What they really mean is that Sola power isn't viable for them to make massive amounts of profit by selling it back to the public!
And the moment you want to supply your own free energy, all of a sudden taxation and penalties come into play! And all of a sudden saving the planet soon gets forgotten about!
It's not about saving the planet, it's about keeping their scams going!
This is the sort of stuff that should be broadcast on TV, none of that auction hunters crap.
Auction hunters is awsome
People have different tastes. If you don't like auction hunters, don't watch it. You control RUclips and what you watch on it dipshit. Not sure why I even have to explain this.
Government does not want you to know this their nightmare is a self sufficent community of people that can think
@@Claymore1977 that isn't a hundred percent true. You tube alagorithims suggest what you would like. You don't have to watch it and can type in what you wan't to watch, but how do you know if you like something without watching it?
@@emelgiefro that is probably why there are so many shredder videos wasting tons of usefull wood.
Why watch mainstream TV when you have interesting guys like this
Question: When's the best time to plant a tree?
Answer: Twenty years ago.
Keep up the good work fella. I find everything you do very inspiring.
Second best time is today!
Actually probably depends on weather and if you have irrigation or not.
WITH PAULOWNIA YOU CUT EVRY TWO YEARS IF WATER IT OR MABY 4-6 IF YOU WANT BIGER QUANTITY
@@zoranzoran9096 you use poulonia for firewood? It was mainly intended for carpentry, for it's fast growth, low weight and long grain. I am supposed to sell some now for firewood but at a price which is largely just to get rid of it.
I have worked on coppiced Oak and Ash in old woodland some of them over 1000 years old. If we get any folks moaning we tell them its for a new carpark. Cheers
I go every year to look at how local coppices are doing. It is like a huge laxative for the woodlands, cleans em out freshens em up, keeps em healthy. Its sad to see a once managed coppice left to rack and ruin. All that "leave it for insects and animals" is an excuse for idleness (or to get an eu grant??) Theres a wood not far from me where the hazel is 15 and 16 inches thick its been left so long without a crop, amazing actually
@National Localist So we should let them die? Probably best not to interject with ignorant opinions and let people that are knowledgeable about woodland management and forestry do their jobs.
@@Chooibah what is wrong with trees dying naturally. It is a part of the cycle of life. Are we humans so cocky we think forests can't survive without us? Yes whe can do positive things for forests but as a whole we definately do more damage.
@@user-bc3pc5gu2y Coppiced and pollarded trees live longer, and managed woodlands are demonstrably healthier. Of course trees can survive without intervention, just not as well and without the increased biodiversity that management brings.
@@Chooibah what about the giant sequa that died simply from the weight of people walking around it packing the soil.
I've wanted to live a life like yours since the mid 1970's. Well done for having the balls to do it. Just about to move to Ireland to live in a small cottage and do the same. Wish I did this nearly 40 years ago! Well done for living your life as you wish. I agree with the comment below, you would be better on TV than all the auction rubbish
Good luck my friend! Totally agree. Still don't have the balls, this end. 👻
Our family enjoys your videos immensely. So calm. So peaceful. We feel we are there with you. Wish we were.
People like you make this world a better place
I learn more from your videos of day to day life than looking 20 years to tv shows or football games. One might no agree with all what you do but that is a different story. I am convinced that whatever man made tool, you will try to use it as long as possible before dumping and buying a new one. Who cannot learn from it?
Been doing just this for my nan and now departed grandfather for 30 years now. mainly Blackthorne, Oak and over the last decade sycamore on about 2/3 of an acre. I pull about 10 trees 40 -50ft high and varying in diameter from 18" down to about 8" plus any nusiance smaller Blackthorne. This keeps the canopy quite thick forcing the younger samplings skyward and then with the clearing process causes them to fatten up.
Takes about 10 years to work from one end to the other and provides 50% of the heating over a hard winter and 75-100% on a milder winter. the rest is made up with coals.
And yes over the years it gets harder to process but still feels like there is a symbiosis between the work, the wildlife, myself and the creator.
