Thursday, January 16, 2014

The Joy of Coppicing



There's a post over on today's Archdruid Report in which he lists seven sustainable technologies he thinks are worth reviving for a post-industrial future. I was happy to see that he included coppicing as this, in fact, is what I've been up to for the past week.

To that end, I have written a new post over on my Tales From Fox Wood blog talking about how the coppice work went and why, in my opinion, you could do worse that get hold of a piece of woodland yourself.

You can read it here

3 comments:

  1. Interesting post Jason. I'm awaiting delivery of "Rocket Mass Heaters: Superefficient Woodstoves YOU Can Build" (http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Mass-Heaters-Superefficient-Woodstoves/dp/0966373839/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389958370&sr=1-1&keywords=rocket+mass+heaters) from Amazon - buy it from the US site as it's half the price of the UK.
    I hope to put one in our polytunnel and then, hopefully, in our house.
    It needs a fraction of the wood to produce the same amount of heat as it burns so efficiently and produces no smoke. I think that coppiced wood would be ok to use but am not sure. Any tips on using such wood in a wood heater would be greatly appreciated.
    Keep up the good work on the practical side of things!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Paul. Coppiced wood is perfect for rocket stoves. I haven't actually done this myself, but I've seen others do it. The key thing is to get the wood as dry as possible before burning - down to 20% water content or less (it takes two years of seasoning to achieve this - you can only get lower by kiln drying it).

      I have a friend wanting to build one of those stoves, so it will be interesting to see how he gets along with it. There is really a scramble for firewood in the UK this year, but most people are burning it very inefficiently. If we are to keep people warm then it will need to be burned much more efficiently.

      Have you ever heard of a kakkelovn? These are Scandinavian thermal mass heaters that are said to be the most efficient way of heating a house. They stay warm for two or three days after they have been lit.

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  2. Thanks for the advice Jason. I will certainly read up on the kakkelovn before going ahead with the rocket heater for the house.
    Cheers and best wishes from the hills of south Wales.

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I'll try to reply to comments as time permits.