View Full Version : A Burning question
Just wondering if anyone out there knows or can remember a rhyme which is used to remember the best woods to burn etc?
cheers
It's in Rays book, Bushcraft, I have not got it to hand, sorry :z:
Logs to burn! Logs to burn!
Logs to save the oal a turn!
Here's a word to make you wise
When you hear the woodsman's cries.
Beechwood fires burn bright and clear,
Hornbeam blazes too,
If the logs are kept a year
And seaoned through and through.
Oak logs will warm you well
If they're old and dry,
Larch logs of pinewood smell
But the sparks will fly.
Pine is good and so is yew
For warmth through wintry days
But poplar and willow, too
Take long to dry and blaze.
Birch logs will burn too fast,
Alder scarce at all.
Chestnut logs are good to last
If cut in the fall.
Holly logs will burn like wax,
You should burn them green,
Elm logs like smouldering flax,
No flame is seen.
Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room.
Cherry logs across the dogs
Smell like flowers in bloom.
But ash logs, all smooth and grey,
Burn them green or old,
Buy up all that come your way,
They're worth their weight in gold.
And that was me getting the book out, not remembering it!
Stew - is that off the top of your head :ekt: or did you cheat with a book :f: :rolmao:
Have you seen how long it is Tone?
I generally work on the thinking that if i can get a fire going, pretty much anything will burn!
:lol:
Roving Rich
09-12-2003, 13:26
Thats not the one i was thinking of. The one i heard ends with ash logs being fit for a king i think.
At the moment i am burning mainly Ash, with horsechestnut and some willow that wouldn't burn last year.
I've still got a stash of Yew in the yard, seemed too good to burn, and i had fancied making a bow out of it. Maybe a bit short and knotty though.
Cheers
Rich
I've still got a stash of Yew in the yard, seemed too good to burn, and i had fancied making a bow out of it. Maybe a bit short and knotty though.
Cheers
Rich
I always hate burning yew too. It's got to be my favourite wood, just a shame it's poisonous so I can't actually use it for usable bowls or spoons.
Do you know anyone who does woodturning? If you've got any bits big enough you could ask them if they'll make you something with it.
I could turn 'yew' something if the wood is properley seasoned. Yew bowls are OK, just don't eat out of them - ok for keeping nuts etc in though. It is hard to find solid lumps of english yew that are suitable for turning.
Silas
Justin Time
09-12-2003, 21:35
There was me thinking yew couldn't burn Yew because the wood was toxic?
Justin
You shouldn't use yew for cooking fires, or breathe in the fumes... the sap is toxic i believe, not the wood itself... the fumes can do funny things to the head ;-)
Ed
It is hard to find solid lumps of english yew that are suitable for turning.
Try going to your local cemetery and see if they're chopping any down. They quite often have it growing there and that's where I've got some nice freebies in the past.
If you do this, don't be tempted to cut bits off for yourself. Many churchyard yew trees are older than the churhes themselves. I seem to remember that all yew trees are protected in this country and you need permission to prune them , let alone chop them down. Yew is actually a softwood and grows in a most peculiar manner, once cut and seasoned, it develops shakes and splits, also, the bark often grows within the wood of the tree and, as I said before, finding bits big enough to make decent turning projects is not easy, though not impossible. Most wood turners just accept the fact that Yew will have numerous flaws and imperfections and just use it anyway, this often gives bowls with holes and splits in them that can look very attractive, but practically they are not so good.
Silas
Roving Rich
10-12-2003, 09:51
Hmm my Simultaneous post vanished? so here it is again.
Whhaaa Yew from graveyards ! Yew trees are the most Sacred tree to the Druids, and are often older than the Churches who's shadow they stand in as these were sacred groves before the Christians arrived.
Yews in graveyards are supposed to be inhabited by the Souls of the Dead lying beneath them, and if you listen carefully and a breezy day they can be heard whispering to you..... :roll:
I believe that they are one of the slowest growing trees so take centuries to reach any girth.
More tales from the Crypt later...
Cheers Rich
Yew's are the 'slowest' growing of our trees once they reach maturity, although, and relatively speaking, they are quick to grow as saplings.
I wasn't suggesting chopping them down yourself!
My local cemetery has chopped some down in the past and do the same thing as they do with all their felled trees - burn them! I've had some very nice pieces of wood from them in the past (not just yew) and have made some nice bowl and boxes from them. I've also occasionally persuaded them to use their chainsaw and trim the bits down further to save me carrying too much home. :-D
Can you get me a bagful next time? :-D
Silas
It's mine all mine!!
