[Closed] If I 'organised' a 'Help Build a Holz Hausen Day' would anyone come?

To far for me but if I was in the area I would.

Aye. If you werent in another country I'd be there.

Coincidentally (and following the thread on "Winter approaching") Im just in from starting this years splitting. Swinging my new Grunsfors in anger for the first time. It's a peach. One handed splitting has never been so easy. Nice to be at it again.

Going to the coppice this friday morning for a look around for the first time since spring. Wont be harvesting again until october-ish though.

Again - had you not lived a 5hr drive away, I probably would have been up for it!

Sounds like fun, but getting there would take about the same time as flying to New York... 😀

+1 if you lived closer, sleepover?

Like a shot, but darn it, you are 7+ hours away ... I might be missed 😉

dependent on the day I can come

I could probably manage along depending on when you are thinking of doing it. Unlike most of the previous posts I can see Fife from the lounge window, only 20/30 miles away.

Depending on day I could be in. Most importantly what sort of biscuits?

I'd like to do this at a weekend, perhaps towards the end of the month.

Most importantly what sort of biscuits?

Get your requests in early.

If I promised tea, biscuits and cake, any maybe sausages on an open fire

Yep.

When.

Edit: this weekend you say? free Sunday

Double edit: Not 'this weekend', 'a weekend' fairly free all month.

Borders dark chocolate and Ginger.

How does either the 30th or 31st of August sound?

Coincidentally (and following the thread on "Winter approaching") Im just in from starting this years splitting. Swinging my new Grunsfors in anger for the first time.

Got a link? I've only held a Grunsfors maul, it was a thing of balanced beauty.

provided I am not posted shipped off to Qatar in the time between now and then... I can do either.

I know nothing other than 'wood go on fire, me no die' but i do know which end of an axe is pointy.

I'd be keen, but the next few weekends are booked up at our caravan in Glenmore. 😕

I'm up for a laugh...should be able to do the Saturday no probs...Only a half hour drive for me!

I might be up for it, and could probably give Dick B a lift if I do get a pass

can't do the weekend but the 30th is possible

bigg, that would be sweet...I'm a bit closer to you now geographically!

As with others its a bit far from the Black Forest though we do have some fine Holt Hausen examples here ...

I'm sure it will be a fun gathering.... don't forget the pics..

Biscuits ? Its Scotland, Irn Bru and Tunnocks FTW... (For The Workies)..

mcmoonter, perfect timing. You've caught me just on the way out with the axe to crack on with some more sawdust manufacturing 😀 :

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Its the Scandanavian Forest Axe.
http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/gransfors-bruks-scandinavian-forest-axe-1487-p.asp

For £50 a bargin. Lovely weight (2lb head) and easy to use one handed, but long enough to drop a second hand on to it for a bit of wellie.

Makes my stamped plate billhook seem very cheap and nasty, so a an old forged one is next on the shopping list.

MC in fails to read calendar properly shocker.

How about we try for Saturday 31st of August. Perhaps try for a ten o'clock start.

The last one I built needed three and a half trailer loads like this..

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... so there is a lot to split. It takes roughly an hour to fill a trailer.

I reckon with a couple of people building we could keep up with the splitter.

It may be safer if I cut the long log lengths up into rings before folks get here.

Biscuit requests are duly noted.

We could also have a trailer reversing challenge.

If you email me (addy in profile) I will send you directions.

I would like to help,but I feel that with your studio,art work,garden,log burners,workshop,bikes and other McMoonter quality items ,I would get far too distracted and end up wandering round eating biscuits while other people did some real work.
It would be a bit like having a small annoying child for the day ,asking stupid questions and generally getting in the way..

Hope it goes well 🙂

What do you think the smallest Holz Hausen you could build is? I wonder whether I could fit one in the garden....

What do you think the smallest Holz Hausen you could build is? I wonder whether I could fit one in the garden....

The only complication with a small Holz Hausen is that you would have to cut the logs much shorter. If you think of each log like the minutes around a clock, to get each log to sit tightly against its neighbour on a smaller circumference the logs have to be proportionally shorter. Remember that each log with shrink as it dries opening every gap. It still takes a surprising amount of wood to build one.

