The project begins. My faithful tractor and I follow one of our many trails back to the timbered site. Step one is cutting down a suitable candidate. Osage orange or “hedge” (as it is called colloquially) is thorny, snarled and its limbs project out rigidly. When cut, those rigid limbs inevitably cause it to “hang up” among other standing trees, making the felling dangerous and difficult. With the aid of the tractor, logging chains attached to the base of these “hangers” are often required to dislodge the tree. Once safely on the ground, the “saw log” can be removed. The logs I seek are 1 to 2.5 feet in diameter and up to 12 feet long. As these logs are extremely heavy, I have devised a special trailer for towing them back to the home site.
From 2004 to the present, 30 terraced landscaping walls of various lengths have been constructed on our place, stair-stepping down the ridge, circumnavigating the house. These terraced areas flatten out the grade and are the foundation of our shade gardens. However, there is one drawback to such a design. How does the viewer achieve close-up proximity to the individual plants without tromping through the gardens? This dilemma spawned the next great project - - walkways.
The trajectories of our terraced walls are naturally free flowing. Walkways would necessarily need to complement the walls in design and feel. Because of the enormous area of the gardens, cost for such a project was also a consideration. Our solution: construct the walkways from wood harvested from our own timber.
Within our open barn I have a band saw type saw mill (the saw mill is a project discussed separately). This unit is a basic one-man design, in which the log is placed on the mill platform with the aid of the tractor, dogged down securely, and then by hand crank, the band saw blade and engine are walked through the length of the log. My goal is to slice 1” thick boards from the log, leaving the bark attached on the width. Most of the logs harvested are not straight, so these boards will have random curvature and random widths.
With my stack of bright orange, fresh cut lumber the next task is to remove the cambium layer of bark from the boards. Each board is mounted edge up on saw horses and a draw knife is used to slice away the bark (a draw knife is a cutting blade held by two handles, a traditional tool used by early American craftsmen). Once the bark is removed, the edge is smooth, random, and non-linear; the width is generally tapered and curved. Then, using the chain saw, I crosscut these boards in 2- 3 foot lengths. Thereafter, I transport these short boards to the garden site and spread them around liberally so I can plainly see my available material for selection.
Each terraced garden has its own walkway but most all of them tie together to establish complete continuity of the garden-walk experience. Our wooden sidewalks also integrate into approximately 220 yards of flagstone sidewalks. To date we have almost one-half mile of Osage orange pathways. No mud on the feet and up-close observation of the gardens is complemented by the natural distinctiveness of the walkway itself.
The walkways are intended to follow a path that generally parallels a terraced wall and is usually located on the up-hill boundary of that particular garden. Because these gardens are not too deep, such a walking path offers a good vantage point. The individual boards need some type of foundation to hold them in place. For that purpose I use pressure treated 2” x 4” x 8’ lumber ripped lengthwise in half with a table saw. These double runners are placed directly on the ground and spaced parallel about 18” apart (looking like a train track). I then choose a board from my collection of hedge material to span across these runners. Since these boards are randomly shaped, my next selection will be a board that fits harmoniously with the shape of the first, much like a flagstone sidewalk. They are then drilled and screwed onto the runners. While the runners are straight, as I apply subsequent hedge boards, I allow the orientation of the individual boards to cant out of perpendicularity to the runners. The idea is to abandon orderliness but still assure a close, natural fit from board to board. Having my boards scattered here and there on the ground enables me to spot just the right one to use next. Frequently, the shape of the boards must be tweaked with a circular saw to avoid unsightly gaps. When the end of the initial set of runners is reached, the next set is projected at a new angle to develop an ever twisting and curving walkway. Finally, a reciprocating saw rounds the outside perimeter of the sidewalk to create the soft curves desired.
Sidewalks Made of Wood?
Our 150 woodland acres are comprised of a broad diversity of deciduous hardwoods, such as oak, hickory, ash, walnut, hackberry, and many other species. However, in the 1950’s a small portion of the place was cleared of its mature hardwood stands. Shortly thereafter, the process of forest succession began and that area once again began its regeneration into timber. Species like honey locust and Osage orange were first to invade the space. These trees are usually considered to be of low value and do little to benefit the habitat of native wildlife. However, Osage orange does have some unique qualities. This tree has a density and strength that surpasses most all other trees and in addition, the wood is extremely rot resistant. All of these factors assuaged my guilt of harvesting live trees, and I was confident that this material would function admirably as a wooden sidewalk.