Hazel and Maintenance

Walking up to the town through the woods the bluebells were coming into flower. I spotted some Hazel which had been cut some time back where the volunteers had been doing some coppicing along the pathways. This bit was on top of a stack so was off the ground, I was hopeful that rot hadn't set in so I went back later to collect it.

Working outside for about the first time this year, made a pleasant change.
The bark came off easily and one side had some blue/grey areas which looked like the start of rot. the other side looked ok, so I sealed the ends and put it up on my shelves. The iffy bit was lobbed onto the habitat pile under our Hawthorn tree, the pile is half rotted and nicely settled, I expect it's a good sanctuary for mice, toads and countless insects away from the neighbourhood cats.

I've only got one twisted bit of seasoned Hazel, so it's worth picking up another piece. It's good stuff to experiment with, do demo's with or give away/swap for stuff.
Whilst messing in the garage I thought I'd check that my shave horse could be adjusted to suit kids as I'm doing a demo next Monday. Bit of a shock, there were a couple of cracks where it has started to fall to bits. Not surprising really as it was built on the fly. I repaired the cracked front leg and one of the sockets for the rear legs. I also tidied up the seat which sits on the skew so that long staves can pass left of my body. This included squaring up the back edge so that it will stand upright in the garage when not in use without falling over at the slightest touch. It's had plenty of use so a bit of maintenance was in order.
While I was at it I did some repair work to my foam backstop/target, I sawed a square out of the middle and pushed in a new piece. It's got some life in it still. The plastic foam was rescued from the council rubbish tip a few years ago and has lasted well. That stuff is stupidly expensive to buy.