Oxfordshire Woodland Group

At the 2014 Bodgers Ball Julian Bell, curator of the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum demonstrated the process of hewing a log to produce a beam.

Prior to hewing the log is scored and the juggles removed by the hewer who is in this case standing and balancing on top of the log using a scoring axe or better still a long handled Kent pattern hewing axe.

There after the hewer stands by the side of the log and uses a side axe to smooth the log to produce a good finished face. Mark Allery advises that Julian used a Moss made axe from the Museum tool collection. This was a very traditional English hewing axe made on Moss forges from Chichester to Guildford.

Merlin Oliva-Knight demonstrated to use of his goosewing axe on a section of the log. The goosewing axe is a continental axe style that is used mainly on softwoods to produce the final finished surface.

This approach to hewing is widely used however it exposes the hewer to the risk of injury from a deflected axe blow and consequently the hewer should as a minimum wear leg & knee protection.

Ken Hume