Category Archives: Woodland

Main category for all items related to woodland, management, conservation, habitats, planning etc.

Mobile Sawmill at Buckland Filleigh, Devon

Mobile Sawmill

We’re now able to provide customers with locally sawn timber using our Peterson Winch Production Frame mobile sawmill, our goal is to help UK woodland growers get more of their  timber to local markets or to use in their own projects. Milling at or near where the timber is grown and harvested can add value, rather than selling and transporting roundwood to a fixed sawmill.  We specialise in providing softwood and hardwood sawn timber in non-standard sizes to customers from South West England woodlands.

Mobile sawmill

Mobile sawmill cutting Larch

Most types of timber can be sourced from woodlands that have Forestry Commission approved management plans in place, this includes Larch, Douglas Fir, Spruces, Western Red Cedar, Western Hemlock, Pines, Oak, Sweet Chestnut, Ash, Wild Cherry, Beech. Our mill is perfect for high quality “quarter sawn” cutting, without the need for turning the sawlogs.

Portable sawmill

Peterson WPF8 sawmill

Large sawlogs or residual stacks

There are times when an individual high value large tree, felled or fallen, is in a difficult location and not economical to extract. This is an ideal scenario to take a mobile sawmill into the woodland and mill the log in situ, or there could be a part load of roundwood on site after the timber haulage has finished. Our mobile sawmill can be used to turn the remaining roundwood into higher value sawn timber, rather than left to decay or sold as lower value firewood.

Larch sawlogs

Stack of Larch sawlogs ride side, Devon

We’ve just started a milling contract to saw these Larch sawlogs that have been sitting ride side for quite a while. The sawlogs have been setup next to the sawmill to provide the most efficient layout for milling.

Mobile saw mill

Peterson Mobile saw mill, Devon

The old stack of Larch that was left ride side is now being processed into sawn timber destined for a local Glulam factory in Crediton. The customer requires sawn boards that are dimensional correct end to end to process into high quality finger jointed and knot free timber.

Here are some images of the Larch timber we have sawn.

Sawn Larch timber stack

Sawn Larch Timber at woodland edge, North Devon

sawn Larch timber with mobile sawmill

Stacks of Larch timber milled at the woodland edge, North Devon

For further details about our sawmill please visit our dedicated website at www.sawmiller.co.uk or call (01409) 281549. We provide a friendly and affordable milling service.

Handcrafted Cleftwood fence and gate

Handcrafted fence frames and gate

Handcrafted wooden frames and gate

Handcrafted rustic frames and gate made from Sweet Chestnut wood

The design challenge was to create a unique semi open divide between the edge of the driveway into a garden. This particular garden has a South-Westerly aspect, with rolling Devon hills beyond. The customer wanted something specially designed to enhance their garden, be handcrafted and unique.  After considering a few options a design was agreed that involved creating two sculptural wooden frames either side of a central gate. This was to be handcrafted in durable Sweet Chestnut wood. Curved cleft pickets of various lengths were fitted in small groups to the bottom rails. Two pieces of Sweet Chestnut branch wood were stripped of bark and incorporated into each frame.

Bespoke designed gate

Handcrafted Cleft Rustic gate

Bespoke Cleft gate made using Sweet Chestnut wood

A bespoke three foot by six foot lightweight gate was designed to fit with the cleft wood frames. The lower section of the gate followed the theme using curved pickets. For the upper section a piece if mirror cleft Sweet Chestnut branch wood was morticed and tenoned into the gate frame. The gate was hung with galvanised hook and eye hinges.

The finished Design

Bepoke fence and gate decorated with lights

The finished fence frames and gate, decorated with exterior lights

A curved link piece was added to join left side frame to the side of their house. The frames were decorated with exterior lights for the Christmas period. The customer plans on adding wire netting to the back of the frames to deter their Persian cats from escaping to the lane from the enclosed garden. Fortunately their cats aren’t agile climbers.

Designing and installing bespoke handcrafted garden items is what we specialise in. We work with our customers to create something different. Please browse through some of our other projects for examples of our work.

To discuss your design requirements please call on 01409 281549 or email to info@wealdenheartwood.co.uk

Oak Planters for the Country Living Fair

Bespoke Oak Planters

I was recently commissioned to design and make bespoke Oak planters for the Lucy Summers feature garden at the Country Living Fair at The London Business Design Centre, which runs from Wednesday 18th March until Sunday 22nd March.

