Lockdown Logging

[LadyG]

I have enough food for a month, access to Services and enough coal for two weeks, been out foraging deadwood, left my cut logs outside last night, and a kind person added a slice of oak out a hedgeback, it will need dried out, no problem.

Should I buy a proper axe, or a splitter, I only have a good lumphammer and a good little Bahco bow saw. Can I use a good axe and lumphammer as a splitter, all a bit academic as I'm locked down, but I could have the axe delivered.

Alternatively I could pass it on to GG (name witheld for legal reasons!), who has a chainsaw?

Edited November 7, 2020 by LadyG

[Jen-in-Wellies]

A good axe will do nicely, but a moments inattention can lead to horrific injuries. Especially bad if you are on your own, out in the wilds. Log splitters are safer. If you buy a chainsaw, get at least three, so you can learn to juggle. ?

Jen

[Hudds Lad]

wood grenade and a big hammer also useful  

[Higgs]

 

[Alan de Enfield]

46 minutes ago, LadyG said:

hould I buy a proper axe, or a splitter, I only have a good lumphammer and a good little Bahco bow saw. Can I use a good axe and lumphammer as a splitter, all a bit academic as I'm locked down, but I could have the axe delivered.

A splitting axe is very different to a chopping axe.

 

Whilst a chopping axe CAN be (inefficiently) used to split, a splittig axe is not a suitable chopper.

 

Very different blade shapes and profiles.

[tree monkey]

It depends,  a decent maul is best for general splitting and a small hatchet for kindling (used with a lump hammer if your not too confident)

Standard felling type axes will work for splitting but are no way as effective as a maul and tend to get stuck in gnarly timber.

Wedges/grenades personally I wouldn't,  they can be useful but also if hit wrong can be kicked out of the timber and become an actual grenade   on a public towpath this is not good

 

[Athy]

32 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

A good axe will do nicely, but a moments inattention can lead to horrific injuries.

Jen

When I was taught to use an axe, in the Boy Scouts, we were told to stand with our feet almost together and level with each other, rather than thrusting one leg forward in a butch I'm-a-lumberjack pose. I've always used one this way ever since and, over half a century later, I still have a full set of feet and toes.

[blackrose]

To split wood you need a maul, not an axe.

 

 

https://thestrypes.com/best-splitting-maul/

 

 

These things are good, but you have to keep bending over to pick them up off the ground (and you'd need a bigger hammer!)

 

 

Edited November 7, 2020 by blackrose

[noddyboater]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

To split wood you need a maul, not an axe.

 

 

https://thestrypes.com/best-splitting-maul/

 

 

These things are good, but you have to keep bending over to pick them up off the ground (and you'd need a bigger hammer!)

 

It's true that a splitting maul is needed for knotty gnarly stuff, but I've recently been converted to a felling axe for anything straight grained such as ash.

It takes far less effort making it quicker and less tiring when you are lucky enough to have a good pile of logs. Something around 6lb, with a long shaft, but most importantly razor sharp. 

Of course it goes without saying to be extremely careful when swinging something like that around, it can do far more damage than a blunt maul.

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, tree monkey said:

It depends,  a decent maul is best for general splitting and a small hatchet for kindling (used with a lump hammer if your not too confident)

Standard felling type axes will work for splitting but are no way as effective as a maul and tend to get stuck in gnarly timber.

Wedges/grenades personally I wouldn't,  they can be useful but also if hit wrong can be kicked out of the timber and become an actual grenade   on a public towpath this is not good

 

I'm pretty confident with hand tools, was a farmer and a gardener in another life, and learned use safety glasses at all times, I have my full first aid kit nearby , this is kind of a one off.

I just usually saw small diameter dry stuff, but if  I run out of that, and I suspect that is going to happen in about a week then I'll get a Hultafors small forest axe, just for the hell of it, I used to collect good hand tools, but sold most of the off, practically gave them away!

Little did I know I'd be sat near a forest for four  weeks , and that it would be four weeks from civilisation, when the pub opens up again!

Edited November 7, 2020 by LadyG

[noddyboater]

If you're at the woods between Retford and Forest Locks try tying up on the offside piling opposite the bollards.

There was a good supply of windfall branches in there, and you may even be able to turn at the widest point of the bend. I can't at 60' but that's down to draught not length. 

I've seen the gamekeeper around but he never said anything about not mooring overnight there.

[Alan de Enfield]

11 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

If you're at the woods between Retford and Forest Locks try tying up on the offside piling opposite the bollards.

There was a good supply of windfall branches in there, and you may even be able to turn at the widest point of the bend. I can't at 60' but that's down to draught not length. 

I've seen the gamekeeper around but he never said anything about not mooring overnight there.

 

At this time of year, you might not be popular if they have Pheasants there - rustling about in the undergrowth is very disruptive and Pheasant shooting is BIG money.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Alan de Enfield

[Higgs]

I'm not a pheasant plucker

I'm a pheasant plucker's son,

I only pluck pheasants

until the pheasant plucker comes.

 

 

Red lorry, yellow lorry. 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2020 by Higgs

[noddyboater]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

At this time of year, you might not be popular if they have Pheasants there - rustling about in the undergrowth is very disruptive and Pheasant shooting is BIG money.

They have unusual black pheasants in the woods there. Very plump and juicy,  they wander around with little fear. 

