Off Grid Ireland | Self Sufficiency | Firewood for winter and Upcycling old timbers

[@joannabowers1358]

Watching from the deep piney woods of east Texas…where many Irish settled during the potato famine including my grandfather Murthy’s family. I love watching your kids thrive.

[@OffGridBruce]

Sounds lovely!

[@johnbaxter189]

Save the nails Bruce and recycle them. Also save Ur wood ash for the gardens.

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks for the good advice John. I actually reused most of the nails in my compost loo build :)

[@davecunningham8476]

Always love your vids Bruce. This channel deserves 100k+ subs

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks David maybe one day

[@carolfaberpeake857]

So happy for you all!!

[@rosedoucet2188]

So great to see your girls working along side of you! It would appear they have bought into the dream just at the right age 🧡👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 What a wonderful childhood for them 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻💜

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks. They definitely seem happy here. Hope there do take to it and ease my workload 😊

[@juliadickenson178]

Loving your videos. As I wait for my cancer op it's balm for my troubled soul. Thankyou so much.

[@OffGridBruce]

🙏 thank you! Sending you love and healing ❤️‍🩹

[@TerryTerryTerry]

Nice.

[@amyhoffman5839]

We call trestles "saw horses" here in the USA...lovely property!

[@OffGridBruce]

Thank you. Funny how we have different names for things when speaking the same language 😊

[@amyhoffman5839]

@@OffGridBruce , I'm already a big fan...I'll share your videos with my "off-grid" friends!

[@OffGridBruce]

@@amyhoffman5839 thanks Amy! Really appreciate that

[@briangrammer898]

Thanks!

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks Brian

[@claudineraynsforddyer9884]

What a beautiful place you've found with all the land, what a jewel. I bet that wood smells lovely when your chopping it 💚 Betsy that soup sounds yummy 😍

[@OffGridBruce]

The pine smelt amazing. The kids have amazed me with there cooking. They are both so helpful

[@diaryofavanpandapaddys6520]

Beautiful place you guys have found. Looking forward to following you along.

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks guys we are super happy right now :)

[@yorkietokemk3]

Love watching your content guys" 🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks mate 🙏

[@tonieveritt7045]

Morning my dad lives in the south waterford what a beautiful place that is i do love your placebeen to ireland and it is lovey place to be who nos what will happen one day again keep yourself and family safe untill next time.

[@annaignacz939]

Looks really nice, we are so happy for you. Sending you lots all lots of love 💕

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks guys

[@suzyking9973]

We are enjoying your videos . We did what you are doing in West Wales many years ago. Bringing up the girls they loved the smallholding life as they was both under 3. Look forward to seeing more of your life on Utube Excited for you all

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks Suzy. Lots to do but it’s all very exciting :)

[@victoriaheelas3923]

Always makes me smile watching your videos! It all looks so amazing! ❤️ Xx

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks. :)

[@edwinfarquhar7000]

Morning! Just sat and watched your latest update whilst having my breakfast. The pencil thing Bruce. Oh my god. I usually find mine behind my ear . . .

[@OffGridBruce]

I used to always keep one tucked into my hat but guess I forgot 😂

[@2listen2u]

Look into Silky saws they are absolutely brilliant. I have a Silky Bigboy 2000, perfect for cutting my coppice, it goes through willow, hazel and alder like butter. The experience of cutting like this is much more pleasant then with a chainsaw. Which I mainly use for cutting everything up in pieces.

[@OffGridBruce]

I am gonna check them out right now :)

[@RustyRoseAdventures]

Nice work! Something I love about processing wood! Lots done guys well done!

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks Max :)

[@orlamartin7564]

Hello! Very glad I found your channel!! We moved back home to Cork from London with our two young kids last August, having been away for 11 years. Hoping to buy a small cottage (that needs sooooooooo much work) on one acre very soon. Will be great to follow you along for inspiration as we try to figure what to do and where to start. (You all look much handier than we are 😳💪) ☺️

[@OffGridBruce]

Hey Guys! Awesome we love Cork. Annie’s dad actually lives in cork city. Good luck with your place. Can feel a little overwhelming at times but step by step :)

[@GrowingLittleCountryhomestead]

Working with children is great and building memories is wonderful but work is slow 😂. I don’t mind working slow.