Oak planters at Country Living Fair

Lucy Summers feature garden Country Living Fair

My planters are handcrafted using locally sourced Oak from Devon and have been used as corner pieces to frame the overall design, as seen in the picture above.

Below, this is how they looked before delivery to the show.

Bespoke designed Oak planters

Bespoke designed Oak planters

Crafted Mini Yurts

In comparison with a large full sized yurt, a mini yurt is light weight, easy to assemble, highly portable and takes up less space when pitched. Crafted from hardwood timber locally sourced from Devon woods, these small yurts are designed for a variety of uses for both children and adults. A seven foot yurt can sleep two adults and are a great alternative to ordinary tents.

Mini yurt

Mini yurt by the estuary at Tregunna, Cornwall

Mini yurt

Our small yurt on show in the gardens at Coombe Trenchard

For more information please see website page about mini yurts.

Oak cleft gates

These Oak gates were designed and made for a customer using greenwood. The gates were styled to fit in with their surrounding environment. They also needed to be livestock and deer proof.

To make these gates the green Oak round wood was split into quarters using steel wedges. A froe was used to cleave these quarters into the thinner pieces used to make the individual gate components.

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The rough cleft Oak was smoothed and shaped further using a draw-knife. The greenwood was left to partially season for a number of weeks before the final cutting and assembly of the gates took place.

After the Oak had been rested, the next stage was to mark and cut all the tenons and mortices prior to assembly. The rails were carefully chosen in pairs to ensure a degree of continuity between both gates. This design uses five rails and these are fixed using stainless steel nails. Stainless steel nails are used to limit the chemical reaction of the tannic acid naturally present in Oak with the metal, this avoids dark stains appearing on the wood, which you would eventually get with galvanised or other non-stainless steels grades of nails.

Finally, the vertical pales and diagonal braces were cleft, cut, shaped and fitted to the gates.

All our rustic gates are individually designed and handmade for each customer in either Oak or Sweet Chestnut. For further details, please email info@wealdenheartwood.co.uk or phone (01409) 281549 to discuss your requirements.

Stairs and Fencing in Cleft Sweet Chestnut

Rustic Stairs

This project involved working jointly with another company Quay Carpentry. The brief for their customer was to craft components to meet their outdoor stairs design, which would link a terrace and have fencing along the top of the terrace. The timber suited for the rustic look was Sweet Chestnut. After discussing design options with Quay Carpentry the individual components were crafted for them.

Crafting the Components

We planked the stair strings by cleaving from large rounds of Sweet Chestnut rather than milling. This was important for the stair string turn because cleaving naturally follows the grain, compared to sawing that cuts through the fibres. This helped with the next stage of processing, which involved steam bending and setting on a former to obtain the desired shape. Also, the handrail for the stair turn was steam bent and set on a former after steaming for a couple of hours. This can seen in the preceding photo, which shows the handrail in the former after steaming.

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We crafted two individual rustic gates. One would be used for the top of the stairs and the other along the fence line. These are shown in the next two photos.

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Each of the stair treads were cleaved from large rounds, similar to how the stair strings were produced. We split the newel posts, fencing posts and rails etc. from smaller rounds of Sweet Chestnut. The hand tools used were axe, froe, splitting wedges, draw knife, spoke shave, bit and brace.

Installed Stairs, Gates and Fencing

After the components were delivered to the customer, Quay Carpentry completed the installation. The result of finished work can be seen in the last photo.

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Our customer was very pleased with the end result that produced a unique rustic look that is perfect for its function and rural setting.

Bespoke Cleft Chestnut Panels

This project involved making a number of bespoke Sweet Chestnut panel infills, which were installed in the upper area of a barn. Sweet Chestnut had been used for the roofing components, so the customer was looking for the same wood to be used. The stair ladder and upright pieces to hold the Chestnut panels were made by a carpenter using reclaimed Oak. Due to the variability of the Oak pieces, each Chestnut panel was different in size and was custom made to fit each section.

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The handrails of the stair ladder were made from Sweet Chestnut and contrast the darker reclaimed Oak frame and treads.

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The panel spindles were made from cleft Sweet Chestnut pales, which were installed into mortices made in the outer frame. A froe is used to split the wood down the grain and a drawknife used to smooth the surface of the pales. The panels have a unique handmade look that blends in with the stone, exposed beams wood and thatched roof of the barn.