I'm sure if you were to moor up and have a late evening wander with a well silenced decent air rifle you wouldn't come back empty handed. 

Not that I'm recommending Lady G does such a thing of course. 

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

Not that I'm recommending Lady G does such a thing of course. 

Armed trespass is a serious crime, however use of alcohol soaked wheat or barley (which makes them fall out of the trees) would only result in a charge of poaching.

 

Did you know it was illegal to have an uncovered Air-rifle in a public place, but you can legally & openly (not covered) carry a shotgun and ammunition in a public place.

[LadyG]

39 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

They have unusual black pheasants in the woods there. Very plump and juicy,  they wander around with little fear. 

I'm sure if you were to moor up and have a late evening wander with a well silenced decent air rifle you wouldn't come back empty handed. 

Not that I'm recommending Lady G does such a thing of course. 

I've seen these black pheasants, but I tried pointing a shotgun at a rabbit once, never again even though I've been offered shooting from time to time, I just could not do it, even fishing for the pot, nope. As kids we used to spend summer holidays on a farm and learned how to tickle trout, snare rabbit, blow bird eggs and so on, that's how I got in to farming, and even got a dog once, but she was gun-shy, in spite of her firld champion pedigree.

I did try shooting with a little silver firearm, it was really smooth, targets of course, and probably illegal, but that was only a one off, and as I was a Min of Ag officer, it would not have been a good idea to do that too often.

I got a very plump pheasant from the butcher a few weeks ago, £4.00, no sign of any shot and no warning label, not  sure if they are farmed, many of then spend all day at the feeders, and can hardly get off the ground!

My fav is guinea fowl, not too gamey.

Edited November 7, 2020 by LadyG

[Athy]

24 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Armed trespass is a serious crime,

The armed bit, probably; trespass in itself is not a crime as far as I'm aware.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Athy said:

The armed bit, probably; trespass in itself is not a crime as far as I'm aware.

Armed Trespass is certainly a serious offence, and whilst 'basic trespass is not directly an offence, what you do or do not do when on the land without permission can result in an offence being commited.

 

ie :

Not leaving when requested to by a Police Officer (3 months in prison)

Attending a 'rave' (3 months in prison)

Unauthorised camping (level 3 fine)

 

There are dozens more.

 

[LadyG]

3 minutes ago, Athy said:

The armed bit, probably; trespass in itself is not a crime as far as I'm aware.

It's academic, though there is a shooting place in Clayworth, so I could get shot, a catapult would probably be the best thing, you either hit them  or more likely miss, I know we got one to get rid of seagulls on the boat, but if we got rid of one he was replaced the next day by his mate. 

[LadyG]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

Armed Trespass is certainly a serious offence, and whilst 'basic trespass is not directly an offence, what you do or do not do when on the land without permission can result in an offence being commited.

 

ie :

Not leaving when requested to by a Police Officer (3 months in prison)

Attending a 'rave' (3 months in prison)

Unauthorised camping (level 3 fine)

 

There are dozens more.

 

Gosh, well there were 700 at an illegal rave, just how much did the police fine them?

Scotland naver had Trespass as far as I am aware, though there were a few notices, and before the"freedom of access" Laws I was quizzed by a landowner chappie when I put my tent up to dry it one morning,  I certainly wasn't stealth camping, it was a bright orange tent.

[Sea Dog]

5 hours ago, LadyG said:

slice of oak out a hedgeback, it will need dried out, no problem.

No problem perhaps, but it can take up to 2 years to season oak. Starting now, as winter approaches, I'd expect at least a year; starting as spring commences it could be as 'quick' as 6 months 

[noddyboater]

39 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Did you know it was illegal to have an uncovered Air-rifle in a public place, but you can legally & openly (not covered) carry a shotgun and ammunition in a public place.

Yes, I know carrying an uncovered air gun is illegal,  you must also remove the magazine if it's a multishot pneumatic. 

I think the law has also changed so you must have a valid reason for having it in a public at all now.

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

Yes, I know carrying an uncovered air gun is illegal,  you must also remove the magazine if it's a multishot pneumatic. 

I think the law has also changed so you must have a valid reason for having it in a public at all now.

I know - yet I can walk around Tesco's (C19 allowing) with an 'exposed' shotgun over my shoulder (as long as I have my SGC in my possession)

At times the "law is an ass".

[Athy]

26 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Armed Trespass is certainly a serious offence, and whilst 'basic trespass is not directly an offence, what you do or do not do when on the land without permission can result in an offence being commited.

 

ie :

Not leaving when requested to by a Police Officer (3 months in prison)

Attending a 'rave' (3 months in prison)

Unauthorised camping (level 3 fine)

 

There are dozens more.

 

Yes, my point exactly. It's not the act of trespass itself, it's what you do when you get there.

[Mac of Cygnet]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

 

Scotland naver had Trespass as far as I am aware, though there were a few notices,

 

An oft-repeated but untrue statement, similar to the one which states that there are no rights of way (because unnecessary) in Scotland,  See https://www.thompsons-scotland.co.uk/blog/33-main/2527-are-there-really-no-trespassing-laws-in-scotland#:~:text=It is an oft-repeated,delict in Scots legal terminology.&text=This Act provides the public,Scotland in a responsible manner.