Lynchmere - Working chestnut coppice

South of Haslemere the Sweet Chestnut coppice is still being worked in rotations of upto 20 years providing material for traditional fencing, particularly the chestnut palings and post and rail fences which are a feature locally. It's a case of use it or lose.

I live only a few hundred yards from the edge of chestnut coppice worked by a friend of mine, Colin Hampton, so I might be a little biased on this subject. But knowing the local woodsmen well allows me to appreciate the advantages of using this local and sustainable form of fencing.




When I went to collect some more fence posts, struts and strainers Colin was peeling and pointing palings and posts, whilst Wayne was splitting them out at a break inside their tin roofed coppice workshop. The completed pales are laid in the iron grip allowing them to be tightly bundled.



I took this photo earlier in the year when Colin was working up a big order for palings. The neat stacks speak for themselves. It's not just the end product but every step of the process, the felling, the working up and the selection of material that needs to be right to end up with a job well done.



The peeler is powered from a stationary engine and blows the peelings straight out onto the heap. It's a lot quicker than the drawknife and axe that I use for peeling and pointing, but I don't have thousands of palings and posts to produce.




These finished posts were waiting for me to collect and by next week will be part of a field fence less than a mile away. Being peeled sweet chestnut the natural tanins will make these posts last, possibly for decades. There is every chance that they will outlast their softwood cousin's without the planting, harvesting, transport, extensive processing and worst of all kiln drying and pressure treating with toxic chemicals and...they're cheaper! What more could you want ? Unfortunately Colin doesn't do computers so I can't link to his web-site, but if you are llocal and want some chestnut fencing, paling or lathes let me know and I can put you in touch with him.