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

[stateit]

Think on this:

Neolithic, bronze age, and iron age people would not have survived in terms of creating shelter and making the utensils, materials and tools necessary for life from one acre of scraggy boggy woodland.
They would have roamed much further to gather the necessary materials.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Think on this:

Neolithic, bronze age, and iron age people would not have survived in terms of creating shelter and making the utensils, materials and tools necessary for life from one acre of scraggy boggy woodland.
They would have roamed much further to gather the necessary materials.

That is a very good point. I watched an episode of digging for Britain last night and they uncovered some Bronze Age artifacts and analysis showed the copper content had been mined in Austria/Switzerland. There was even ivory from Africa and amber from the Baltic. It is really surprising how ‘global’ the economy was in in the past. Perhaps that leaf spring from a Toyota isn’t against the rules

 

[Bingy man]

These Bronze Age , cave men etc used what they had at the time of their existence they ate what ever animals roamed the land and caught fish from lakes and rivers . Fast forward to today and just because the available materials, animals and fish , the climate and the environment have changed if these Bronze Age , Iron Age men were still here today they would still use what is available so should anything be against the rules within reason. I’m sure they would of made use of for eg solar energy if they had the means..

 

[Plwm]

I'd start with a simple frame and tarp lashed to suitable trees to give some rudimentary shelter to get you going. Something to keep you, and tools, dry and out of the wind, somewhere to work... Have seen old parachutes used for shelter (do it myself in my own wood) but not sure how waterproof they are?
As stated, winters coming - clearing, processing wood etc takes time. Think how long it'll take, double it and add some more works for me!!
Whereabouts roughly are you in Wales?

 

[Hypnotic Chimera]

I'd start with a simple frame and tarp lashed to suitable trees to give some rudimentary shelter to get you going. Something to keep you, and tools, dry and out of the wind, somewhere to work... Have seen old parachutes used for shelter (do it myself in my own wood) but not sure how waterproof they are?
As stated, winters coming - clearing, processing wood etc takes time. Think how long it'll take, double it and add some more works for me!!
Whereabouts roughly are you in Wales?

I can confirm through direct experience that parachute material is waterproof enough to make a dry shelter. Given enough material, you'd have an outer an an inner with a small air gap.

 

[jetsetwilly]

That is a very good point. I watched an episode of digging for Britain last night and they uncovered some Bronze Age artifacts and analysis showed the copper content had been mined in Austria/Switzerland. There was even ivory from Africa and amber from the Baltic. It is really surprising how ‘global’ the economy was in in the past. Perhaps that leaf spring from a Toyota isn’t against the rules

Guessing games are fun. A hand axe and a saw are not mutually exclusive, they are partners. I cut my round wood with a good quality pruning saw as the narrow blade is less prone to binding in the stem, the saw also cuts to size but for shaping and cleaving a well sharpened hatchet is very hard to beat. However, once the roughing out is done, you need a knife.

Maybe he can unearth a suitable stone and put an edge on the side of his chisel? How big is it?

 

[woodlearner9810182]

I based my comment on that you did some coppicing while volunteering. Not knowing the level of instruction you received.
Was this a one day course ?

No, it was ongoing. There was no official training but there were a couple of professional coppicers that just used to hang out on sight and come by quite often. The organisers of the volunteers were good friends with them, and also related in one case, so they would have passed information to them but also when were there they would say dos and don'ts if they were just around on that day and I was doing some. So just an informal basis but over 1-2 years.

 

[woodlearner9810182]

Ok, last couple of days I had a bigger priority and that was access.

There was nothing to start but a hole in the hedge and greeted with soggy muddy rushes and grass as soon as I stepped foot on there.

I have now cleared with the shovel and ordered in gravel which I have put in and am now able to park within the perimeter. This feels much nicer now and nice today to not be totally caked in mud just from getting in and out the van.

Since I bought the gravel, which indeed came from elsewhere since I would not be able to use anything to hand for that amount of material, it got me thinking about sourcing wood.

I have come around to the idea now of buying roundwood from elsewhere and getting it brought in. Reason being is I chopped down just a little tree yesterday, probably 2 inch wide then I suddenly thought that if I keep chopping what little I have here it will diminish the nice privacy screen they are providing.

So I am open to that now.

It was never a hard and fast rule that I must do everything like neolithic man from what I have here. It was more that I want to explore the feasibility of it if it is impractical then I will look at other options, which I am now doing. So it was just thinking of the most simple and basic and working up from there.

The other extreme, which my mum has kept telling me to do is just buy a pre built shed to store stuff right away. I don't want to do that now either since from my research I think I can easily make a simple shelter from suggestions here and this way I can make what I want how I want it plus the satisfaction of making it myself.

Lean-tos style it seems would be easy. So my compromise I think is buy some round wood and experiment away with making stuff with that. Is it reasonably priced for a good bit to practice on? I know it is less than more processed wood but I haven't bought that either so don't have a reference.

Leafing through the SAS guide I saw a good plan for making simple walls by putting two sticks, or rather four, two at each end, into the ground next to each other with a gap, optionally lashing at the top, and just dropping sticks into this gap to from a wall. Another optional addition is to have another gap between two sets of dropped sticks and pile earth or whatnot in between.

That looks simple and effective.