Felling Linden Trees with an Axe to Harvest Bast for Cordage | Anglo-Saxon Coppicing and Bushcraft

[@gesithasgewissa]

Hi all! You can check the subtitles and description for more detail. Thanks for watching, and many thanks to Herknungr for the music 'The Wolf Chieftain'!

[@paulstrickler5684]

The skill set needed to accomplish everything that a Saxon required to live in the early medieval era is vast indeed, but nothing would come together without one essential mindset: patience.

[@gesithasgewissa]

Patience is the only thing holding this project together hahaha!

[@DefaultFlame]

I got recommended this channel from a comment on one of Primitive Technology's videos, and you certainly don't disappoint!

[@gesithasgewissa]

Hey that's great to hear! Thank you

[@XL-5117]

The axe is an incredibly powerful weapon in the right hands. It obviously needs to be sharpened and used correctly, but when used properly it’s like a surgical knife. I’m impressed by your skill and precision and what it’s taken to learn to do this.

[@gesithasgewissa]

It's a basic but incredibly effective tool, like most hand tools! Thank you for the kind words.

[@MattKeevil]

Subscribed! Of interest for anyone more familiar with trees of eastern North America, the name of the Basswood (aka American Linden, _Tilia americana_ ) is a derivative of "bast-wood". I've got a great big one beside my house and squirrels are constantly harvesting the bast from dead branches.

[@gesithasgewissa]

Hi Matt, thanks for sharing, I hadn't thought of that connection between basswood and bast-wood before. The bast would certainly make a cosy nest. Thanks for watching!

[@angelcollina]

Squirrels know what’s up!

[@Rymontp]

What an incredibly relaxing and informative video. It's so peaceful. During busy uni life, videos like these bring me a bit closer to nature and my ancestors, even though I'm not the one outside! I was very surprised when you suddenly jumped into the pond haha. Cool tattoos btw. Thanks for the video!

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thank you Ryan! I'm happy you feel a bit closer to your heritage watching these. Haha, the sludge and pond weed was just too inviting 😉 If you're interested the tattoo is based on Germanic knot work or interlace art Style II D. Thanks for watching!

[@Rymontp]

@@gesithasgewissa Thanks, I'll check it out

[@benchandler5809]

My man went in a bog you get my like good sir you earned it

[@gesithasgewissa]

Bog Man 😄 Thank you

[@elemental4rce]

love to see another person coppicing with axes! never been a fan of the slip fits but they certain fit the anglo saxon theme.

[@gesithasgewissa]

Hi Owen, it’s great to see your videos too! I’d like to show some bigger tree felling with proper felling notches at some point - these trees were so caught up I had to “beaver” around them. And yes, slip fit handles are common in Early Medieval axe finds. As iron was so expensive, I wonder if it could have been a way to use one axehead for many tasks. I do find it quite useful to switch out handles for felling or carving and so on. Thanks for watching!

[@TheudBaldM]

Thank you for this great video! (and happy to see another slip-fit axe user!)

[@gesithasgewissa]

I'm glad you enjoyed it Theud! There will be more axe and woodworking videos coming.

[@arabellachampaq689]

Wow watching you skin those trees

[@gesithasgewissa]

So satisfying!

[@adel3529]

You are very easy on the eye

[@gesithasgewissa]

😆😆

[@HrafnirKrumr]

Great videos! Production quality and material realism are great, thank you! Of course, I am subscribed now.

[@gesithasgewissa]

Welcome, and I appreciate your kind words! I hope you enjoy the future videos just as much.

[@zapplebuttergaming5647]

Dude droped a tree on us

[@gesithasgewissa]

My bad! 😆😆

[@andrewlast1535]

My Friend. Awesome channel. I like watching these videos to chill. Can you help me out and leave the subtitles on for just a wee bit more? Lol

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thank you friend! I'm glad you find them relaxing. Noted! I will try to slow the subtitles down a bit in my next video.

