Coppice Woodsman

'Coppice comes from the French word 'Couper' to cut. At its simplest, coppicing is merely the cutting back of any tree or shrub with the idea of letting it grow again to provide a fresh crop of wood which can be cut once more, renewing the cycle. Coppicing then, takes advantage of the fact that most broad leafed trees will re-grow if cut down, providing a renewable, self-sustaining resource. In fact for most species coppicing actually prolongs the life of the trees. To provide a continuous supply of wood a coppice system would be felled on a rotation. A small area (coupe, panel or fell) would be cut and next year the woodsman would move to a different part of the wood. Eventually he would work back to the original patch after anything between 7 to 30 years, depending upon the coppice species.

In a simple coppice all the trees and shrubs would be cut. A variation on the theme the "coppice with standards" system required that the occasional tree would be left to grow on to maturity.These "standards", most commonly oak but sometimes ash or other trees, would be cut on a far longer rotation of 50 years or more. Thus a wood could supply two requirements; a continuous supply of smaller material from the "under wood" and a source of large timber. The latter could be saved for that special building project you had in mind or even serve as a reserve of capital for emergencies.

Incidentally, this distinction between "wood" the produce of the coppiced under wood, and "timber" the product of the standard trees, was in medieval times a vital one, even though it has fallen into misuse these days.

What was the wood used for?
Firewood was one of the most important uses for coppice products as nothing would be wasted and even the smallest twigs could be bundled into faggots to be burnt.

The production of charcoal was a development of the industrial revolution to heat furnaces and is still made today for the flourishing BBQ market.

Fencing in one form or another, whether it be the weaving of hurdles from hazel or the production of fencing stakes.

Wattle, for the wattle and daub of timber framed buildings was a further destination for coppice products.
Locally, the tanning industry supported vast areas of oak coppice, cut solely for its bark for use in the tanning of leather.
Added to these were a host of minor, more specialised uses, such as thatching spars or hop poles, which often encouraged small, local coppice "industries" to flourish.