A Very Special Tree

[custard]

Here's a very special tree that deserves to be made into something equally special,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-43084088

There's every chance the actual timber yield would be pretty disappointing, none the less I hope some enterprising timber yard and makers get together to give it a go.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Wow 11 metre girth, you would need a big chainsaw to plank that one up

 

[RobinBHM]

1,000 years old!

Makes one feel humble!

If only it could talk.

 

[ScaredyCat]

In my, admittedly, limited understanding of trees, if you pollard them you stunt their growth and the growth of their roots. Or maybe it just wanted a lie down.

 

[acewoodturner]

A double ended Alaskan mill (one with 2 chainsaws on it instead of one) could do that. Might even be best to quarter it and then put it onto a big woodmizer. The only trouble with it is that it will have lots of cracks and possibly pockets of decay. There might also be bits of metal inside it from over the years from nails etc. Would need a fair bit of work to trim it up first, but its possible. !0' bars are out there or it could be free hand sawn with a decent sized bar and Stihl ms880 in order to reduce its size.

Mike

 

[Rhyolith]

In my, admittedly, limited understanding of trees, if you pollard them you stunt their growth and the growth of their roots. Or maybe it just wanted a lie down.

I don’t think thats true, least not to any significant degree. If you want to make a tree more resistent to falling pollarding or coppicing is the way to do it.

I am cursing because I must have driven past the oak so many times, but never went to see it... wish I had now.

 

[wallace]

I dare bet the local council will hire someone to cut it up for fire wood :evil:

 

[Geoff_S]

The last time I had a tree taken down I got a discount from the tree fellers for NOT having to take it away.

At the time they could only sell on 1 cubic metre of any tree they felled, the rest they had to pay for to be dumped.

 

[acewoodturner]

These days our local council dont have to wait long before the local woodburning stove owners are out with their chainsaws cutting up free wood. Its just a shame that decent logs for milling are hacked to bits for firewood instead of being turned into furniture. I have about 3 cubic metres of flamed beech sitting in front of my kiln in the workshop as I had to plank asap or it would have been firewood. I am going to have to move it again before I can empty the kiln of 2 inch burr sycamore. At least when there has been high winds the previous night there is plenty to go around and we can sometimes delay in milling up logs till it suits us better. The tree in the op looks like its pretty inaccessible to transport so it should be reasonably safe from the firewood vultures!

 

[thetyreman]

imagine the amount of tables you could make out of that! what a beautiful ancient tree

 

[wallace]

I just remembered my local council chopped down a 200 year hornbeam given by royalty just to alter a junction

 

[MusicMan]

This really needs a local project to save and track the wood, similar to the beech tree written about in another thread.

 

[yetloh]

I doubt that there would be much usable timber in it. Trees of that age are nearly always hollow , the centre having rotted away. That is one of the reasons why they survive so long. I don't know why but trees that are not hollow are much more likely to blow down - I suspect rather as a hollow metal tube is stronger than a solid piece of the same material and diameter.

Jim

 

[MusicMan]

I doubt that there would be much usable timber in it. Trees of that age are nearly always hollow , the centre having rotted away. That is one of the reasons why they survive so long. I don't know why but trees that are not hollow are much more likely to blow down - I suspect rather as a hollow metal tube is stronger than a solid piece of the same material and diameter.

Jim

well no, it isn't. But it is stronger than a solid piece of the same weight.

 

[yetloh]

Ah, yes that makes sense. Nevertheless, hollow trees do seem less likely to blow over, but it would be nice to have some bits of that tree even if only to make some small things.

Jim