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Friday 5 August 2016

Father and Son Bushcraft Weekend

A couple of weeks ago I took Michael to Riddy Wood for a Father and Son overnighter, partly to make some preparations for the family Bushcraft event that we ran last week, but mainly just to spend some time together and to build the 'yoda hut' that he has been wanting to build for some time. 

You remember Yoda's mud hut from Star Wars right? Well we had thought about making a very close replica using the clay that is plentiful in Riddy Wood but we decided in the end, partly in the interest of time, to make use of some of the elm logs we coppiced last October. 

Elm logs stacked after coppicing last October 

If you remember this elm is a bit of a conundrum for us as it can't be moved off site without being stripped of it's bark and as a lot of last seasons coppice wood was elm and we don't have time to strip all the bark right now we've got a lot of wood that isn't going to be used strait away. Elm however is a fantastic timber for construction, it's very resistant to moisture and can withstand repeated saturation and drying, so much so that it used to be used for pilings for jetties and to build lock gates.

Oxford Canal at Marston Doles - geograph.org.uk - 432841
Massive gates like these, which needed to hold back tonnes of water and last for years used to be built of elm.
Picture by; Maurice Pullin [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

So having rejected the idea of a mud hut Michael and I decided to build a cabin out of elm logs;


Making sure it's going to be long enough for Michael's bunk


Michael did a lot to help with his cabin.
  



It's getting taller...

...and taller.

The first bunk is in, and Michael had to double check it was strong enough.


We had to have a break at midday so Michael could prepare our lunch




Having a snack on the top bunk.

Almost full height and the ends have been neatened up. 

The door went in towards the end and Michael swept out all the sawdust and offcuts.

Two bunks installed and just the roof to go ready for Michael and Lillie to spend their first night in the cabin at the family bushcraft event.

We had a great time together and really enjoyed building his cabin, it certainly isn't a model for great log cabins but it was great fun building it and Michael and Lillie loved sleeping in it last week.  





  

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