How to Cut Derelict Overstood Hazel Coppice Stool for Restoration in 5 Minutes. What's the Best Way?

[@christ2187]

I’m with you on processing and tidying up as you go, makes for a much easier job👍😊

[@AbellTo]

It works for me, I’ve tried other methods and occasionally fell a few and go back but it’s what works best for you. Thanks for watching

[@phyllisburrell8661]

I appreciate you're method for processing, as you go. Thanks for sharing, sincerely in San Diego California

[@AbellTo]

My pleasure! Thanks for saying

[@19571957able]

A masterclass in dealing with the situation;no waste.

[@AbellTo]

Thanks, I’m not convinced it’s a masterclass but it a system that works for me.

[@twcmaker]

Hi Darren. Processing as you go makes so much sense. Two reasons for me. 1st) You're moving your body around more doing one task after the other. Saves you getting stiff, keeps you more flexible. 2nd) If there's a sudden downpour, or you have to leave, it's better to come back too. Great little video Darren.

[@AbellTo]

Well said mate that sums it up well

[@FrenchFarmhouseDiaries]

Nice short video Darren on how its done thank you buddy 🍺🤠👍🏻

[@AbellTo]

Thanks Budo. I just want to help others get hazel into cycle

[@threeriversforge1997]

It's the little details that make a difference.

[@grahamv5380]

Great video Darren. We do the same helps if you have a small team. We use the brash in a dead hedge. I’m envious of you having no bramble, ivy and good access makes the process much easier

[@AbellTo]

Many hands eh. The bramble had been shaded out here but I imagine it will return for a few years until the shade comes. We have bramble in our woodland and I’m just starting this year’s bramble smash.

[@GrizzlyGroundswell]

Very helpful.

[@AbellTo]

Thanks

[@Timausdenardennen]

Nice overstood hazel knowledge. I never used hazel as firewood, have to try it - if i get it somewhere 😮.

[@AbellTo]

It has a thin bark and has good calorific value and often doesn’t need splitting, dries well if the lengths are about 9”

[@twcmaker]

​@@AbellTo my Log burner is a little small Darren. I'm thinking I could go down to 7" and not need to re cut later. Does that sound okay to you?

[@AbellTo]

@@twcmaker yes that is a nice size, for small burners 8” was a go to number, a balance of not having as many cuts and not having to squeeze the log in

[@simonh2679]

Thanks for your take on cutting overstood hazel. Great info for us newbies.😀

[@AbellTo]

You’re welcome hope it helps in some way. It can be rather daunting looking at a tangled mess

[@yonmusak]

Brilliant mate, thanks. The only good thing with my overstood hazel stools is that I got the most incredible spoon making lumber. Nothing better and it cuts like butter with a spoon knife.

[@AbellTo]

Thank you, I made my first spatula with hazel and it turned out the best shape. All the best with you coppice and carvings

[@aryafeydakin]

We have complicated things with directionnal tree felling and overly complex notches that are specialized for big timber. To clean old coppices, if you start with the old coppiced tree at your left side, all you need to know is a single diagonal left to righ downward #2 (hidari kesagiri) cut, which is in fact the most easy and instictive cut to do with a chainsaw held right handed. So in this way, having open a first space into the coppice, you go counterclockwise around the coppice stool with the same #2 cut. If the branch is hang up, keep cutting another chest high #2 cut, pull the branch down or left it go down, and cut another segment and so on until you can pull down the entire branch. The secret is to cut CHEST HIGH (just like with the aptly named hazel hoe or adze), and only when the branch is felled, cut the branch to ground level with a flat face cut. If you start by cutting directly at ground level, like it is told in schools, you're going to loose a lot of time and energy.

[@AbellTo]

That’s a really interesting technique. Thanks for sharing it. In my mind I’d tend to go clockwise but I’ll give this some thought. All the best in the coppice!

[@aryafeydakin]

​@@AbellTo Basicallly this more akin to a pruning technique than a felling technique. When the coppice is not too big, it is probably best to use a perch chainsaw rather than a chainsaw, because it is safer to do high cuts with it, and then you can in fact go in any direction. But with a chainsaw you're kind of constrained to go counterclockwise. For two reasons, first with #2 cut you opened a passage for your chainsaw to get more cut to the left (so that's why you end up going counterclockwise around the stool). Secondly, it's having to do how a normal chainsaw is designed. Doing a #1 cut (downward from right to left) with the tree on you right side and going clockwise is possible, but the hold is less strong, and above all the chain is inside you so you need to keep the arms more outstretched and cut wayyyy lower to avoid risks. While with a #2 cut the engine block is shielding you and the chain is outside you, the holding position is strong, there's less risk doing higher cuts.

[@AbellTo]

@@aryafeydakin great details thanks so much

[@eckythump6429]

Looking forward to this one as I am going through an area of derelict hazel in my wood at the moment. Trying an experiment of pollarding some of them just under a metre to see if that is enough to stop the roe deer nibbling them.

[@AbellTo]

Hope it helps, I’ve seen pictures of this Coppard method. I’d be interested in the results you get

[@eckythump6429]

@@AbellTo I cut a few stools down to ground level last year and the deer have been nibbling all growth back down to the stumps. Plan is to use the brash to build cages around the stools I have had to take down to the ground and then see how the pollards get on without protection. Walked the dog around the wood today and two bucks just stood there and watched us walk by 20m away. Didn’t even have the decency to run off!

[@AbellTo]

@@eckythump6429 that’s quite depressing but I hope a good brash ring helps you and the hazel. They’re quite cheeky up your way!

[@tavascarow]

I was told to pile brash over the stool to stop deer from browsing the new shoots.

[@AbellTo]

Hi, some do but it tends to affect the hazel Regrowth as it zigzags it’s way through the brash. But that may still be better than deer eating the stool to death

[@combitz]

Thanks Darren, that video is a gem, I wish I'd seen it 2 years ago, I might not have knackered myself up tripping over the brash. I left the little whips which probably made it more challenging stupidly and tried layering them but I think about 5% have survived, very disappointing. So, I'm on the other end of the cycle this year, I've just order 50 hazel (Corylus Avellana) 60-80mm to collect on Saturday to create a new area. I'm thinking about 2m apart or should it me more? There are just 3 hazels in this spot and it's the clearest area I've got to start with, probably about 25x25m but I've not actually paced it out as there's a dozen or so really old elderberry trees doing well within the patch which I don't really like but also don't feel the need to take out. I've gotta survive the office rat race till then though, Saturday feels a long way away. p.s I just found your regrowth time lapse for anyone who wants to see the next stage. kzbin.infoBhtfi1nP75U

[@AbellTo]

If you wanted to lay some it’d recommend doing it with the new growth after 2 growing seasons. But I have seen others keep a couple of whips on and lay those. Shame yours weren’t successful. I tend to plant at 1.5 - 1.8m spacing. New plantings need to be close, think French oaks which are planted really close.

[@AbellTo]

Thanks for sharing the link, it’s really interesting to see it grow eh?!

[@Nellyontheland]

I've done it more than once 😂

[@AbellTo]

What have you done?

[@eckythump6429]

Me too, right after explaining the dangers to someone else!

[@Nellyontheland]

@AbellTo I believed that my prowess with a dead weight was enough to maintain a downward trajectory whilst pushing all of my strength and gravity into the action! ... ergo, I have smashed my skull or eye or teeth, putting in a simple post. I'm buying a power unit now!

[@Nellyontheland]

@@eckythump6429 The 8ft poles are the worst to start off 🫡

[@AbellTo]

Ah the post driver video! Gotcha