Traditional Woodland Crafts

The classic text on coppicing and woodland crafts, redesigned for a new generation of woodspeople.

If you're lucky enough to have access to a patch of woodland, this book contains everything you need to set up, manage and profit from a thriving coppice. But even if you don't, there's plenty of information on traditional woodland crafts here for you: learn how to work with bought coppiced wood to make all manner of products, from the archetypal besom broom and humble tent pegs to sturdy gate hurdles.

Woodland crafts expert Ray Tabor guides you through a range of heritage woodland conservation methods. He introduces the best tools for each job – the time-honoured woodsman's billhook being the most important of all – and the devices you'll need. He shows how to select wood for each purpose, from ash, traditionally used for tool handles, to chestnut for making perfect fences. There's also an in-depth exploration of the essential art of riving (splitting wooden poles by hand).

Full of invaluable advice, historical information, useful diagrams and evocative photography, this book will help you reconnect to nature and the environment, and gain immense pleasure from creating beautiful crafted products using heritage methods.



Ray Tabor worked for much of his life in a woodland nature reserve in Suffolk, producing and selling traditional products, and chaired the conservation activities of the largest Wildlife Trust in the UK. He led courses in woodland crafts and management and wrote regularly on crafts, tools and woodland conservation, including Green Woodworking Pattern Book for Batsford.

Preface 6

Part One: Woodland Work 8

1 Woodmanship 10

2 The Raw Materials 22

Part Two: Techniques 44

3 The Care of the Wood 46

4 Tools of the Trade 60

5 Devices 78

6 Measuring and Cutting 90

7 Riving Wood 100

Part Three: Products 112

8 Materials for Gardens and Fencing 114

9 Thatching Wood 126

10 A Miscellany of Products 138

11 Besom Brooms 152

12 Gate Hurdles 164

13 Wattle Hurdles 176

Appendix 1: Dimensions of Less Common Tools 195

Appendix 2: Dimensions of Woodman's Devices 196

Appendix 3: Useful Measures 197

Appendix 4: Making Charcoal in a Steel Drum 198

Endnotes 200

Glossary 201

Acknowledgements 204

Useful Addresses 205

Index 206