The Forestry Forum

I found this video on Youtube. It shows the Norvegian guys splitting a log and hewing it into boards using the ancient hewing method called spretteljing. The method is very difficult and produces a very smooth surface compared to later hewing practices. The method went out of use after the Black Death (an epidemy in the 1340-ies which killed off about one third of the population of Europe). Probably because modern cross grain hewing is less labour intensive and there was a shortage of skilled labour after the epidemy. 
The boards are for repairing an old log building which was originally built sometimes around year 1300.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_kZ6Y6r29U

The only time I have seen wood that had been hewn this way was on a small door in the old city wall of Tallinn in Estonia. I should have a picture of it somewhere.

Thanks for posting that video....

Hi TW,

Can you please advise the web link for that hewing video since the technique employed is quite significant and I am keen to learn more.

Am I correct to observe in the video that there are two sets of wedges set 180 degrees apart i.e. on opposite sides of the trunk ?

How would this technique work on spiral grain logs or maybe more correctly is this a technique specifically designed to work on spiral grain logs ? I have found that cross grain hewing of spiral grain logs can result in tear out of the lower aris and so have found that it's best to hew only to the centre line from the top and then turn the log and hew the other side to the centre line. This method of hewing along the grain would work best with slightly spiral grain material hewing in a direction that cuts through the spiral grain rather than directs the axe bit into the trunk.

Chilterns

Great video, TW. Thanks for posting ...always love to see old methods.

That definitely looks exhausting, but the surface on those timbers looks really nice.  Thanks for posting that video.

Chilterns.
Yep. There are two sets of wedges.
I have never done this myself but looking at old buildings I have noticed that split boards are always made from logs without spiral grain.

Good stuff.  Seems like an awful lot of wood from the log was wasted though in the process.  Can't help but think there might be something missing here as most old methods were quite efficient with little wasted.  Did they only need to produce one board?  Did they only get one board from every log?

Two boards. One from each half.

I actually thought the same and tried to find out what was missing. As far as I have managed to find out two boards per log was pretty common in the old days but some of the most skilled hewers could split out four boards occasionally from a good log.
Splitting and hewing logs into boards was common practice until about 1910 in my area. In those days only boat planking for the first two strakes was split. Everything else was sawn. Though in very old buildings all boards appear to be split.
I took a closer look at the flooring in an old roofless crumbling grain storehouse nearby. It was built in 1693. All floor boards are split and hewn from half logs.