[@OffGridBruce]

I like slow :)

[@phillyandkeely]

love this guys! We almost bought 5 acres of forest land with a wee cottage in Donegal a couple months ago, but we got outbid and were gutted, so now we are gonna travel around for a while and then get back to looking for land agan for our little off grid home somewhere. So we will be getting inspired by you guys and learning a lot I'm sure until we get some land ourselves. That roof space looks great, so much potential. Excited to see your land and home progress over time xx

[@OffGridBruce]

Ah good luck guys! I’m sure the perfect spot is there for you somewhere. We were living in our van before landing here. The journey was just as fun as what’s happening now :)

[@jukeseyable]

@@OffGridBruce just want to give you some good advice for block splitting, you are clearly a novice, and making it much harder on urself than it needs to be. 1 get urself a chopping block, this raises the block up achieving several things in itself. (A) when your splitting tool strikes the block been split it does so closer to the perpendicular, this is optimal, (b) you bend ur back less, meaning you can split for longer. 2 Two handed tools are designed so that one hand is guide, and one is power hand, always slide your foremost hand back, this results in a more powerful strike and less shock been transferred into your body. 3 On difficult rounds learn to invert the block. I'll explain, strike lightly ,,just enough to get the axe/maul stuck into the block, then bring up on a full swing tool and attached block, when above your head rotate it 180 degrees so that the block is now uppermost and the head, not the cutting blade is lower most, this is now the striking platform onto your chopping block. Bring it down sharply, it has a much more powerful splitting effect

[@OffGridBruce]

@@jukeseyable thanks that all makes sense. I have plenty more to split this winter so I can practice this for a while. Did you see that most of my splitting was done on a tree stump? And the rest I was away from the house? Or do I need it even higher than the stump?

[@jukeseyable]

@@OffGridBruce I'll have to have a look, I'm new to the channel, so haven't seen the video in question. But in general it's a balancing act between power speed of impact, angle of impact between the chopping block and what is been split, all of this in the context of the individuals size and crucially limb length. At the end of the day this is all about muscle memory. From what I've seen of you in the videos we are of similar build I'm 5 ft 8 and 12 and half stone, so neither of us is ever going to blot out the sun, so the focus for us folks has to be on speed and accuracy. I tend to go for a lower chopping block around 12 inches high and finish with bent legs. This does 2 things, firstly it allows a fuller length of arc travel of my axe, (not splitting maul, I'll get to why not a maul in a bit) full arc means more speed, so i hit harder, and also striking angle is as close to 90 degrees as possible. This is my strike for medium difficulty ones that I can get done with a hard hit, something like a 10 to 12 inch oak , easy ones 5 6 inch just a tap, (I often go 1 handed on those). But the difficult ones then I use the inversion technique on them. The reason I don't like a maul is it's heavier to lift, disproportionately so for smaller folks like ourselves so we tire quicker, secondly they don't bite aswell. I like to stand surrounded by the wood pile and use the axe as a picker. A light swing will get it to bite then bring it to the chopping block all ready to go, saves loads of time. Also you need the bite to do the inversion technique. I grew up on a small farm, and my late father was a Forester, so we would get 20 tons in one go mostly oak, so a big pile to work around. Taller people massively benefit from a higher chopping surface as striking angle becomes a problem but length of swing isn't, knee lower thigh height. A few bits of specific advice to you as a novice. 1 keep your rounds short, they are easy splits, develop your technique on them, and with improvement get into longer ones. Going from 8 inch long to 12 inch long reduces the splitting work by a third for the same amount of wood. 2 relax a tence body is a slow body. 3 your hands, it's painful to watch, and will be painful on your hands wrists and fore arms. Your front most arm starts off close to the head of the tool to do the lift as efficiently as possible. As soon as it starts coming down slide it down all the way to your house back hand. Never take it off the shaft, but open palm slightly curled fingers but it's just a guide on the side of the shaft, thats it. Once the hand slide is complete, this is just the moment before impact close your grip, and then learn to impart a little but not insignificant bit of extra speed by flicking your foremost wrist, (akin to the flick that fly fishing anglers use) pressure comes through the thumb. My advice on tooling is go for a fiskers x25, the 27 will be to long initially to have control over, it's a half way house between an axe and a pure splitting maul, it will bite well enough though. But and its a big but, do not use it for the inversion technique, the way it is halfted means its not suitable. For that you want an older pattern axe something around 4 pounds weight is perfect, one of the braids would go well

