How? Best safe approach

[Mark Bolam]

Is it your tree?

[stuckinthemud]

I have permission to cut and remove but its not my tree. 

[monkeybusiness]

Salix is willow, not poplar.

What do you need it for out of interest? I’d have thought it would be crap for a carver. 

[stuckinthemud]

Willow and poplar are both family salicaceae, I need it for a claersach harp soundbox carved from solid in the early medieval style.  Willow is best, but something called black willow was often used, dunno if that is pop or not, but quite a few makers are using it at the moment.

Yes, your right, its not great for carving

Edited January 9, 2021 by stuckinthemud

[monkeybusiness]

15 minutes ago, stuckinthemud said:

Willow and poplar are both family salicaceae, I need it for a claersach harp soundbox carved from solid in the early medieval style.  Willow is best, but something called black willow was often used, dunno if that is pop or not, but quite a few makers are using it at the moment.

Yes, your right, its not great for carving

Sounds like an interesting project! Where are you based? I’d imagine there will be local tree surgeons happy to get rid of lumps of willow for very little/no return...

[Stubby]

Just now, monkeybusiness said:

Sounds like an interesting project! Where are you based? I’d imagine there will be local tree surgeons happy to get rid of lumps of willow for very little/no return...

Imagination is great innit ? 😁

[monkeybusiness]

Just now, Stubby said:

Imagination is great innit ? 😁

Unless you live near Stubby! It sounds like he might not want to part with the steam off his piss unless significantly recompensed... 

[stuckinthemud]

What I've found is willow is not often felled round this way as its pretty much only found as an ornamental tree, black poplar does often fall but is either difficult to get to, or in a park, or chunked down for firewood. Biggest issue is the thickness I need,  milling is not usually done in 3 or 4 inch thickness slabs. Anyone near Cardiff got any?

[Gnarlyoak]

2 hours ago, stuckinthemud said:

Yeah, you're right and I know it, that's why I'm on here asking questions.  The other thing I know is what I need (4inch thick slab of salix)  I haven't been able to source anywhere local to me in the past 3 years, so one lying in the woods 150 yards from my house is hard to walk away from

Wind blown trees with root plate attached have the potential to make your wife a widow in a heartbeat if you attempt to do it yourself without the right tools; knowledge; experience!

If you absolutely must have & not be able walk away from a section of that tree; then you have to decide what you are prepared to offer, either in pounds or something else of a bartering value, to get someone in to cut it for you.

Seriously man, you could potentially be "smoking in the powder room" if you don't know what you are doing. And if it goes boom you'd be the last to know about it until you're looking down from the heavens on your wife sobbing at your graveside as they lower your coffin in the hole!! Or at the side of your hospital bed wondering what the hell she's supposed to do with a man cabbage in a wheel chair.

Is there nobody that you know who has bigger gear and a bit more idea to help you get the section you want/need? Tread carefully and stay safe mate.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Gnarlyoak

[stuckinthemud]

Yeah, I'm gonna walk away, I deliberately didn't mention the 30 degree slope and poor footing (slippery clay  with wet rotting leaf litter cover) cos I didn't want that to influence the conversation.  But. No, I don't know anyone with better gear or more experience than me. I've felled enough trees and carved enough logs to know when to ask for help, hence this chat