Can I axe you a question?

Today was an axe day, destroying the garden - uncovering & discovering a large Mahonia trifoliolata which put up a fight with its super spiky spikes of vengeance.

Only afterwards did I learn that its edible berries ripen in the spring, and can be used to produce wine or as a fruit drink. Damn, had I known I would have left it standing until harvested.  Possibly I was distracted by the amazing bright yellow wood, which I'll keep, season and hopefully make something out of. But dang, I could have had some tasty berries.


Nonetheless, everything at the back save some unidentified reeds and the shed had been cut down and they are next. We don't have a key to the padlock on the shed, but its exterior construction is a wood that will not survive my industrious axework and it won't last once I focus my attention on it.   If it wasn't for the fact that everything has been chopped down, I'd be shopping for a bigger axe right now.


The wood I've collected isn't enough to make the benches from but I'll make a logpile and it'll feed the firepit on a summer evening. There is a tree that I've got my eye on, that might have to come down and then I'd be really tempted to make a bench from it rather than firewood.

The base on the shed isn't all that - Its bordered by pavers and to be honest I don't expect to uncover much more. So now I've got an 18x25 foot space - once the shed is cleared and the ground is dug - to build the forgehouse and patio space. The Forgehouse looks like around 9x15 foot or therabouts, with space for stock, fuel, hot and cold workbenches and all the regulars and comes in under the planning permission radar as long as a few simple checkboxes are ticked. It has to be non-combustable, but I was planning that anyway, and it has to have a decent floor and not have a bed in it. Also, 2.5M eaves and a 4M pitch, but those are way bigger than I need so it should be a breeze.

The hot workbench will be commercial firebrick on a sand base, and hopefully suitable for casting brass and other soft metals. The cold workbench will just be a thick wooden worksurface with a decent vice.

Meanwhile the patio has space for probably three benches, or two benches and a gazebo, and a firepit around three or four foot in diameter. This will be an earth or sand base for wood and charcoal burning, and I guess cooking over. This needs a plan. For all I know at the moment, I have a square space around 18x18 foot and want to have at least a bench and a firepit.

So plans are coming together. The base and patio are going to cost around three grand if I get contractors in, probably more given there is little to no access to the rear of the garden.  I can do it myself for around 750-1000 looking at the materials cost, or around half that for cheap ass paving, and I'm torn between just waving a wand and having somebody do it while I'm at work or plugging away at it with flesh, blood, sweat and tears.

Materials for the forgehouse are expensive in this part of the world, and I've got to choose between stone and brick which may end up being a very very difficult decision. The firebox, anvil and forge tools I need are cheap enough and everything beyond the basics I can make once there is a fire going.

It's a huge plan. Its a grand design. Its a lot of work. I'm starting to feel that this year will be the groundwork and learning year and the construction might not be finished until after the winter.