rural traditional heritage – a tool for sustainability (ruth)

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Rural Traditional Heritage – a tool for sustainability (RUTH)

Building a traditional wooden fence

annika.michelson@hamk.fi

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Tied fences

• long-run fences used further from the farm (pitkäjuoksuisia, juoksuaita, panenta-aita, pinta-aita, suollosaita, suoltoaita, särentäaita) • short-run fences were concidered more valuable and used close to main house on places visable in the landscape (lyhytjuoksuisia, pisteaita, pystyaita, pystöaita).• short aged fences were the horisontal fences (rehto- lape-, lappu-, lama-, orsi-, johdeaita) (Sirelius, 1919)

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Type of fencesGrotenfelt mentions the following types or purposes of building fences:

• selkäaita (back fence)

• väliaita (middle fence)

• peltoaita (field fence)

• kuja eli tahnua-aitoja (alley fence)

• piha-aita (garden fence)

• haka-aita (wooden pasture fence)

• niittyaita (meadow fence)

• raja-aita (border fence) (Sirelius, 1919)

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Choosing the right building material

Spruce is good building material, but also aspen and alder can be used. On Estonian islands they used traditionally juniper. Poles of oak are very long-lasting.

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Which one is best?

Young spruce that has grown in shadow suits well for ties. They have less branches and are easier to divide.

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Keep ties moist if you have prepare them in

advance. In old days the ties were made long time before building and kept in the water in a lake or in a river. You can use fresh spruce as ties as

well. Then you should cut them at the same time as

you are building.

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Dividing the spruce into two parts

Start dividing from the top. One hand is holding the material and the other is pulling.If the pulling part gets too narrow – start then to pull with the other part. Use aKnife as a help when you cross where there has been a branch. This work requires concentration and a careful hand.

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There are many working positions

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Taking the bark off for fast drying

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Sharpening the polesPoles were sharpened from 3, 4 or 8 sides. It was said that a man can take a wife first when he can sharpen a thick pole:

”Sitten vasta voi mies vaimon ottaa, kun käden varassa paksun näreisen seipään teroittaa”!

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Burning the poles

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Dividing the wood

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Use of the wedge axe

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It is important that the spruce for building material has grown straight, at least if you want to divide them. You can also use round wood for building the fences.

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It is easiest to use the wedge axe if you are two persons. The wood can also be divided by using two axes. If using the wedge axe you should also use several wooden wedges. One put the wedges in while the other uesesthe wedge axe to divide the tree. You should rotate the wood if the tree has been rotating when growing. A straitgh tree mai be divided with a few hit whereas a rotating tree is difficult to divide.

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To the left a three that has been growing straight. To the right a three that was divided wrong and nearly beak. Here we try to corrct the diviging by choosing a new place for the axe in the middle of the wood.

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Divided woodThe wood is most beutiful if diveded by axe. The cutting surface will not look nice if this work is done by a motor saw.

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Placing the poles

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Warming the ties

Ties are made from birch, willow or young spruce. A good fence need three ties: under, middle and upper tie (alavitsa, välivitsa ja yli- eli kurkivitsa).

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Placing the first tie

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TiesThe tie is tied like number 8. Some start with the topfirst, others with thethicker part of the tie.

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Ties

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Building the fence

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Finishing the fence

Put a stone under the wood closest to earthto provide it for rottening. One pole is cut shorter than the other. The reason is not anymore known. A swedish man told that the pole closest to the farm should be cutshorter – in this way you always find home by following the directions pointed out by the wooden fences.

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Traditional wooden fences

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Traditional wooden fences

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SourcesJaakkola, Eero. Photos of building a traditional fence.

Michelson, Annika. Field work on building tied fence in Kiltsi, Estonia 2006-2007 and in Mustiala 2004-2007. Non published information.

Sirelius, U.T. (1919): Suomen kansanomaista kulttuuria I. Otava, Helsinki. p.296-301.