Oxfordshire Woodland Group

The first hewn side of the long sill log took about one hour to score and hew.

The second side of the log was more difficult to hew because this side contained more knots because this was the side of the log that faced outwards towards the light away from the woodland that hence contained more larger branches.

Having hewn two good sides back to reasonable heartwood the third side was hewn but contained more surface sapwood and wane.

The finished log (3rd side down) demonstrates how a significantly good, 30ft long, single piece long sill can be hewn by 2 men over a 4 hour period.

Few current day sawmills would be capable of producing such a long continuous timber and so employing hewing conversion is still a very relevant technique.

The major observation made about the process of felling and hewing to make to make timber-framed building within a few yards of the original position of the tree in the woodland is that this might well represent the ultimate in sustainable building techniques and so when compared with building with brick typically the timber felled would be needed to kiln dry and bake the clay bricks and so it does beg the question if suitable trees are available why building with brick is considered to be sustainable and eco friendly.

Ken Hume - Oxfordshire Woodland Group

Having hewn three complete sides of the 2nd long sill the bend at the top end has now become much more evident.

The log was scored and then rolled to re-hew the whole of the 1st side which contained a large number of difficult knots especially towards the top end of the log. Good use was made of the Wetterlings knife edged broad axe which was used to cut through difficult grain around knots

Rolling the 2nd long sill revealed that the top end bend was not so obvious and hence it might just be possible to use this sill providing it is laid out in this position (flat plane) using some clever joint design and / or by scarfing a new 5 - 6 ft end onto the long sill.

Now that the log has been hewn flat on all four faces it is much easier to reliably pull a string line along each face without the string becoming snagged on bumps and knots along the length of the log and establish a more reliable measure of straightness.

Ken Hume