[@andrewlast1535]

@@gesithasgewissa lol Thanks.

[@chriscorbin2059]

Whenever I watch videos like this it always makes me wonder who figured out that the inner bark could be used much less the curing process

[@gesithasgewissa]

That's such a good question! Perhaps people began by picking up old bast which was partially decomposed itself?

[@RAMUNI-Viking]

Awesome channel. So happy i found this. Great video guys

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thank you, I'm happy you enjoyed it!

[@dawnbaker9274]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thanks for watching!

[@williamrobinson4265]

well done - like an expert

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thank you! ☺

[@dalonclance6167]

Thanks!

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thank you very much Dalon!

[@chip582002]

Great videos! I've enjoyed all of the ones I've watched so far. So what happens to the rest of the tree or even the outer layer of the bark?

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thanks! The trees got used as supports for a shipbuilding project I was working on at the time

[@Wildnaturegirl1]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thank you!

[@Tony.795]

I just found your channel, I really like the theme and the video style. Is this a specially made axe like the other one and what did you use for the handle?

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thank you, I appreciate the compliment! This axehead is an old vintage felling axe, which I restored. It very closely resembles Saxon axes from Flixborough and Nydam. The handle in this video is actually just a green hazel branch cut to size! The slip-fit head means it is easy to make a temporary handle when you are in a hurry. I've since made a longer one, though still out of hazel.

[@SCARRIOR]

Please keep going mate; you have so few videos, and I would love to see more. Just remember if your motivation is to make a living out of this, you don't have to rely on youtube adsense, you could sell stuff using your audience, just make an ad to your workshop where you make anglo-saxon inspired stuff. PS: How can you fell trees without getting the local council involved?

[@gesithasgewissa]

I'm definitely going to keep making videos! I might make some unique Anglo-Saxon items to sell sometime in the future. This is coppicing, not clear felling. It comes under woodland management and, when done correctly, is beneficial to forest health and biodiversity. So it's not a problem with local councils ☺

[@SCARRIOR]

@@gesithasgewissa Good, the councils are a corrupt menace.

[@SonsofThunder1234]

Hundreds of years later, some things never change. I live very close to a walled, Saxon town in Dorset. Men, no doubt descendants of Anglo-Saxons, still walking around the town with similar hairstyles and clothes but minus the weapons, of course. (Instant arrest if seen carrying such weapons)

[@gesithasgewissa]

Hipster Saxons 😉

[@danielstarks8255]

This is brilliant! How long do you dry the bast and how pliable is it after drying?

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thank you! Drying the bast only takes a day or two and it's very pliable, soft and papery. It helps to dampen it a little again before twisting into cordage.

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

👍👌👏

[@gesithasgewissa]

Thanks!

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

Dear @@gesithasgewissa You're welcome, it's my pleasure. Thanks for replying and especially for giving a heart to my (unusually short) comment. I always and totally appreciate both very much. Best regards, luck and health in particular.

[@XSR_RUGGER]

Could you have left the tree standing while removing the bark? That would let it dry off the ground then could be used later for whatever is needed. I know it's a very soft wood but I'm sure there are uses for it like utensils and American bass wood is great for friction fires, I'm not sure on the English version though.

[@gesithasgewissa]

Sure, I could have done that! Although as linden is so prone to rot I would probably still cut it and dry the wood under cover. As it was, I gave the wood from these trees to the Sutton Hoo Ship's Company, who I was working for at the time!

[@XSR_RUGGER]

@@gesithasgewissa That's awesome. I didn't think you were wasting it by any means I just wasn't sure if it would rot faster on the ground. I recently stumbled across your channel and I'm loving it.

[@gesithasgewissa]

@@XSR_RUGGER I'm glad you're enjoying the videos, thanks for watching! ☺ Linden does carve beautifully, I wish we had more of it. I'm loathe to cut them because they are very rare here in Britain. Although these trees were going to be cut anyway for coppicing.