:twisted:
I actually haven't been for a walk round there for ages, I'll have to go for a wander...
Roving Rich
11-12-2003, 10:09
I know a man that only cuts Yew. Trims Yew to be precise, hedges trees etc. The clippings are then boxed up and sent immediately over to France where they are processed into some anti-cancer drug. He's manages to make a full time job with just that.
Moving on, Elm I scavenged some dead Elm from the hedgerows a couple of years back. The ones that grow about 20 feet then die off as they can't pump sap any higher due to their clogged arteries from the dreaded dutch elm disease.
Anyhow when burnt on a nice bed of embers the whole log kinda smoldered with a white glowing heat, then when I went to adjust it in the grate to add another log the whole thing instantly crumbled to dust like a vampire off Buffy. No trace, a whole log gone ?
They kept us warm though that winter burning slowly all night.
Cheers
Rich
Thats not the one i was thinking of. The one i heard ends with ash logs being fit for a king i think.
At the moment i am burning mainly Ash, with horsechestnut and some willow that wouldn't burn last year.
I've still got a stash of Yew in the yard, seemed too good to burn, and i had fancied making a bow out of it. Maybe a bit short and knotty though.
Cheers
Rich
i have hard that one too, i think the line is something like "burn it green, fit for a queen" but the rest ascapes me sorry!
also i though the only reson yew grew i curchyards was that it was toxic to livestock so it got cut down everywhere else, but as people need yew to make bows, should there suddenly be war, ect there always need to be a couple of tress around so they left it in the churchyards as there was not livestock there!
English yew is no good for bowmaking. Contrary to popular belief, yew was not used for most bows as it was very expensive.
Silas
gurushaun
12-12-2003, 13:21
Many of the Yew trees pre date the churchyards they grow in. They are a very long lived speicies, much linked with pre christian beliefs, the churches where often built near the pagan sites of worship as the one belief system supplanted the other.
Cheers
Shaun
Roving Rich
12-12-2003, 14:03
Tomtom, I was told that when I was a Kid. The Church would be the last stronghold in the event of a battle so a Yew tree was in the Churchyard to cut bows from for the last stand. A load of old cods-wallop if you ask me!
Although I believe it was compulsory for the men of the parish to practise archery after church every Sunday for awhile (after Agincourt i think, when the English had no archers and the Welsh bowmen saved the day.)
One of the Archers round here is sure to know.
Cheers
Rich
yes archers did have to practice archery after church.
Also after thinking about it makes scense for Yews to be there in the pagan time time. Yew is the last letter in the oughm tree alphbet, and the one assciated with deat or endings so i guess it would make scense for it to be in places of buriel, never really though about it before!
and i would say also that while things told to childern may offen seem like a load of old cods-wallop they offen have their roots in fact.
Edward I passed the law that all men should practise archery usually at the churchyard this place was called the butts and in many local town you may still find an area refered to as such all other sports were banned and that included football,because of this there was always a good supply of archers and English archers dominated on many battlefields for aprox 100 years before agincourt to about 100 years after, Crecy, agincourt, homildon hill( 600 English archers defeated 10000 Scots, during the wars of the roses at towton 25 000 died most in the first 10 minutes as both armies had large forces of longbowmen) although many woods will make a bow, and bows were made using ash and laburnum amongst others , the choice bow wood was always yew, as the hardest of the softwoods English Yew will make a very fine bow, superior to all other native woods , i ve made many, however our climate does not produce wood of the same quality as Spanish yew which is what most of the medieval bows were made from, this came in as a tax, anyone importing wine from the continent had to pay a tax in bowstaves not money,. now days the best bowwoods are from America, Oregon yew or osage orange being, in my humble opinion, the best. There were some Welsh bowmen at Agincourt but the majority were English mostly from Cheshire and Lancashire, the welsh were not particularly crazy about fighting for the English at this time as they had just spent 15 years fighting against English rule under owen glen dower. i have had wood in the past which was specifically grown to make longbows, these are very long lived trees, now thats what i call forward planning!!
see what i mean about "roots in fact" i knew my old man wasnt compleatly barmy!!!
theres a place called butts park just up the road though now has a council estate on it and hasnt see an archer for quite some time!!
also has anyone ever see what look like claw marks in the blocks in a church wall, thats sharpening arrows apparently!! :-)
yew also stands for rebirth, theres a story that 2people , think it was a man and wife ,when they died for some reason the person in power wanted them to be seperated so they could never lay together again so a hedge of yew was placed round their graves which over the years intwined and brought them back together again,story comes from "a tree in your pocket" which is full of old lore and exellent toilet literature!!, also longbow have you read the grail quest series by bernard cornwell? probably a stupid question to ask an archer really , but if so what do you think? :-D
ah, read this one too late, all i could have said has been done already, was going to mention that tax of yew bow staves! thing to remember one of the reasons why yew is good is the difference between the heartwood and new wood. heart good under compression, new good under extension, so they used to have to get the staves out of a large enough piece of wood to get the gradient across the stave.
