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Once you see coppicing it's one of those things you'll notice everywhere that was cultivated for a long period of time. I'm surprised at how straight the shoots
by ed25519FUUU 6y ago
Once you see coppicing it's one of those things you'll notice everywhere that was cultivated for a long period of time. I'm surprised at how straight the shoots would grow, and farmers were pretty good at managing and multiplying timber using this method.
- hinkley 6y agoI just responded to a sibling pointed out that Rome records pollarding for at least 2100 years, but pollard and coppice are also critical to First Nations crafts in the new world as well. I think the only reason it dates to 100 BC in Rome is due to the limitations of recorded history, not a lack of imagination. I'd place reasonable odds that coppice/pollard are older than the written word. In fact this is probably middle stone age technology. How many decent spears can you make without pollarding? Let alone arrows, which you would need ten times as many of... Since Japan appears to have already had long bows before recorded history, it's probably more accurate to say this particular variant of pollarding in Japan dates back 600 years, and is tuned specifically for creating posts (and beams?) which are defining elements of Japanese architecture. Pollard is great for making spears and staves, good for making fences (up to and including the posts), but not so great for making houses.
- bobthepanda 6y agoAccording to the article it sounds like Japan used these in roofs and rafters, rather than as main structural elements of a building.
- hinkley 6y agoMaybe we’re splitting hairs or I’m using my construction terms wrong, but I would include “roof timbers” loosely under the category of “beams”. Perhaps my sense of scale was off in the pictures, but I could easily see poles that size used for secondary beams.