On the original thread IamSam built a smallish one, it looks about four feet high.

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http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/my-next-log-pile-will-be-a-holz-hausen

Im definitely going to have a go at one next year.
Got to fill the wood sheds first though. Well on the way. This is 4-5hrs work over the last couple of mornings (RHS of store. About 4m3, or 2 tons):
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This technique of walking the saw through the cord stack is working brilliantly. Very fast processing and minimal handling required:
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The new axe is lovely to work with - so much faster and less effort than two handed hefting of the maul. The poplar pings open 99% of the time. Really easy to process.

Even got a chance to produce this:
😀

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Great work Stoner, there is something very special about a hand tool that makes a job a pleasure.

I was at the country park this morning and uplifted another load. I think one more load should be enough to build a Holz Hausen with a nine or ten foot diameter.

Lovin' the axecam. 8)

what state is the wood in that you're recovering? Big rings/cords/logs?

I was surprised just how effortless a good axe could be. It gets a gently caress with a wetstone at the end of each day of use and then comes to bed with me 😀

Afternoon chaps.

Ours ended up about 6 feet tall, the robot to the left is well over 7 high. it must have shrunk alot now though I will try and get a picture of it, also with its hat on.

no posh axe here though used a sharp sledge hammer..

what state is the wood in that you're recovering? Big rings/cords/logs?

Its mostly Scots Pine in four or five foot lengths. Its diameter varies from around a foot or so downwards.

I've had to bushwhack my way in with the Land Rover and the tipping trailer which has Land Rover wheels. Lifting some of the heavier lengths was a struggle to get over the sides. Its saved hauling lengths with the barrow. The path in is just wide enough with the wing mirrors folded flat. I can drive straight in, reverse around a bend and drive back out again.

A day where the sun shines with some Land Roverin' and chainsawin' is hard to beat.

In the past Ive cut up lengths on the back of the trailer in the same way you have, it saves a lot of handling.

Have you thought about getting a block and tackle to drag stuff up on to your trailer? Your scots pine cords sound a lot bigger than the stuff I have to work with. I can just about manhandle 9-12" x 12' wet poplar cords - probably about 80Kg. Fortunately most of the stuff I have to move is more like 30-50Kg at a time.

Mcmoonter - you had me up until the last line! #fifeaversion 😀

I love the look of a holz hausen, but lack the space and wood demand to build such a thing. However, for future reference, how do you begin using the wood you've stacked? Surely once you start taking the roof off you open up quite a bit of the pile to the elements? do you have to dismantle the whole thing at once and move the pile indoors?

The new axe is lovely to work with - so much faster and less effort than two handed hefting of the maul. The poplar pings open 99% of the time. Really easy to process.

I wish my wood pile was as easy to split 👿

Stoner, we got some mature Poplar, it was about 15 or 18 inches in the round, it had been drying for about a year off the ground, it was surprisingly light.

My brother usually gives me a hand so its a bit easier when he's there. I had to resort to halving the heaviest logs today.

Surroundedbyhills, its not as bad as you might fear.

MM and IamSam, thanks for the info on the mini HH, looks nice. Was going to buy (I know! Not very STW) another log store but that may be an alternative.

IamSam, can you remember what the diameter was? How much wood did it use?

I've got a stash of cut log lengths ready for splitting and I've cleared a spot for us to build the Holz Hausen on.

Does anyone else who may have missed this first time around fancy joining us? Saturday 31 Aug around 10am.

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I have the Piano tuner in, might make the afternoon if I don't head to the highlands.

I have the Piano tuner in

Please tell me that's a euphemism 😆

😀

Probably best I just leave it to your imagination.

If I can get my cat rehomed at Lothian Cat Rescue this Saturday, I'll help out (although will be a bit later than the 10am start). Will be making the call tomorrow and will know then.

Just drop me an email and I will send you directions.

Its looking pretty hopeful so far!

I will email you later in the week when work is a bit more definite.

