Coppicing
This form of woodland management is now starting to make a comeback after many years in the wilderness, both metaphorically and physically. One of the problems in regenerating coppice woodland that has been neglected for many years is the fact that the initial clearing produces a high proportion of wood that is unsuitable for craft or traditional timber products, some of the larger diameter can be used for firewood but an alternative use is the production of charcoal. There is no need for high setup costs for the Small Scale Production of Charcoal, as the method described uses scrap 45 gallon drums (no I do not know what that is in litres!)
What is coppice woodland?
Coppicing is the cutting off of trees, near to ground level to stimulate
them into producing a great number of new shoots. These new shoots tend to
grow rapidly and straight, after between 8 and 25 years depending on
variety they are then cut and harvested for use in traditional woodland
produce.
In the above illustrations the left hand drawing shows the normal growth
habit of a tree and the one to the right shows the growth habit of a
coppiced stool.
What are the advantages
The cycling of areas of woodland enable a wider diversity of flora and
fauna to survive because of the changing light levels on the woodland
floor. The woodland is more efficient as the straight poles provide more
useable timber especialy for the traditional woodland crafts.
Traditional products include hurdles both woven and morticed, tent pegs, besoms, swill baskets, green wood and rustic furniture, walking sticks................
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