Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2008 | Page 64

life

COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING

The log barons
By Tony Ridd

Ok, so the Isle of Wight’s
wood fuel industry doesn’t
quite have the same turnover
as international oil companies,
and there aren’t really any
barons selling logs on the
island. But fire wood is still
very important to everyone!
Lets work backwards…
there’s the end user. ‘The
Client’. He/she is fed up with
increasing fuel costs. Oil,
gas and electricity have all

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gone up leaps and bounds this
year, all other industries have
competition that allow us to
shop round, and although
there are different suppliers
there is still only one source.
It’s also nice to have a real
fire in your home. They need
attention, but not too much
and in return they can leave
you with a warm pleasant
feeling.
Then we have the ‘log baron’,

the chap/chapett, who has
already warmed themselves
up on your logs through sheer
hard work, lifting, cutting,
splitting, delivering, and if
you are lucky stacking. This
isn’t the cleanest of jobs, so
you must excuse them if they
look a little grubby, with dirty
trousers and rough hands – all
part of the uniform.
But it goes back further
than them, the woodsman

(some woodsman double
as barons too). Now we’re
talking mucky! Trees grow
in woodlands and woodland
work is done in the winter.
It also wrecks kit, so it’s not
cheap. Mud, cold, wet and
danger are everyday things to
look forward too when felling.
Getting the tree down is one
thing. Once de-limbed, with
the brash either cut up or
stacked it has to be extracted

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