How to turn a freshly-felled 200 year old pine tree into eight radial beams for your medieval church spire

Medieval wood riving is a slow, methodical business. But it's amazing what you can get done with axes and hammers.

The movie describes an attempt to split a thirteen meter long log of pine tree. The riving was done by radial cuts. The original was founded in the spire of the church of Hardemo southwest of rebro city in the province of Nrke. The church was built approximately between 1180 1220. These rafts are produced from the log by a method which never been documented before. One side of the rafts is raw sapwood which is rare in churches from the Middle age. All woodworking are done with tools that are modelled on archaeological findings. The felling and riving of the tree are performed with a few axes and tools.

Amazingly relaxing video. Read the rest