Making tracks with brash

[Rich]

Hello,

Our grant this year allows for a 'basic' track, the spec is that it should be constructed of 'stone where necessary'. My feeling is that it will only be necessary on the slopes that lead to and from a culvert crossing the stream (which I also got some pocket money for!). The rest of it is fairly level, so I was thinking of just laying down the brash to firm it up. Has anyone done this successfully, just wondering about the effort/reward ratio, and if it is going to take a lot of maintenance each year. Might it be better to bite the bullet and put stone down to begin with? I'm thinking if I had to do this eventually, it might be easier where there is not a load of decaying brash? or in subsequent years would it be okay to just mix the stone/hardcore in with the brash?

The track is intended to extract product with a 4 wheel drive and trailer.

[Darren]

I brought a chipper last year to chip the spruce branches to make a track. Seems to be working so far, I'm guessing it will need to be topped up every year.

[Rich]

Hi Darren,

Last year we hired a chipper, a 13hp affair, but it woudn't do the job on anything more than a couple of inches (although it said it was rated for 4") we soon worked out that the coppice would grow quicker than we could chip so returned it. I'd be interested to know the size of chipper you went for as I'm not sure if it was a duff hire model which needed sharpening and tuning up, or 13hp just wasn't enough grunt. Anything bigger than 3 inches will go for firewood anyway.

cheers

Rich

[Darren]

my chipper is 13 hp and chips 4" logs. Maybe the same chipper? Mine goes through them no problem almost ripping them out my hand.

[Rich]

oh right, it must have been a duff chipper, I think it was the type with flails on a chain, maybe these need to be sharpened?

[RichardKing]

Brash is a lot more effective at spreading the load on soft ground than chip.

Tracks built across soft or marshy ground using thin branches go back to prehistoric times as found in the Somerset levels.

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One concern that I have about this blog is that the subject of tracks & track repair has been discussed before, yet now we seem to be back to square one.

Its like Goundhog Day, in fact it is Groundhog Day. Although of course it was Hedgehog Day before those yanks hijacked it

[tracy]

I think it is fine to revisit topics as we get new people joining the forum all the time and we all learn stuff over time.

Yay for hedgehogs!

[MartreCycle]

Spotted in passing a document on brash on http://www.forestry.gov.uk/publications

( do a search for the word "brash") - called "Managing Brash on Conifer Clearfell Sites"

a forestry commission document - hence technical, thorough and informative - well worth a read - it will give a good understanding of using brash to assist in movement over the ground

[Darren]

I use the shredder bit as well as the chipper seems to be a good mix

[Dennis]

Maybe Tracy could give us brief details of track repairs in Chestnut Coppice - some with brash, and some with hard core. It's certainly easier handling brash.