[@jukeseyable]

@@OffGridBruce just found the clip of the stump you mentioned, had to replay it a few times, your hand slide is okay, you have the fundamentals and it will become slicker over time. But the stump is way to high, it's robing you of so much speed. Lower surface and bend the legs, which brings me to another point, your shoulder position and movement, it's clear that as the maul is coming through it's arch in line with your head your whole upper body, and hence your shoulders are getting dragged forwards. This lateral movement wastes energy and isn't good for th shoulder and elbow joints, strigter back and bend the legs will also help. The problem with it is, that as you fatigue the strike becomes more toe of the tool and less middle and heel oriented, as you get dragged more forward as the day goes on. (Toe front point of the tool cutting edge heel back point of the cutting edge) this can lead to overstrike damaging the shaft of the tool, and also a significant loss in power when striking with the toe. Overstrike when planned has its place in felling or cutting wood, but you need to do it so that it doesn't hit the shaft! An axe will always bite deeper with its heel side than the toe, but you need to know what your doing, and its certainly not a technique for novices, and has no place in splitting what so ever. Hope I've been of some help take it easy.

[@ElisandeWalters]

a round staircase maybe? or an external staircase? (because that space looks STUNNING!)

[@OffGridBruce]

Think we have a few ideas penciled but nothing 100% yet

[@robinanna5531]

A comment! 👍👋

[@TheBeechwoods]

Looking good buddy.. my chainsaw looks pants compared to the Makita one.. might have to treat myself. Much love. ❤

[@OffGridBruce]

It’s surprisingly good. Need some more batteries though as only have the 3ah bats and they don’t last long

[@mikegb1969]

old car tyre secured on a big log or stump, saves bending and shins buddy.

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks for the advice there. Been splitting today and yesterday. Do you mean to put the log on the middle of the tire?

[@mikegb1969]

@@OffGridBruce get a big round or stump at chopping height. say 25" diameter screw tyre to it and place log you are chopping in the wheel hole . then it dont fly everywhere and no bending.

[@richjohn11]

Don't know if this is any help, but you can get round staircases almost like a corkscrew that could help you reach the loft; seen it on another house renovation in Ireland

[@dreadedscotslass]

It's called a spiral staircase case

[@OffGridBruce]

thanks Rich, I have a few designs in mind now but before i can do that i need to replace all the floors

[@kaybea9009]

Just a thought, I’ve found a lot of KZbinrs that I love through them commenting on other channels that I watch. That might be a good way to increase your subscriber base. Just a few that come to mind, Mossy Bottom, Isabel Paige, Hannah Lee Duggan , Clisare, Fairyland Cottage, Jonna Jinton, Living the Life you Love, The Elliot Homestead, and Becky O Cole to name a few ideas. Wishing you guys the best and I’ll be watching your journey. Love what you’re doing :)

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks Kay. I do comment from time to time. I especially like Daniel from Mossy Bottom and Kris Harbour. Thanks for the advice and support :)

[@marcusd2380]

School boy error on splitting the wood. Get a big round and use it as a splitting block to saw the edge on that axe. Hitting the ground I don’t think is good

[@hydrazzz1]

Ye don't split wood on stone unless you enjoy sharpening the axe. Hold the wood further up also, if the grain is going the wrong way you'll take your finger off. Better yet use another piece of wood to hold it in place when it gets small. Good luck.

[@fergtube1]

Enjoying the whole series. Do you have any suggestions on how to find such properties?

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks. Not really. We spent time looking on daft and even Facebook market place

[@fergtube1]

@@OffGridBruce Many thanks for this. I hadn't thought about Facebook market place. Will give that a shot. Looking forward to more vlogs and explorations.. Take care and best regards to all.

[@christinamontano11]

It looks amazing! So happy for you all. Who owns the land around your 8 acres? Is it a nature preserve?

[@OffGridBruce]

A combination of local farmers and forestry :)

[@tiarnanvanderbrun8260]

Careful with pinemartens around poultry, they're a threat at the best of times, lovely animals though.