Its looking pretty hopeful so far!

I will email you later in the week when work is a bit more definite.

Perfect

Last shout, I've split half a load to get us underway without having to wait for a full load before we can get started.

Rene has a new Madhur Jaffrey book so she says she'll make a couple of curries.

email me if you would like to come and I will give you directions. Hoping to make a ten o'clock start.

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MM, looks like I won't make Holz Hausen School. Momma Bear has decreed that the cubs must be taken to the BMX park and then cinema.

Looking forward to seeing the results! Thanks for the offer.

I am good to go emailing you now.

Edit... I was going to but I don't see no email address?

Mine is in my profile, I am either coming from Leuchars or Edinburgh depending on where i end up tonight.

Josh I will mail you directions when I get back indoors.

Sounds excellent but I'll be away tomorrow unfortunately. Have fun!

Would be along too but am 'navigator' for a weekend Highland rally with Tom Rae in his wee car!

Would be along too but am 'navigator' for a weekend Highland rally with Tom Rae in his wee car!

If I wasn't doing this I'd have jumped at the chance of 'navigating'. I won't write off seeing you both then 😀

If I wasn't doing this I'd have jumped at the chance of 'navigating'. I won't write off seeing you both then 😀

Rally starts/finishes in Inverness and winds up in Aboyne tomorrow night - not sure if it'll take us anywhere near the McMoonter Estate!

That was more of a comment on the quality of your navigation skills. 😉

In other news, the curry making is going well.

After an avalanche of cancellations and no shows only JoshVegas turned up. Undeterred we bashed on and with some assistance from my nephew, Hamish, we made good progress.

I reckon we split and stacked a bit more than four tons of wood today.

The stack is a bit over five feet tall and eight feet in diameter. We just need one more load split to make the roof.

It was a top day, windy but dry.

The curries were awesome too.

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Looking great Pete! I reckon you should have a STW build n ride weekend. Build a HH on the Saturday, camp at moont towers, ride the lomonds the next day.

I'd be well up for that. Especially if there's some of that curry as well 😀

Greg.

Its worth pointing out I am not the one in the yellow hat.

Was a great day and I am very full of curry!

is the nephew still in there?

wish i could have come up to help, excuse is broken arm. maybe next time.

We let him out, though he was surprisingly keen to be entombed.

We should try another day as NBITF says with a rode the following day and more curry. The limiting factor is how quickly the logs can be split. It takes about the same time to stack a load as it does to split it. Maybe using two trailers is the way to go, or having a pre split load to keep us busy.

Just back in from a dusty trail ride at Blairadam. I've not cleaned any of my bikes since June. I can't remember things being this dry.

looks absolutely mint. Sadly too far away to offer assistance, Morayshire doesn't really work.

Curries look, well, good enough to eat too 🙂

I'd have loved that.
Again, a southern shandy etc etc

We will definitely have another bash at one. My pusher, the park ranger, called to say he has more wood if I want it. There's space for another couple. 😀

I split the last of the logs I have this afternoon. The rain is coming, I will try and get the roof on tomorrow evening.

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Blimey Pete if I'd know you made curries that good I'd have cancelled my current trip to help!

Wow, that whole trailer load was swallowed up building the top. I need about two or three barrow loads more.

The wider flatter top makes it easier to build, but I was left mainly with 'uglies' at the end so its not quite as neat as it could be.

I'm still learning. It feels like there is a change in the air. A colder wind is stripping leaves from the trees.

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Coming soon to a Google Earth near you, "Man made objects that can be seen from space, featuring...."

It's a good job you don't have Guy Fawkes night up there.
That'd be gone in the strike of a match if it was in my front garden.

I know you have a lifetime supply already, so do you ever plan to use the wood or is it purely for decoration?

Great work, by the way.

I know you have a lifetime supply already, so do you ever plan to use the wood or is it purely for decoration?

It will be used eventually, but its nice to look at it until then

its a bit like topiary made from logs - love it.

mcmoonter - you are an inspiration 🙂

More like a scene from Macbeth 🙂