One of my aims for this year is to give our volunteers a chance to contribute to this Blog. So its over to Louise Gibson, one of our Volunteer Officers for her thoughts on her introduction to hedgelaying…
“As I start writing this it’s been a long day and my arm aches but it’s been a rewarding day too. We’ve finished the stretch of hedge we began to lay 2 days ago. In 3 days I have gone from not knowing what hedgelaying really involved, to being able to lay a hedge to a ‘satisfactory’ level myself.
I’d heard of hedgelaying before, I know it can be taken very seriously and that people go to competitions to show off their skills. I didn’t know the first thing about how to go about actually laying a hedge, but as a volunteer here at Skelton I’ve learnt to just throw myself into a new challenge.
A curious bystander is hoping for some free lunch.
Hedgelaying is an ancient skill that involves half cutting down a line of small trees and shrubs and laying them down to form a hedge. Stakes are then placed at regular intervals along the hedge to hold it all together. With modern technology it’s in danger of becoming a dying art.
A laid hawthorn stem (left) and removing the heel after laying, my least favourite part (Right)
After an introduction from Max (an expert hedge-layer and an excellent teacher) we got stuck in. Traditionally a tool called a ‘billhook’ is used to lay hedges, so that’s what we used. Max has a large collection of billhooks that he’s collected over years and we have some at Skelton too so there was plenty of choice. When the bushes were too large for the billhook we resorted to a saw.
After learning the basics and spending a while laying the hedge we ended the day by felling a tree that was just too big to be laid. I have never felled a tree before and it was an interesting experience. Toby mentioned in a previous blog-post how chopping down trees can be a good thing and I do understand, but it still feels a little bit wrong.
Cutting the ‘bird’s mouth’ in preparation for felling a tree
On the second day a reporter from ‘Made in Leeds’ came to do a brief report on what we do here, and I made my television debut. Being interviewed was odd, and more than a little nerve-wracking, but at least I know I looked the part in my high visibility vest and hard-hat.
On the final day it was all hands on deck to finish off the hedge, we ‘broke in’ further along so that two people could lay at a time. By this time we volunteers were pretty much trusted to go it alone, albeit watched closely by Max.
The final result (photo courtesy of Luke Humphrys)
Laying the last hedge and tidying up I couldn’t help feeling proud of what we’d managed to do.
We’re laying the rest of the hedge on the road this winter so if you want a chance to learn a new skill and give us a hand then there is still time to get involved. However right now I’ve got to get back to pulling the thorns out of my legs.”
There is a saying “1 pound of tool for each 1 diameter”, which is a reasonable guide to tool selection for hedgelaying, though a hedgelayer would have picked up his axe before, for example, trying to lay a 3″ diameter stem with his (3 pounds weight) Yorkshire billhook. When a stem is too thick to lay with a billhook the axe is the tool of choice, not a saw.
The cut shown in the picture has two faults, the first is that (with a saw) it is not easy to gauge just when the stem is ready to hinge into place, therefore there is a risk of leaving the tongue attaching the pleach too thin or two thick (with a further risk of “kick back”). The second is that there is a stub of deadwood which infection or infestation could enter. A cut properly made with axe or billhook maintains circulation and in time will callous over to some extent.
Sawing heels off is not my favourite job either; where the stem is sound and a sharp tool is available it is better to “strike” the heels off with billhook or axe.
It has been my experience with volunteer groups that tools are often blunt and axes in short supply, which leads to the use of saws, the sharp option, in inappropriate ways. Another example would be in making further cuts to shape a pleach (“secondary pleaching”).
Worth remembering when making cuts and trimming heels just what is intended with regard to regrowth.
A further observation from other pictures on this site is the lack of brush left with which to build the back of the hedge – a Midland style hedge has clean face (front) and a wide thorny back, along with traditionally, six inches of “flying brush” above the binders, features which have evolved for practical reasons.
I hope that the above observations will be regarded in the constructive way they are intended. Hedgelaying is a vital craft for hedgerow health and preservation and a source of great satisfaction for those practicing it.
Thanks Derrick for your response. And yes, we probably could do with a few more axes! We’re just starting on a new section of hedge this year, so your feedback will be useful for this year’s work.