I always forget to wear gloves when I'm trimming bushes, palms, and small tree branches, until after I'm done (and have #blisters) #yardwork #yardtools #trimming #brashing #gardening (at Indian River City, Titusville) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2rdZWDB68j/?igshid=1ev1l1zqlr48k
January is a depressing time to be a fencer; short days, bog to the knees and driving rain. January 2017 is worse with Brexit, inflation and general uncertainty looming. Stripping out oak posts, hard as iron and incapable of re-use isn’t much better, they were good posts and we’re unlikely to work with anything that good in future. There is an upside, a few short lengths, some seasoned brashing and we have ourselves a decent fire.
Halloween, Bonfire Night, even New Year’s day brought plenty of opportunities for a good fire, a good drink and that unforgettable smell of salt-laden air and woodsmoke, with some good company of course. This isn’t quite the same, more a chance to get my head together in the milder breezes we get between storms on the West Coast. Working outside all day I don’t feel the need for any more fresh air as such but a chance to relax with nothing much to do except feed the fire and think, that’s different.
I make do with a hole scraped in the turf about five foot wide as my fire pit but I’ve seen some great ones. A fencer friend of mine, Lorne Fowler who is keen on his fires, was telling me he’s just done one using a huge tractor wheel rim surrounded by stone walling for a customer. Concrete bases can be tricky as they tend to explode once they get properly hot but done right they work well. Stone is good and then there are the various options with halved metal barrels. A permanent fire pit of some kind is a great thing to have all year round but maybe especially when spring is still so far away.
As for what to burn; I reckon I have to say this – it’s illegal to burn treated wood, it’s also dangerous to burn it in an enclosed space. Luckily we have a constant supply of brash which allows for a lot of experimentation with different types of wood. Trust me on this, willow isn’t great and neither is alder. I quite like all the sparky softwoods – sitka, larch, douglas fir – they make for an interesting fire to stare into but I wouldn’t be so keen on them indoors. Hardwoods like Ash and Oak give off great heat, Silver Birch is good but burns very quickly, the best so far has been Blackthorn but don’t handle it without gloves, the thorns even get into my hands and all too often they turn septic. I haven’t had the courage to try elder, call me superstitious, and somehow we never have to brash rowan. Gorse and roddies will both burn on a fire with a good heart but an entire trailer load doesn’t keep the fire going for long unless you can get cleaned lengths, they take up so much space. Roddies give off a horrible smoke, if you get downwind of it you’ll end up with a serious headache, someone told me it was poisonous.
Just occasionally when the blues or the company demand a quick hit of flames there is the emergency option – the Swedish candle. Use a very dry stump about three foot high, split it into quarters vertically running each cut about three quarters of the way down the stump – you need a chainsaw for that bit. Stick a fire lighter into the bottom of the crossed hole and light – perfect for parties, or just a bit of fire worship