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks, I haven’t seen one in the flesh yet but I know they are around. Fine mesh I guess is the best bet

[@tiarnanvanderbrun8260]

@@OffGridBruce yeah, they climb too so best to cover the top of the pen if possible or lock the birds up at night. We had one invade our attic space, made an awful mess but they're great entertainment and don't breed too prolifically so don't become a menace. Really enjoying the channel so far, looking forward to the next video already. You've got a great thing going, keep it up 👍

[@OffGridBruce]

@@tiarnanvanderbrun8260 thanks for the advice. My grandmother has one almost hand tamed in loch Carron when we were kids but we had no chickens

[@katv1982]

Do you know if you'll get much snow? It'll be so cosy by the fire in winter 😻😻🌱❣️

[@OffGridBruce]

Apparently every few years we get snow. Quite a mild winter in comparison to some places :)

[@katv1982]

@@OffGridBruce aw, nice! That's like us, we're lucky to get snow as we live by the coast, so it tends to miss you...lol. Enjoy it, it looks awesome 😃👍🌱

[@stevewales-uk]

You should think about making a campsite that would be fantastic a good income.And grow Christmas trees you won’t see anything for the first 3Years but keep the process going like a friend of mine has done in Wales and he has an income extra of about £5000 a year

[@OffGridBruce]

Hey steve, I like those ideas. Planning permission could be an issue for having a campsite though.

[@cclose8007]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@kimbaker3232]

Love your videos! What County did you end up in? ☘️

[@OffGridBruce]

Thanks I live in Clare :)

[@kimbaker3232]

The Nomadicals Oh Lovely I look forward to more videos! Good Luck from Dublin 😃

[@OffGridBruce]

@@kimbaker3232 thanks 🙏

[@popcornlover948]

Looking great guys, one thing I’m struggling to find out is the cost of conveyancing fees in Ireland and any other hidden cost if you could help? PS the weather looks amazing :))

[@OffGridBruce]

Well to start with stamp duty is 1% on the property up to 1 acre and then the rest is charged at 7.5% so good to get a high value on the house and low on the land. I would highly recommend Alan Casey from Ennis. Absolutely amazing guy alway replies to every WhatsApp and went above and beyond for us. After one fell through he reduced his fees on that one. If you send him an email he will give you a quote. Off the top of my head our conveyancing fees were around €3500 including stamp duties

[@popcornlover948]

@@OffGridBruce thanks I really appreciate the help, I may have more questions at some point if you don’t mind, it seems there’s loads you need to know now if moving from the UK and not as easy as it used to be but thankfully still more than doable :)) and please keep the videos coming you’re a massive inspiration to us all :))

[@OffGridBruce]

@@popcornlover948 no worries. It’s pretty straight forward. You will most likely be advised to get various checks done but we didn’t bother

[@popcornlover948]

@@OffGridBruce do you know the easiest way to get the contents of my house over there? I’ve looked at Hiring a 7.5 ton truck but I’m not even sure if that’s going to be big enough 😂 but also two companies I’ve spoken to have said they don’t do it anymore to Ireland because of all the problems with the paperwork now that’s needed( whatever that is) so is there any easy or cheaper ways around this that you know about? Thanks :)) 🙏

[@OffGridBruce]

@@popcornlover948 well we were living in our van before and had very few belongings. What stuff we had left after selling everything I had stored in an old sprinter van. Check out this vid to see what I mean. Ireland Off grid dream begins | The Secrets out! There was no issue at the border. Told them I was moving there and they said ok. My advice…. Become a minimalist and get into a 7.5tonne or smaller if you can :)

[@andyb1166]

Hi what type of land did you need to buy to be allowed to build and live there,

[@OffGridBruce]

Our land already had a house on it.

[@lazycarper7925]

hi, i think when i find somewhere in ireland, i will only be able to have one child, do you think it would be fair to have this lifestyle, with only one child, with two its amazing, but with only one, i sometimes think having just one would be a bit unfair?, they might be lonely? thanks lee

[@OffGridBruce]

I think that could be an issue depending on where you go. Would you be sending them to school or home educating? We home educate and have already a small group of friends we socialise with so it’s good really. Sorry I can’t be more help. I guess you know your child best. Socialising at the moment isn’t as easy as it was everywhere at the moment. You could maybe look at buying a place with another like minded family. Saves a bit of money and starts a mini community?

[@lazycarper7925]

@@OffGridBruce thanks, ill have to see if i can find somewhere not too remote,so maybe more children about,cheers