Harry Brown MGH want to look at Honeydew carpenters channel for his rock mass heater design, and also look into a lumber processing machine, some of them are quite small for homestead use
Was subscribed to many channels on here but got rid of them did not realise how much crap i was watching until i subscribed to yours. Suppose its because when younger did most of the things your doing now work wise anyway, and at 70 decided to have another go still live way out and am now saving up for small bit of land.so glad i decided to watch .
So intelligent. I actually learned a few new things watching this video.
Not only is your woodland management info handy but the way you manage your health issues is inspirational. Well done that man!
The perfect example of even doing a little bit a day accomplishes a lot. Another great video Max.
A coppiced tree can get very old. It grows new branches more or less around the outside of where the earlier branches grew, the center eventually decays. I was once on a field trip with about 30 people (biology students, professors, a ranger). We came across rings of trees that were in fact the remains of once coppiced trees. Some were so large that our group felt lost in them. Based on the size of the rings and the history of the forest we were in, our professors deduced that the rings were 300-400 years old.
I just learned something. I didn’t know this was a way of land management. I also did’nt know any tree did such a thing. Thank you.
BECAUSE NOT ALL TREES DO SUCH A THING
Praying for your health. I hope you're able to do this stuff for a very long time to come.
Amen!
It's dangerous. Wearing, dungarees. The old chainsaw. The limited budget. I worked among chainsaw operators. On, a small holding. The pay, was terrible. Long, hours, and generally.
I felt ineffective . I realise, that. If, a chainsaw. Is owned, they don't need a licence. But, using, a chainsaw owned by someone else.
That requires, training.
Smallholders, seem to have, such a great range of skills.
My solution. Unfortunately is, not to use a chainsaw. I never, did that. I use, a hand saw or my hands, or a pruning knife.
I just, try and get by.
It's clever, really through. He, has beaten the poverty Trap by, buying land. He, is really clever.
Management not murder. Like that. Great video and very informative. Thanks Max !
I understand his thinking, but it brings very many safety points that his screwing up. I for one would never leave such stumps around to people get trip and stab them selfs, or more importantly for me to do so, while working. Secondly its terrible practice to fell a tree from that hight 30cm up.
First you have to cut it twice, so you dont leave stake traps around, or waste tree leaving in in forest, witch again wastes fuel and secondly you do it with small trees and you end up doing it with bigger ones that will probably in some point get you killed or injured.
Tree falling should be done always so you can accurately as possible predict how tree will fall down, where the heavy end will fly off when it hits the ground. This comes with experience for seeing how trees move and is hard enough as is, as you cant see how hard ground is in places. Cutting it from that high, will add huge ass modifier to operation that makes it next to impossible to predict in witch point tree will slip off from stump, what direction and where it then will land, witch again effects how the heavy end swings. Specially dangerous in slope or area where you can get away fast even if you see it will flung at you by how it moves.
I do like natural forest that is managed, not murdered to have clearing, but i also dont like such tangled mess that is created by coppicing method. I actually fight against it as it just suffocates sprouts after foresting and makes harvesting so much harder, than falling a bigger tree and chopping it up. Also bigger firewood burns longer, where sticks like these are gone in seconds due huge ass surface area compared to mass and dry much slower due bark, or could even start to rot depending on weather. Though i cant talk about British forests, but least from my experience in north these are the problems...
Leaving the sumps the way I do is the whole point of the coppicing process. The tree I felled with a high cut had a bend in it, so by cutting it the way i did it fell exactly where i wanted it to. I then cut it again to get the stump the way I wanted it. I didn't explain any of that in the video as it's a video about coppicing not how to fell a tree. Coppicing is a way of woodland management that has been practised here for many centuries and is a very effective may to extract the most usable wood from a small area. Where I live we don't have the luxury of large forests and if we did I certainly wouldn't be able to afford one!
Both me and my brother did some tree felling when we were teenagers. Both of us ended up in hospital, 1 day apart. When that chain catches your trousers it cuts through your skin and muscle like it's not there. Very painful lesson learned. Always wear safety gear and preferably go on a chainsaw course. You will learn safety, maintenance, sharpening etc.
Sure, they're dangerous tools. I look at his dungarees. Maybe he, has discovered. Some. Nope. He is making a mistake. Dungarees surely are a bad idea.
I heard. That chainsaw operators get covered in oil.
