Pimps, Faggots and Benders

[Chris Sheppard]

yes ,,,you snooze you lose,,lol,,,,mr walters teaches rural craft courses too,,,,definetly a very interesting charachter,,he`s a guru in earth burns(charcoal)too.....

 

.....and a thoroughly nice chap too

[Big Bolt]

Race course jumps are made from fine birch tops if you have one near you give them a bell

[Highland Forestry]

Well I've just ordered a copy of that book.... looks a very interesting read!!

 

The reasons behind my thinking here are all about added value.. If I purchase a standing sale then we own everything and it seems to me that in predominantly birch plantations we could be leaving behind quite a good resource.

 

If I could sell faggots at £1 each for example, I am sure that one guy working away could make more than 20 in an hour and so the profit would be quite good.

 

I don't live in an area good for much else, we have hazel etc in places but no really coppice woodland, and certainly no chestnut etc.

What we do have is birch though!!

[Frankie Lawrence]

Ive known people make pea sticks out of birch and sell them for a very reasonable profit considering most of it gets burnt or chipped. its monney for old rope etc etc

[chestnut]

that book is excellent

 

the faggots should sell ok - and they are quite easy to make - once you have got the hang of it

 

we use birch tops for pea sticks too - and i also make large climbing frames for plants out of birch tops - they are like obelisks - and are great for clematis / sweet peas / beans etc - i have sold quite a few of them in the past - but as we don't have much birch left in our copse, i usually just make them for myself nowadays - as they usually only last one season

 

i have even bundled tops of them up (wrapped around old plastic bottles) - to make bird boxes to pur around the copse

 

also sold large quantities of birch tops to a local florist before now - they love the stuff for using as decoration etc at big events (like spring weddings)

 

birch tops are great - shame to burn it as brash

[the crafty weasel]

Race course jumps are made from fine birch tops if you have one near you give them a bell

 

I was going to suggest the same thing. I use birch twigs for whittling cockerels and other birds. If you did this with every fork on every branch and sold them for £8 each like I do you'd be in the money

 

[Ross Macneil]

Another good book is Celebrating Birch: The Lore, Art and Craft of an Ancient Tree

Greg Wright (Author)

[csservices]

Is this it?

 

The Encyclopedia of Green Woodworking: Amazon.co.uk: Raymond Tabor: Books

 

Edit: Delabodge beat me to it

Thats the one, saved me trying to find where Mel tidied it up to after I was reading it the other day

[delabodge]

I make loads of these form birch,,,long time since i uploaded any pics,so not sure how this will come out,,,

[delabodge]

hopefully close up!