[@srenhaandbk7904]

Does the water have to be this still and swamp-looking? You say "freshwater pool" in the transcript, but I'm not sure if pool neccesarily means still water. Could I put these in a freshwater stream? Maybe if I let it sit longer? I'm wondering what part of the water is doing the main work, and if it could be the life and bacteria in the still water, or if it's the submerssion itself.

[@gesithasgewissa]

It's definitely the bacteria doing the work, as the process is a 'partial rotting' to break down the lignin and loosen the bast. The bacteria are probably present in most 'wild' water. I know the process works in running stream too, although it might take a little longer. Each water source is different so it's worth experimenting a little to see what works best.

[@srenhaandbk7904]

@@gesithasgewissa Ah okay, thank you so much!

[@angelcollina]

If you didn’t have thread to hand, could some of those inner fibers be split very thin and used as thread? Obviously it wouldn’t make the finest embroidery, but maybe to stitch up a hole in a garment? Or maybe to tie around small things, like a bunch of herbs for drying?

[@gesithasgewissa]

Absolutely! It's very similar to flax, so you could make a very nice alternative to waxed linen thread, which would be great for sewing shoes or leatherwork. I wonder if these fibres could also be scutched like flax into soft fibres for spinning and weaving.

[@angelcollina]

@@gesithasgewissa Oooh, I didn’t think about that! I’m just learning how to spin in a drop spindle. I’ll have to find out! :D

[@gesithasgewissa]

@@angelcollina Drop spindle spinning is on my list too!

[@angelcollina]

@@gesithasgewissa It is… confusing for my hands, at first. But when I do the steps right, it’s like frickin’ magic!! Suddenly my weird fluffy mess turns into… like… real yarn that I see in stores! (I know that must sound utterly stupid… ) I’ve managed to do 2-ply and 3-ply woolen yarn, but they were very short and kinda lumpy 😆 Today I’m off of work, so I’m going to try to learn finger weaving.

[@gesithasgewissa]

@@angelcollina That doesn't sound stupid at all, that's exactly how I feel sometimes when testing some experimental archaeology, whether it's woodcarving, house building or spinning!

[@suzettehenderson9278]

So what did you do with the rest of the trees?

[@gesithasgewissa]

These trees were used as struts by the Sutton Hoo Ship's Company, who I was working for at the time.

[@suzettehenderson9278]

@@gesithasgewissa so cool!😁

[@sergeigen1]

i would like to know how the anglo-saxon people made their tools, like the axe, did they use stone tools when they went to start a new village ? or did they already arrive with metal tools ?

[@gesithasgewissa]

Hi, good question! They most likely brought metal tools with them when migrating, probably just the essentials: knife, axe, mattock and smithing tools. Some villages had a blacksmith, though many farmers may have been able to forge their own basic tools. I'm planning some Saxon forging in the future!

[@sergeigen1]

@@gesithasgewissa yeah! seeing historical forging would be super interesting, i wish many aspects of our modern society would still use the old 'master and apprentice' system

[@gesithasgewissa]

@@sergeigen1 Great, that video shouldn't be too far off now. That system would be fantastic for reviving traditional crafts!

[@jachse8464]

Granny knot?

[@gesithasgewissa]

Yes indeed!

[@damienstone5470]

Harvesting Bast looks a lot like harvesting Bark...

[@gesithasgewissa]

Yep! The bast is the inner bark. But you can't make rope from just linden bark, you have to separate the two.

[@tonyantonio0139]

ATHELSTAN?????

[@gesithasgewissa]

Could it be?! 😆😆

[@ГалинаНадеждина-ъ9й]

Снова кукуруза...😂Америку откроют только через 800 лет, а применять культуры картофеля, томатов, кукурузы и другие начнут аж через 1000 лет!!!!!

[@gesithasgewissa]

Not sure how this comment relates? I won't be growing any corn, potatoes or tomatoes if that's what you mean...

[@jeybl8452]

Er Hasst Bäume 😂

[@gesithasgewissa]

Quite the opposite!