Ain’t no joke. I had a patient who was in the woods cutting trees with a buddy. One friend mistakenly cut the others arm off at the shoulder. Like you said, before they knew what had happened they saw had already done the damaged. Had to amputate his arm.
Love to see some of the detail you go into, answering potential questions etc. I used to work for Wildlife Trusts a lot and we would often stack fallen wood for insects. If you want a free days Labour at some point I am not that far away and would be happy to help out.
I came for some Land Rover messing about a few years ago, and I am glad that I stayed, and also glad that I mostly kept my mouth shut. I have learnt a lot from watching your videos, mostly about not jumping to conclusions :)
You never claim to know everything, but you do know a lot and over time it all makes sense. I really come to like you, and while I too have the occasional time rather than money, I would be glad to give a hand if I find myself in your neck of the coppice one day (but I know that you are fairly happy to be left in peace so I won’t invite myself, don’t worry,)
I have two friends out of many making a living in the woods over 40 years Two have had chainsaw accidents one the length of his arm ripping flesh and muscle the other staright accross almost severing through the bone both miles from anywhere , both drove to hospital and made full recovery and still able to lift a pint of Badgers and of course still mixing 2 stroke. Thanks for the videos
This is one of the best channels on RUclips by far.
Fully agree. A proper channel. I love the beer making video they do. A documentary version of Men Behaving Badly :)
Inspiring, especially to us older guys, in pain, but who love to work and create.
Oh! I am like you! Mostl I am okay, but if an adhesion starts to act up, I can HIT THE GROUND in tears. Never really know what the triggers are, just what to do when it happens. Can take some hours to recover fully. I feel ya, man. I feel ya! Great video! I am starting to eyeball stands of trees on our small property. Need to start a wood-lot or three!
Hi Max, came across your channel yesterday, been looking for RUclipsrs who are living just like you are. I think my not too distant destiny is living a sustanable life, ideally like your patch of paradise. So doing research or how l see it 'learning to live with nature' and l need to learn basic DIY and learn from others and to then see myself grow from there. I am learning so much from you and its giving me confidence to say at least, l can do some of these things. Please don't stop doing what you are doing and keep showing us your wonderful life. For sure its hard work often but l like good old fashioned hard work. My mother was born and raised on a proper farm without electricity, gas, sewage system etc., they grew all their fruit and veg, kept farm animals, made silk, kept bees and all that wonderful stuff, l just love it! l loved the stories she shared with me. Thank you so much x. P.S. what l would give to have a neighbour like you :0)
Just enjoyed rewatching this one , doesn’t get old , the advice is first rate , and your casual manner makes it feel like a chat with a mate .
I personally love how genuine all your videos are. I look forward to not have a million excuses to not start living off grid myself here in Australia ;)
Yourself? What about a wife and kids?
Keep going for it.
mojor struś
What makes you think he has any?
@@CroatiaSurvival I dont know if he has. Thats why i ask,how will they fit there? If he doesnt have then no woman will want to live with him like that nor its suited for a family.
Great to see what you've been up to Max and great to be greeted by that smile as always! The little story about the bramble hedge weighed down by the snow and 'dog' wandering off got me.
Best video to come out of the UK since Downton Abbey. I never tire of your how-to's. Thanks.
Coppicing has been practiced since at least the Middle Ages. Good for firewood and charcoal , but also useful for material. Looks to me like you've got some good walking sticks in there as well as tool handles, furniture parts etc.
You might also consider setting up a wood gas generator and turn the scraps to fuel.
maxi your videos are fantastic i like the way you describe everything
"It might not be murder, it might be management"... unless he's got a shovel and a bag of lime of course, but that's another story. Really enjoyed this. Really interesting learning about tree/forestry management. Thanks as always, Max.
What a great Sunday watch
You're an utter legend mate
Very informative and surprising what you can do with a small woodland. Really looking forward to the Charcoal Kiln restoration and your Charcoal making.
Chapeau to you sir, it's amazing what can be overcome by will power and forward planning. It's such a shame that those two traits are lost on many people today. It's also sad for me to see so much woodland left unmanaged.
