The Stile Style Challenge

 On arrival back from a lovely Cornish holiday, I popped up to see what was going on at the field/woodland. The grass growth has thankfully slowed and tree growth is going at a fair pace. Sadly,  so is deer damage. A number of (apparently totally random) attacks on specific trees almost entirely voiding them of bark - while remarkably not killing the poor trees (mostly). 

Anyway, inspection complete, I set off back to the car, over the stile at the top of the field, and after a brief wobble, and a second "test the stile with a more deliberate wobble", I snapped the stile. One of the vertical posts was totally rotted through. Thankfully it didn't hurt a walker when it broke - it failed while I was testing its strength. I am thankful I was there.

My plans to mow the grass and spray the trees this week were hastily re-arranged and a few days of timber-work began. 

I decided to use thicker timber on the new model, a sleeper in fact, figuring it will hopefully outlive me. I also concreted in the posts, for the same reasons. I had hoped one day to put a kissing gate (or similar) in place of the stile, but given there was a little urgency (visitors would naturally climb the fence in the absence of a stile - and the fence would have likely gone the same way as the stile very rapidly), I had to settle for a like for like replacement. 

That said, it didn't have to be an exact replica - and given I had a new laser toy to play with, I had a little fun. 

I give you - the smartest stile in all of Yorkshire (or at least this little bit of Yorkshire)

And on the other approach......

The imagery is burned in fairly deep, perhaps 2-3mm , but likely the "burned" area will fade and wash away leaving only the "relief". So it may not last, it depends on how algae and dirt accumulate and how the muddy boots wear the timber, but it was fun and looks nice for now. 

I used a variety of laser techniques on the job, so it is an experiment that may inform future projects. We will see. 

While I was in joinery mode , I replaced the signage boards as the "outdoor plywood" supplied by Naylor Myers (yes you), was anything but "outdoor" and didn't even survive a single winter. I have replaced the boards with fence pailings which will hopefully be a bit more durable. The existing printed signs have faded rather a lot in places (another learning curve) but the bolder colours are still readable, so next time I make signs, it will be bold colours and little else. 

The best days at the field (and inevitably the least productive ones) are the ones when my good friend the Sky Dog shows her face. She is impossible to resist if she brings you a stick, and she is hard to tire out. I love her though, and I think she likes me too. Happy days.