Roundpole fence (gärdesgård) fence.
Start with an uprooted spruce sapling about 1 meter to 1.5 meters long. It should be around 1cm or 1.5 thick. If it is thicker, it will be hard to twist without undue effort. Strip off any twigs up to near the top, where it is already soft and very supple. Leave the roots on.
There should not be any major branches, forks, kinks or bends. If there are, the sapling can still be twisted into a withe, but greater care is required when working so that the stem does not break. In the picture above, the sapling on the right is ready to be twisted and the one on the right is completed and ready for use.
It's best to work in cool, damp or over-cast weather so that the stems and withes do not dry too quickly, but any weather will do. The undamaged saplings can stand a day or so out of the ground. Once they are twisted into withes, they can get too dry in a matter of hours if the weather is hot.
Bend the stem while twisting it to loosen the fibers with the least effort. Set one foot on the roots, to hold the stem in place. Grab near the top with one hand to hold and bend the stem. With the other hand grab the tuft and while bending the stem in a U-shape, twist the tuft around the stem firmly and steadily about 270-degrees until it gives and the tension is released.
Work gradually towards the roots. Be sure to keep bending the stem as you twist it. A ball of twisted stem will form as you progress, giving better leverage. Just be careful that the force is spread out and not concentrated in a small area. The idea is to separate the fibres while leaving them intact.
By the time you get to the roots, the whole stem should have twisted itself up.
An alternate method is to trim lower branches from larger trees and heat them till they are supple. That methods usually requires singeing the twigs from the branches in order to soften the wood. When done correctly, the wood is heated evenly and becomes pliant, a bit like a thick licorice whip.
When pines are about 5cm to 6cm thick they have to be culled from the forest, or the forest becomes too dense. These make the best posts when shortened down to 1 m or 1.5 m in length. The base of the post going into the ground should be burned thoroughly so that there is charcoal. The charcoal is very resistant to rot. If this is done while the post is very fresh and full of sap and not done too quickly, the sap in the areas not burned up will be converted to pitch, and thus help further preserve the wood.
Dig or bore a pair of holes close together for the posts. Keep the holes small so that it is easy to pack the soil around the posts. The posts should be placed in pairs with each pair of posts not further than about 120 cm (circa 2 aln) from the last so as to give proper support.
The posts won't be quite the same size, so start wrapping around the smaller of the two to save material. Begin by holding the green tuft against the post and hold it down by wrapping the withe around it 1.5 to 2 times. The more firmly it can be wrapped the better it will last. A tight wrapping will also give more material to use.
Continue wrapping in a nice figure-eight pattern until the end of thestem is reached. The result should be a very tidy figure-eight with both loops very tight against the posts. If possible, the last lap should be tucked under the next to last. But as in the picture below, it is not always possible. Anyway, the rail will rest on the figure-eight and hold the loose end down.
If the tuft is not tight, the wrap will come completely undone right away. Below is a picture of an incorrect wrap that is way too loose. Notice the gap between the post and the withe.
There should be no gap between the withe and the post anywhere from start to finish. If the loop is loose, the withe will only stay up for a few minutes or hours and then will fall down when the wind blows or the sun shines. The picture above shows a failed withe. It is too loose and won't be able to hold anything. It will have to be removed and started over.
In a properly done withe, both loops are very tight around each post and the later wrappings hold down the earlier ones. In each, the tuft at the start is overlapped and held down by later loops.
If the fence is made on a slope, it is best if the rails can slant with the hill, so that the end on the ground is downhill from the end in the air. Fences usually are five or six rails high. In northern regions, there is often more space between the rails. In southern regions, the rails are packed more tightly.
Spruce roots are suitable for weaving and stitching.
Before iron nails were available, they were even used to hold together planks of boats. The earlier boats were about the same technology as with viking boats, but from 700 CE onwards many used iron nails instead of stitching with roots. The hydrodynamic advantage of using iron nails mean faster, longer travels and made it practical to cross the Baltic, North Atlantic and Mediterranean. See also the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum or the Oslo Viking Ship Museum.
With the right skill, water-tight bowls and baskets can be woven from spruce roots.
The fresh shoots of spruce are full of vitamins and have a good, mild flavor. They are edible as they are, useful as flavorings, or usable in traditional medicine.
14 Feb 2011
