Smelting Iron in Africa

[awemawson]

Coppicing is a 'renewable ' way of harvesting chestnut wood. Every fifteen or twenty years the saplings are cut down to a few inches off the ground. When the stump re grows multiple shoots emerge forming a tight clump of new saplings from the same root. This can be repeated for hundreds of years. Coppiced woods have a very distinctive character, with these tight clumps where each sapling emerges at an angle then grows upwards so the timber has a handle shape at the base. If a managed wood is neglected and the coppicing cycle not repeated the trees grow to full height but are still distinctively coppiced . The timber is mainly used now for fencing as chestnut contains natural preservatives that slow down rotting in damp earth.