Giant Oak Dismantle

Last spring one of our oak trees fell over. 

I was gutted. Really gutted. I like to think we're here to look after the land, but this came down due to high winds and a very, very wet winter. It blocked the gateway. 

It soon leafed out and I realised that if I cut it then, chances are I'd kill it. And although it made access tricky to the bottom field for the year, I decided that I'd leave it until the sap was down until I dealt with it. 

Looking at this tree I'd say the trunk is much older than the branches, showing that it had been pollarded in the past. Where the branches would have been removed to be used for other things (gate posts, fencing, etc).

Part of me would have loved to leave this tree growing fallen over like this, but the big annoyance was it had fallen in the gateway. There was no way we could leave it. 

And knowing about this job, it has been hanging over me quite a bit. I'd say a tree of this size is at the limit of my ability. The branches are not all on the ground, so the weight in awkward places and the sheer size of them makes it tricky to deal with. 

But I did what my brother has taught me. I started by clearing up all the easy branches, then tried, where I could, to reduce the weight of other branches. All the time I'd make sure the ground was clear around me, with a pile of brash and a pile of branches to cut for firewood. 
 

Then I'd go at each large branch in turn. The one which was cranked was tricky, as it's bigger than it looks in the photos (95 years old I counted when it was down), but I dropped it perfectly, missing the fence on the other side really well. 

I broke the job up and had a few hours at it at a time. I'm not used to this work all the time, so it's good to break myself into it slowly. 

It was a the limit of my saws as well. My petrol saw was only just big enough for some of it. Funny I went for a new blade - 

Me - "Hi, I'd like a 45cm, 66 link, 1.6mm chain please..."

Shop keeper - "You sure? That's for quite a big saw."

Me - "I'm quite a big guy...." 

In the end I left the trunk. I hope this will pollard back and we'll get some growth from it. Each cut was the limit of the saw I currently have. I may borrow one of my brothers to take it back further, but then I may just leave it. 

It was hard work and I have more firewood than I know what to do with. I wonder if I should make some Norwegian style firewood stacks with their own roofs to season it as I have nowhere undercover for this amount. 

I filmed the whole thing. Sometimes filing something can make it more fun when you're working on your own, almost like having a mate there in a sad way! Give it a watch and leave me a comment! 

Sad to see this oak go. I hope my tree karma is good though, I've planted so many here on our 5 acres that I hope I've tilted it in our favour if they ever weigh up what we've done with the land.