I really could watch your videos all day long Max, of course then I'd get nothing done myself, and you'd be fed up to the back teeth of standing in front of a camera. Thank you though, very much, for the videos that you do make, they've both taught and inspired me, and due to a change in personal circumstances I might just be following in your footsteps and buying a piece of land here in Wales, and, hopefully putting in for OPD permission. Looking forward to the next video very much, and will be scouring your channel for any I may have missed. :)
As a fellow West country boy I appreciated the diagnosis of 'Twisted Innards'!
Thank you for posting this. I hope more people are able to benefit from viewing it.
I practice this on my farm in Arkansas, but I have the benefit of a warmer clime, as well as more rainfall. I've found that hickories respond well to this, and it only takes about four years to cycle. It doesn't take that much effort for me to harvest enough wood to heat my house for the generally mild winters, and I have a splitter as well, which makes things easier. I stack split wood onto pallets and wrap it in cellophane, then transport to my back porch with the tractor as needed. The furnace was a bit dear, but I expect to recoup the investment within about six years easily...
It's my understanding that this was fairly common practice in Europe at one time; I would imagine the perception of endless resources in North America led to its decline here...wish that people had always practiced a bit more restraint, but we have to make the best of what we have now...I wonder if birch would work well for your situation?
Thank you for the comment, nice to get an overseas perspective!
how to get more from less without destroying the entire woodland...that's quite clever management
Thanks for the video, I learned a lot.. I like your videos about off grid, very informative, not about spending a lot in a "wanabbe offgrider" way but about being cost and energy efficient.
Just when you think you know best then Maximus explains……
Loved how you think of the wildlife when explaining why we should leave deadwood for all the bugs, it makes complete sense now, before you I would have thought I was doing my bit by taking deadwood instead of chopping down a tree, I’m glad you are here advising…… great job 👍😀
Thanks Max for the Video, I learnt a lot, I have three massive overgrown Hazel Coppices that I now know how to manage next winter. Cheers!
Thanks for creating this. I just bought 2.5 acres of mostly forest raw land, and I intend on building a cottage heated with wood. Like you, I love processing wood. Your video is very informative.
Like you I've a medical problem that causes problems when I'm working ... it's great to see someone works the same way , I also set myself tasks that once I've finished I take a break or do something else
It's really interesting to see the logistics behind everything summarised nicely.
You've clearly been very busy!
Thank you!
Love your witty comments and the wood management. We are on the older side, work smarter, not harder if we can.
Thanks for sharing a day on (small) woodland management, I very much look forward to your take on 'charcoal' burning a true woodland tradition.
atvb t ..
Feeble.
This man will outlive us all.
Great advice mate. Good on you
Amazing..VERY Informative...Thanks Max - Liverpool Uk 🇬🇧
Good work. Rest well too.
Best wishes
You are funny Max you make yoursELF sound really olde.....your still a nipper and one that's really getting on with it....really admire you 😉
Always inspiring to hear how people work through/around physical challenges to do things instead of registering for Disability or sitting on their ars_s.
Letting the light in?... epicormic growth! Good stuff ta.
Anyone where black locust isn't considered invasive, I highly recommend trying this with that species.
Coppices very well, it readily suckers from the roots of older trees, especially when you fell/coppice, it grows exceptionally fast, the blossoms start early and are very helpful to pollinators at the beginning of the season, it's an amazing fuel (on par with or even hotter burning than hickory) it's very strong wood with tool applications, exceptionally resistant to rot from weathering (they are prized for posts/poles) they are nitrogen fixing, they tolerate many conditions.
With ash trees here in the states going extinct, people aren't gonna be able to do this with ash anymore.
Thanks for sharing this information. Maneging my own woodland is probably 10 years into my future. But it's good to find someone closer to home who cares.
I really like your channel my friend, very informative and Interesting 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
our tiny woodland is smaller than yours! We coppice, mainly sycamore and chestnut. We shred and use as mulch. good vid. Well done!
Ash makes the best firewood. I just made my first Rocket stove yesterday out of cob. Fired it up the same day too. Works a treat and uses much less firewood than the wood stove. Excellent vid by the way.
