Overstood hazel uses

[Aunt Maud]

A spar maker uses inch and a half to two inch. I used to spend hours chatting to a spar maker in Somerset, he never used anything above 2", as he couldn't split it sitting down. He used a small billhook and tapping the end of the wood on the floor with the hook on top to get it in, then twisting the wood with his left hand and twisting the hook with his right, he never looked it it either and did it by feel. A couple of swipes at each end with it held across his thigh and that was it.

 

He never moved from his chair until he ran out of unsplit lengths (they must have a name....it's not gads, as they go on the roof) and was always sitting in front of the telly to make spars. He must have made millions of the things. His billhook had a strip that was worn smooth like polished silver across the blade, the rest of which was black.

 

If his grandson was there, it was his job to cut the Hazel rods and bring them in. If you went at the weekend, the whole family would be there on a Saturday morning, all making spars the same way he did it and the kitchen floor was thick with shavings.

 

If yours are straight enough you could split them into 4' lath for wattle.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Aunt Maud

[TobyAllen]

Get a branch logger.

 

Unfortunately overstood hazel is pretty useless.

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[the village idiot]

Overstood Hazel is perfect for charcoal, although I think you said you weren't keen to get into that, rendering this post damn near useless!

[Paul in the woods]

I'll try anything once. I'd love a small charcoal kiln but that'll have to wait.

 

I'm happy to burn it provided there's not a better use. The slightly large poles can be used to make gate hurdles if they're straight enough and, apparently, morris staves.

 

Funnily enough I was going to suggest milling as a bit of a joke, then when I had a good look round I discovered a few trees approx 20cm / 9" dbh - not huge but perhaps worth milling for curiosity if I ever need to fell them.

[Stereo]

I use anything around 2" to make chicken roost bars and other bits and bobs! Anything bigger than that goes for firewood and a fine fuel it is too. Dries quickly and doesn't soak up too much when it gets damp. Got loads of neglected hazel and alder that I'm bringing back into rotation for coppicing and most of it is for fuel at the mo. One thing I would say is maybe don't hit the tree too hard in one go. I've done a few seriously overstood ones and killed them by doing the whole lot in one hit. I would maybe do it over 3 years, taking off the outers first. Sometimes you have to take a lot out as they inevitably fall over when they get too heavy but I have found a slower approach to be better in most cases. Or you could coppice the outer stems and pollard the inners so the tree still has something to work with. I might try that with the ones I've got to do next week.

[SteveA]

I use anything around 2" to make chicken roost bars and other bits and bobs! Anything bigger than that goes for firewood and a fine fuel it is too. Dries quickly and doesn't soak up too much when it gets damp. Got loads of neglected hazel and alder that I'm bringing back into rotation for coppicing and most of it is for fuel at the mo. One thing I would say is maybe don't hit the tree too hard in one go. I've done a few seriously overstood ones and killed them by doing the whole lot in one hit. I would maybe do it over 3 years, taking off the outers first. Sometimes you have to take a lot out as they inevitably fall over when they get too heavy but I have found a slower approach to be better in most cases. Or you could coppice the outer stems and pollard the inners so the tree still has something to work with. I might try that with the ones I've got to do next week.

 

I hacked a bunch of our overgrown Hazel stools and they all came back fine.

Have you tried layering any of your stems to create new stools?...

cheers, steve

[Aunt Maud]

I had to clear cut my Hazel coppice 7 years ago, as there was no way of selectively removing any of the stems. It had been neglected for a good 20 years, but it has come back lovely now.

 

The large stools didn't grow back so well from the stool itself, but it was -20ºC when I cut it and for 3 months after, so that may have had an effect. They have regrown from around the old stools though, possibly from dormant buds underground.

 

They're a good size too, some are about 80 - 100mm Ø.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Aunt Maud

[Paul in the woods]

Only 20 years! I think the only stuff I haven't got is good quality coppicable hazel in rotation. I've got 20 year old plants that have never been coppiced, old hedge bank trees, odd trees that I would guess are more than 50 years old and stools that were probably coppiced 50 year ago and are about 3' across at the base.

 

I've also been advised to leave a few poles on the large old stools, or cut them over a couple of years. I'll cut a couple and see how I get on, watching out for hibernating critters as I gather there's a chance of animals in the stools?

[Aunt Maud]

Now I'm going to have to do a ring count now to be sure. We bought the place 8 years ago and that's when I cut them, just after I rebuilt the roof. It was so overgrown, there was nothing growing on the whole plot apart from interlocking Hazel trees.

 

The old man that had it cut a strip 2 metres wide around the back, it was amazing and so dark inside. Everything was leaning over at 70º because of the wind, even the trusses of the roof were leaning over....mad to think he was living in there like that.

[Axe man]

I've cut quite a lot of derelict Hazel and it's always come back fine. Cutting some that is 50years old at the moment and last seasons cut has grown back well. I also was a full time spar maker for 10 or so years, I didn't like hazel over an inch and a half diameter as it made the spars to broad and so had to be thinned down with the hook which wasted time. I split my spars with a small straight headed adze which was used to guide the split whilst pushing the rod against a wooden peg,then pointed up with my spar hook. Used to knock out a thousand a day.

 

 

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