Coppicing Hazel

[Daniël Bos]

Hi all,

 

I've been offered a chunk of woodland to coppice, predominantly hazel with some Ash and other hardwoods in it as well.

I've not been involved in coppice management before but have done some for other people. I'm normally hedgelaying nearly full time through winter and the cost of Hazel has been steadily rising over the last few years, so the option of cutting my own would allow me to rake in a bit more money by cutting what and when I need it. I normally get an artic load of binders delivered and if I have any left by the end of season I use it to make fancy-fences for those what live in posh houses. This side of business has been more profitable but people tend to not ask me to build a fence next year so it means I can only work with what i have left over from the winter's work.

 

The main questions are, how does it normally work?

Do people get paid for the coppicing work they do, or do you have to pay the land's owner?

How much per acre do you pay/receive?

How many rods of Hazel would you expect to cut per acre, assuming full cover?

 

The block is deer-fenced and I believe about 7 acres. I haven't gone to see it yet, but thought I would ask here first for some things to look out for, main costs people have etc.

 

Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Daniel

[Crazy Cutter]

Woodland crafts by ray tabor has a table of what you can expect to produce. My book is at my new house so will dig it out over the weekend unless someone else on here has a copy? Hazel goes for anything from 300.00 to 900.00 an acre depending on quality. Only look to coppice an acre so you don't end up with too much and work it up as you go. Leave it tidy and you'll be invited back! And make sure the fence is working before regrowth starts. Try and find a source for fascines, they are a chore to make but are a source for your rubbish and were going for around 7.00 each?

[Big Bolt]

fascines we call them faggots here a good little erner when you can do 80 a day and as you say it saves burning the rubbish,most of my coppice is free just to keep the coup's in good order.

[Crazy Cutter]

didn't want to call em faggots as thought too rude for this site!!!!! or is that my mind. haven't had any faggot orders for three years now? we need large open fires again or smaller faggots! i found when making them that i tried to make them too tidy.

[Gnarlyoak]

didn't want to call em faggots as thought too rude for this site!!!!! or is that my mind. haven't had any faggot orders for three years now? we need large open fires again or smaller faggots! i found when making them that i tried to make them too tidy.

 

The only way to defeat the PC brigade is to refuse to adopt their ideology and terminology. A faggot of wood has been a faggot of wood for centuries if not millenia, let it remain so. As I'm sure the wood will not feel the least bit offended.

[Daniël Bos]

I'm Dutch, we're what I like to call "post-PC".

 

Faggots are faggots, and the woods are a gay place at times.

 

 

 

Thanks for the above advice, so I can be expecting to pay something between £0 and £900/ acre?

 

I'd cut mainly to supply myself, so any extra income from by-products would be great, how much would you charge for faggots?

 

If I'd cut an acre a year on 7 years rotation, would I be paying for 1 acre/year or 7? IOW is that stated price for the produce, or the rent of land?

[Crazy Cutter]

1 acre per year so you pay for what you cut. 3 years ago i charged 5 per faggot, the closest quote to me was 7.50 and the order for 200. it more than filled an arctic but a pain to load. all species can go in blackthorn was an arse but was straight coppice stuff so made fairly quickly! try your local drainage board for a contact or chop it all for kindling?

[Bob Slade]

you will make more money if you can find a thatcher in your area, 90% of the hazel spars used in this country are imported from Poland by the artic load.

[coppiceer]

In my experience, the amount of usable wood that you are going to cut will depend on the age of the site. If it is a recently established plantation then you are mainly going to get rubbish (bent/forked stems) for the first few cycles. If it is an old site then a lot of the coppice may be "overstored" and be difficult to bring back into rotation. My site is an ex-arable plantation about 12 years old. Binders take 2-3 years to grow and stakes/poles 3-4. By 7 years the stuff is only fit for firewood.

 

It all comes down to money in the end. Will you be better off spending hours of valuable earning time cutting out a few useful binders or being gainfully employed at what you do best?