Brian Minghella I’ve made a conscious choice to avoid ash due to die back but in an ideal world I would have liked it
I have used a wide variety to cope with future conditions what ever they may be
I have a 99kW froling for a business, which is a roundabout way of getting interested in wood. It’s a monster and so easy to use. Thus far have only bought woodchip due to hassle but chop my own logs for firewood. A failed Christmas tree enterprise has left lots of lodgepole pine. They’ve been there almost 20 years and never looked after properly. Great upload and channel!
I adore your honesty in regards to the ever-increasing feebleness of man. All the best.
Another great film, thanks for all your time and effort .
Thank you for making these videos, it is great to see someone so knowledgeable about such a range of topics. It looks like hard work to keep on top of all that especially with health problems so all the more impressive to see what you have achieved, I only wish I had the courage and motivation to live like that.
I love this! Thanks for the educational experience!
Thanks for the education.
Brilliant and educational ,as always !
Finally I found you, a _teacher_ .
I love the piece of land you have and what you've done with it!!!
Loved this video! I planted some tiny hazel trees last year, so they have a way to go yet before they will be coppiced. Your channel is an inspiration, thank you for sharing!
Really enjoy watching all of your videos.
I love your knowledge of things tfs x
Excellent - well delivered and informative. Thanks
Great info Max thx
Very entertaining and informative as always .
Max, if you can, you might want to try dropping the trees uphill, so you can pull them down "with the grain." Saves clambering through all the thin stuff too.
Another great vid. You're getting more relaxed in front of the camera. :o)
It would be nice to have the choice! My woods are so awkward to work in I am happy if I can just get the trees down without them getting hung up. The stand I felled in the video were all growing towards where the camera was so that's how they went down.
Great introduction to woodland management. I learned a lot. Thanks.
Love hearing how you manage your own sustainability as well as that of the land and equipment 👌💚
I'm so glad i have come across your videos, love your thinking and way of doing things. Arohanui from Aotearoa, New Zealand x
Fantastic video with lots of useful information. Many thanks.
Love your videos Max, and your attitude to life. Keep up the good work, and I always look out for new content. All the best.
You're such a hero, man, you really are.
Great video.learned loads from you and loved your understated care and concern for your work.Well done and thank you
Very interesting video and it taught me something quite important! I thought that basically all trees were doomed if they were cut below about 3-5ft from the ground. Nice to know that they can be harvested in this way, that makes me feel way less guilty about wanting a wood-burning home in the future lol
Very very helpful. Thanks for spending the time telling us all.
I found this really informative - looking in future to move to area where we can buy a bit more of land to go with property. Thanks for your posts
Great to see such a can do attitude. Love your vids.
Absolutely love your stuff, top bloke. Keep on man.
Loving the videos, especially the Land Rover work. Have a great Easter.
Hello Maximus, I basically do the same work on our 44 acres. Woodland here in our region(central) of our province of New Brunswick , Canada, is much cheaper($10K CND/acre) than where most folks live. Looking after one's woodland is very rewarding work :)
In a country where skills are hugely undervalued it's great to see how fulfilling it is to have a bash at a wide range of tasks. This is how we evolved and has only changed in fairly recent times. It's inspiring to watch if somewhat challenging..
Never a dull moment thanks for a very informative video
Once you get your head around coppicing it really is deeply humbling the way nature provides for our existence,it truly is a sign that we are to work with nature.In a woodland that I am blessed to be custodian of there are stools that are hundreds of years old and that have given thousands of Kw of heat and structural wood from one tree.The uses of different years of growth is amazing from willow baskets at one year to NHS walking sticks at 3 years foundry poles at 4 years charcoal firewood and then structural, the old copse(Old word for coppice)would be lined with fruit trees and on the way in to work the workers would eat the mixed fruit and on the way home they would gather the fruit during the warm weather and barter for beer.The more you learn about this ancient method of forestry the more you have respect for the balance of nature.Thank you Max for your videos an assortment of interesting down to earth subjects.
Bravo Max. Excellent talk and demonstration.
Cheers again Max ,nice one
I absolutely loved it lad 👍👍👍👍
I learned a lot. Good show. Thanks!
Very nice homestead and explanation on sustainable forest management.
this was extremely helpful, thank you
Cheers Max, most interesting.