Can I make all usual structures with just wood from my small woodland?

[Jester129]

And did the nasty fox come and huff, and puff, and blow the house down?
Just askin'

 

[John Brown]

And did the nasty fox come and huff, and puff, and blow the house down?
Just askin'

No. It was a wolf.

 

[Cozzer]

Methinks you could do worse than building a "Roman workbench"....




Check out some more of his videos and you'll see how he develops work-holdings etc.

 

[Qwercus]

Oops. it is a bit long, I do tend to waffle but here it is.

I have a small woodland of close to 1 acre and a couple more of open land.

I came onto the land with just a couple of tools including a chisel and hammer.

Of course I will intend to grow and fill out the arsenal a bit but I am interested most in the simplest ways of creating as possible, going back to time honored traditions - specifically to the uk if applicable. With that in mind I am thinking of what tools I could also make from the wood with just what I have already, just bootstrapping from the environment.

I will resort to sourcing things from the local hardware yard only as a last resort and would like to exhaust the self sustainable ideas first.

For the moment I would like to make a workshop with just a basic worktop and frame for shelter. I would either use a tarp to cover or sod and other stuff gathered from the ground to make a roof.

I know you will want to know what type of wood is in the woodland but to be honest I haven't got a clue! I also don't have a camera handy right now to take any images of the wood for you to get a better idea.

I know it is generally considered a 'nono' to work on green wood but that is mostly for longevity concerns isn't it? If I go into accepting the structures may not last for long then can I just continue on regardless and replace as they might get dilapidated?

All I can say is the general thickness and size of the trees which are about thigh thickness and maybe 20-30ft high. If you could offer me things to look for on the trees to be able to come back to you to help identify I could do that.

I would also like to be able to do everything with just the chisel and hammer as well as tools I could make from those, and perhaps saws once I get them but won't have them for a while. My mother should be coming with other tools when she comes to visit and there are a lot of old tools there. I can sharpen them myself can't I?

Better to recycle old tools, which I think had better build quality than today's stuff? They are tools handed down from my grandfather so probably around 1950s. My family are great collectors so loads of stuff I could put to use which had just been sitting around in the garage but they are definitely going to be blunt and require some tlc.

Besides the lack of tools I would be interested in doing joinery rather than using screws just to keep everything as self sustainable as possible with materials I have on the land.

So is that feasible? I don't care if it might take longer this way it is about the satisfaction of doing things in a self-sufficient manner. For practical reasons though it will be important to get the workshop up within a reasonable time to be able to use it to make other stuff!

I had a quick look and mortise and tenon joints look doable?

I can see myself being able to make a frame for a shelter like that but to make a flat or kind of flat worktop how would I do that? Could I just manually chisel away on the trunks until I got them pretty flat place them side by side?

CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology) near Machynlleth used to be open to the public and featured all sorts of low-tech and eco-friendly ideas for sustainable living.
Now they seem to have evolved into a College and only offer admission to pre-booked groups. That's a pity as it was always an informative and inspiring place to visit.

 

[Jason Wheeler]

The Forestry Commission offer free courses but they have limited funding and it’s closed for 2024 - a mate just did a weeks hedge laying course with them in Wiltshire - and if you lay boundary hedges you can also get a grant of £13.25 per metre - tough work but “free” money.

https://www.forestryandarbtrainingfund.co.uk/

https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/hedgerow-laying-bn5

Obviously if you don’t have suitable hedges on the boundaries this is irrelevant!

As somebody else posted, you are limited to cutting 5m3 per annum (excluding brash which doesn’t count) without a felling licence - you can take out diseased trees (Ash die-back for example) outside of that but without knowing what trees you have hard to give advice.

 

[Fitzroy]

At our last house, I was growing an apricot up the side wall of the garage, but decided to enlarge the garage, so moved the apricot out into the garden. Supported it with a willow stake. The apricot died, but the willow flourished.
(and as an aside, we had the best crop of apricots we've ever achieved this year. In an unheated Aberdeenshire greenhouse)

Homemade apricot jam? You've got me wanting hot buttery jammy toast now!