Pollards, the forgotten art-discussion

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I have been working for the last few yeasr with a sawmill and 're marketing' the idea that the timber we are surrounded by can be re used- a tree taken down in a garden can be made into furniture, or a shed in the very place it came down. Because thats exactly what we used to do, coppice and pollard products were used locally, those products kept people employed locally and thus the cycle continued, until cheap oil. Thats the problem we face. Its far easier and cheaper to buy a picnic bench from b&q than have one made from local oak. But if oil gets expensive and 'timber miles' get expensive then we will need to use local timber for local product. But it about education and money. Your man with his tree next to the house mibght like the idea that if it were pollarded it would keep him in firewood for life, but hes got a gas fire..

So just fell it and be done..

 

The world has changed, for some its for the better. Life in the woods to get your products is hard, trying to sell shingles and compete with tin is hard, splitting firewood is hard. People want an easy life. You come home and switch the lights on. They wrok without anythought as to where the power is coming from.

 

Its all well and good looking at how pollarding fits with nature-bugs , fungi etc, but how does it fit with your man in the street?

 

Starting to waffle again..

 

Not wafling at all, i do wish people would stop worrying about expressing their views, its ALL good man. You make a good point, but one we already know, so how about debate on HOW WE can chsange the "thinking" it cant be too hard, the public now have a better understanding of "air miles" and legitimate sourced goods etc, eventualy slowly, we will brifge this gap, and find a bio diverse, comunity enhanced way of life. it is coming, i remain ever optomistic

 

I wanted to see Trades folks views on what is essentialy a harsh technique in the urban fringe, and what we might do about finsding our way again.

[Stephen Blair]

only rich folk can be organic and green in this country. It all comes down to money, if you want to live in a hut and cook your dinner over a fire in the garden then you can afford to be a woodsman, have no holidays and probably have arthritis by the time you are 45, and dont expect to be able to afford a grandsworth of ppe just to wear to work everyday. I think you are dreaming a bit tbh, i dont want to work a saw or axe 10 hrs a day, i like my warm house and good standard of life, i can make more hedge cutting 6 months a year than you will ever earn pottering about a wood i reckon..

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

only rich folk can be organic and green in this country. It all comes down to money, if you want to live in a hut and cook your dinner over a fire in the garden then you can afford to be a woodsman, have no holidays and probably have arthritis by the time you are 45, and dont expect to be able to afford a grandsworth of ppe just to wear to work everyday. I think you are dreaming a bit tbh, i dont want to work a saw or axe 10 hrs a day, i like my warm house and good standard of life, i can make more hedge cutting 6 months a year than you will ever earn pottering about a wood i reckon..

 

I aint so sure, its all about making the very most of your products really, imagine if I was to fell an oak for subsidance tommorow, and was charging 1500 quid to fell and remove all arrisings.

 

so i am up, got the money for two days, so lets get a saw mill round the back, cut some planks store em for a while, and oh thats a nice burr well lets put an advert on e bay some bowl carver will have that.

 

or lets winch that walnut root out they will have that for rifle butts etc etc etc

 

it just requires imagination, look what these boys do with a carving tip! awsome stuff

[josharb87]

pollards are a great

 

tbh i have only read a few pages of this thread, but heres my opinions.

 

i would like to see a scheme where a goverment body/charity like EN, FC or simmilar pay for privatly owned woodlands that have been previously managed for produce, to continue to be managed in their traditional way, coppice inside, layed hedges, pollards on boundarys ect. imo, the native woodland produce stuff, inc charcoal, firewood, and woodland furniture could be sold to help contribute towards the cost of the management, and being labled FC, EN, EH, RSPB ect, you could put an aditional premium on the product, just because its been labled/endorsed by these type of orginations

 

the ecological benifits of a managed woodland could be a great asset to the english countryside, habitat piles out of the unusable brush, gaping big holes in old pollards, thick dense native hedges oozing with berries

 

yes you do have to be imaginative with re using wood, it can even be done in the urban enviroment. took down a small POLLARDED! contorted willow yesterday, kept the brash, took it to a florists, pocketed 50 quid, theyll re-use it for decorations. a modern twist on pollard produce perhaps?

 

as for a band of self certified high calibre arbs doing free tree work. . . . . .

[Darren]

I am still waiting for the really "crafty" types to add, they are bound to have some little gems of information, certain aspects of wood that they seek etc?

 

when was spalted wood first used? i bet it was desirable a long long time ago

 

here is a bowl I made out of a rotten piece of spalted Elm.

Someone sees rubbish I see opportunity.

 

[SJH]

Nice bowl.

I think the way to go to would be to go down the line of the ancient crafts route, the pollard is and ancient craft like willow weaving and basketry, there is a few grants out there if you own or manage woodlands from the FC, and there is groups out there that are trying to promote and educate people and the goverment about the need to keep the legacy of incient skills and crafts alive for future generations. this might be of use or not?

 

Heritage Crafts Association

 

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6dcebl

Edited December 23, 2009 by SJH

[High Scale]

only rich folk can be organic and green in this country. It all comes down to money, if you want to live in a hut and cook your dinner over a fire in the garden then you can afford to be a woodsman, have no holidays and probably have arthritis by the time you are 45, and dont expect to be able to afford a grandsworth of ppe just to wear to work everyday. I think you are dreaming a bit tbh, i dont want to work a saw or axe 10 hrs a day, i like my warm house and good standard of life, i can make more hedge cutting 6 months a year than you will ever earn pottering about a wood i reckon..

 

So very true, it is only the rich who can afford to live and promote the organic and green life style, they are the trust fund lobbyist elite, only wealth can create this way of thinking, poverty provides no time for this train of thought, poverty only provides misery.

[woodmad]

I agree with the crafts route and modern twist on pollard products, thats what i have been doing.. look at my website. BUT it costs, and as stevie says only rich people can be green / organic in this country. Until there is a change from the 'lets get it delivered to the door by tescos' rather than use the local shop then we are doomed, well not doomed but it is a very neiche market, and one that takes a lot of effort to work.

And its about education - people we work for need to know that to 'tree- cycle ' their tree into a peice of furniture is an option. Most dont know it can be done, cos the tree man wants the wood for his log delivery. The amount of people that enjoy the fact that the tree can been re used is up to us.. but it will only be the wealthy ones that can take it on board IMO. Councils etc should and could, we have done work that helped their crediability no end, but more could be done..

 

What if councils or contract managers had to be more aware of what happens to the 'waste', if they could get some new benchs for a park, or play stuff for a school, THAT is the future, then you can start doing URBAN pollarding and the likes, as people will see that the produce has been used and then they will get the picture.. IMO !!

[Lee Winger]

You don't have to be rich to have an allotment and grow a few veg or keep a few chooks, or go foraging in the woods or fish the coast

[Mozza]

Woodmad, Just had a good look at your website mate, Some of that stuff is amazing, Really really good!!