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Greenwood was used for all the Sweet Chestnut components. The final piece was a bespoke gate made to fit at the top of the stair ladder.  This was designed so that the gate could only open inwards, which was achieved by extending the top left section of the gate.

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This a good example of using green Sweet Chestnut for various interior components.

Sculptural Trellis using Cleft Chestnut

Sculptural Trellis

Here are some photos of a bespoke trellis fence that is made from cleft Sweet Chestnut batons and rinded small diameter poles. Part of the inspiration for this design was taken from a Swedish style of rural fence and this was worked into a sculptural design to fit the needs of this project.

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A pole frame was constructed and fixed to posts either side of the gap in the hedge. The righthand side post was split down the middle and the poles were fixed inside before being bolted together.

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The batons were fixed to the frame with galvanised nails.

Trellis Designs

Here are a few more examples of bespoke trellis that can be fixed to a wall or side of a building. Due the variability of cleaved wood every one is unique, so the designs that can be made are endless.

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Cleft Sweet Chestnut is extremely durable and doesn’t require wood preservatives. The wood will weather to silvery grey overtime.

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Rustic Chestnut Gates and Fencing

Rustic Chestnut Gates

Here are some examples of bespoke Sweet Chestnut gates and fencing that can be handmade to order. Sweet Chestnut is coppiced sustainably from woodland, which provides a regular supply of quality wood to create naturally durable products. The wood is used green i.e. not kiln dried after removing the bark and much of the sapwood. Various green woodworking tools are used, such as a froe, draw knife, twybil, axe. These are used to shape the Chestnut gates and fencing into the finished pieces.

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Natural shapes, bends and twists in the wood are incorporated into finished product to create distinct one off pieces.

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Products can be made in a range sizes, shapes and styles, so you can let you imagination run wild…

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What’s more coppiced woodland has a positive outcome for biodiversity, therefore by buying any wood products sourced from any coppiced woodlands directly supports future habitat management as well as the rural economy.

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There is always a good stock of Sweet Chestnut available in various sizes and lengths, so if you require something specially made to order or need to source some materials for your own green woodworking project, then we are happy to discuss your requirements. See our page for Timber and Coppice Products

Low Impact Extraction to aid Woodland Restoration

Restoration of Native woodland on Ancient woodland sites has been growing in importance over the last decade as a mechanism for recovering previously lost or diminished habitat. For those conifer Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS) that are deemed suitable for full or partial restoration, there are many pitfalls to avoid to achieve this goal successfully.

One such activity I’ll cover in this post is the extraction. The wrong choice made could seriously reduce the benefits of restoration to a woodland site. It could even make the situation worse than before the restoration, so careful consideration should be made for each site. If new extraction routes are required to get machinery in, and timber out, then this alone could cause serious damage to the existing ecological conditions and/or restrict the restoration development afterwards. The choice of extraction equipment is vital to give the site being restored the best chance to recover, create the right type of ground disturbance and avoid damage through soil compaction.

Over the years I have experienced two different types of low impact extraction the first being horse logging and the other with an Iron horse low ground pressure machine. Implemented correctly, both of these extraction types are very good for PAWS restoration. My experiences with horse logging were a few years ago when I volunteered some time to the Working Horse Trust based in Eridge, East Sussex. The Ardenne heavy horses that I worked with at the Trust are beautiful and powerful animals, capable of shifting significant amounts of timber through narrow extraction routes, without damaging the woodland floor. My lack of equine knowledge didn’t worry me as there were experienced and friendly people on hand to help. I seriously considered horse logging as a profession to integrate into my business.

Ardenne Heavy Horse with logging arch

Ardenne Heavy Horse with logging arch Weald WoodFair 2009

Iron Horse extracting 18' coppice poles

Iron Horse along a woodland ride extracting 18′ coppice poles

However, after weighing up all the pros and cons I decided that horse logging wasn’t the right choice and opted for an Iron horse instead. This has proved extremely valuable to the business and has been impressive in a number of different extraction tasks. Like with a horse’s hoofs, the machines rubber tracks are good at disturbing the top layer to help unlock a sites seedbank.

The Iron horse and horse logging extraction methods are slower and more costly than other larger types of extraction equipment, but what price to you put on the damage the alternatives can cause?

Coppice site extracted using and Iron Horse

Coppice site extracted using and Iron Horse