I've one to add to the rhyme (but not in a rhyming fashion)
If you want a rocket taking off effect then chuck some old coconut shell on your fire. The oils are very volatile when heated and give a very satisfying effect when forced out of small vent holes in the shell. :-D We save ours through the year for when the coal fire is used at christmas time.
Also, dried orange peel burns well with a lesser effect than coconut but still quite impressive.
Neither last very long but do burn hot.
Logs to Burn,
Logs to burn,
Logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn,
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodman's cries.
Never heed his usual tale,
That he has good logs for sale,
But read these lines and really learn,
The proper kind of logs to burn.
Oak logs will warm you well,
If they're old and dry.
Larch logs of pine will smell,
But the sparks will fly.
Beech logs for Christmas time,
Yew logs heat well.
"Scotch" logs it is a crime,
For anyone to sell.
Birch logs will burn too fast,
Chestnut scarce at all.
Hawthorn logs are good to last,
If you cut them in the fall.
Holly logs will burn like wax,
You should burn them green,
Elm logs like smouldering flax,
No flame to be seen.
Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room,
Cherry logs across the dogs,
Smell like flowers in bloom.
But ash logs,
all smooth and grey,
Burn them green or old;
Buy up all that come your way,
They're worth their weight in gold.
Oops! Wrong one. Here it 'tis...
Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year.
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for long 'tis laid away.
But Ash new or Ash old
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.
Birch and fir logs bum too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last.
It is by the Irish said
Hawthom bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood bums like churchyard mould,
E ' en the very flames are cold.
But Ash green or Ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense like perfume.
Oaken logs. if dry and old.
Keep away the winter's cold.
But Ash wet or Ash dry
A king shall warm his slippers by.
Anon.
And yet another...
Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter's cold
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes, and makes you choke
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread -
Or so it is in Ireland said,
Applewood will scent the room,
Pearwood smells like flowers in bloom,
But Ashwood wet and Ashwood dry,
A King can warm his slippers by.
Beechwood logs burn bright and clear,
If the wood is kept a year
Store your Beech for Christmas-tide,
With new-cut holly laid aside
Chestnut's only good, they say
If for years it's stored away
Birch and Fir wood burn too fast,
Blaze too bright, and do not last
Flames from larch will shoot up high,
And dangerously the sparks will fly....
But Ashwood green,
And Ashwood brown
Are fit for Queen with golden crown.
Roving Rich
29-12-2003, 08:43
Nice one Hoodoo, that the one (or one of em !)
Seems to have a bit more romance than the earlier version.
Well our fire didn't go out for three days over Christmas, and the Yule log burned all Christmas day, from when I got up, put some more wood on, out with the bellows... to when i went to bed in the weeee small hours, somewhat inebriated.
Cheers
Rich
i was once told that yew was grown in church yards so that the cows didn't go in a make a mess. i wonderif thats why they kept planting after guns came in
i was once told that yew was grown in church yards so that the cows didn't go in a make a mess
I've heard this alot and to be honest I think its just one of those urban myths. Anyone living in the countryside will tell you if you want to keep cows out you have a fence, a wall, or a hedge. I'm sure they would have had this wisdom in ye old days ;-)
Ed
I agree, I'm more convinced by the 'it was christianity stamping itself on the paganism of old Britain' than anything else................sounds about right!!!!!
i reckon thats right, but i think the reson that it is found now where else, or not in many, other places around the village/town, if because it is toxic to livestock, and sheep dont go to church, so there they remain!
ditchfield
06-01-2004, 22:24
Fences, walls, hedges? We 'ave rynes in these 'ere parts. Zomerzet that be.
Bear Stone
23-01-2004, 16:47
Hi fellas,
No one else has said it so I'll be brave. Be carefull cutting down and buring Yew. Lots of assosiations with witchcraft not bushcraft.
We know we don't believe in that nonsense - but can ye afford to take thy risks? :twisted: :roll:
Bear
I agree, I'm more convinced by the 'it was christianity stamping itself on the paganism of old Britain' than anything else................sounds about right!!!!!
Have a look at this thread, it might answer some question, scroll down to the bottom;
http://www.bushcraftuk.co.uk/community/viewtopic.php?t=799
Best wishes.
Jack