natural fracture pruning on Red Oak.

[BrendonV]

Thats cool!

[David Humphries]

Mmmm....Red Oak, resinaceum, fracturing

 

Here's one we did back in '04, and a shot showing regrowth three years later.

Ours was a little heavier in terms of reduction/butchering, as in a more prominant and exposed area than yours.

 

Some nice natural fibre tearing there Sean.

Like the way you have manged to alternate direction of tears

Do you use pull line to assist any of the fracturing?

 

Was at Kew yesterday on a Tree failure database seminar with Mike Ellison, we went out in the arvo and had a look at a few recent failures and hazards.

There was a fantastic fracture on a Cedar limb, that looked similar to your first shot.

Would be great to see places like Kew leaving these in situe for the asthetics of what trees actually look like in nature and not how they end up manicured by man, & also as a teaching aid/example.

Could then also observe it over time to see what developes in terms of adaption to the adjacent limbs.

 

Alas, they're gonna amputate it in the name of shigo inspired tree husbandry, & miss the oportunity

 

 

.

Edited February 5, 2010 by Monkey-D

[sean]

Mmmm....Red Oak, resinaceum, fracturing

 

Here's one we did back in '04, and a shot showing regrowth three years later.

Ours was a little heavier in terms of reduction/butchering, as in a more prominant and exposed area than yours.

 

Some nice natural fibre tearing there Sean.

Like the way you have manged to alternate direction of tears

Do you use pull line to assist any of the fracturing?

 

Was at Kew yesterday on a Tree failure database seminar with Mike Ellison, we went out in the arvo and had a look at a few recent failures and hazards.

There was a fantastic fracture on a Cedar limb, that looked similar to your first shot.

Would be great to see places like Kew leaving these in situe for the asthetics of what trees actually look like in nature and not how they end up manicured by man, & also as a teaching aid/example.

Could then also observe it over time to see what developes in terms of adaption to the adjacent limbs.

 

Alas, they're gonna amputate it in the name of shigo inspired tree husbandry, & miss the oportunity

 

 

.

 

Glad you like David. I dont often use a Tag line although I have done. Prefer taking a little bouncy bouncy ride when the limb finally goes:001_rolleyes: I'm always looking for new ways of fracturing. Have been playing with the X cut lately. 2 diagonal cuts with a ratio of about 70:30......seems to give a nice end to the rip which can then be manipulated further with the saw although quite often this can suffice.

[jonathan hall]

has anyone fractured a big willow? it needs weight taking off it drasticaly and dont have many options as theres not alot left on it.

i doubt fractures are possible as the tree is a nasty, nasty climb and am worried if big fractures are possble, due to the nature of the wood and having a man sitting any where near the possible fracture places. good candidate for monster cornet cuts??

Dave (treeson) and i stood and scratched out heads for a little while and im still undecided.

any advice please.

[Treeson]

has anyone fractured a big willow? it needs weight taking off it drasticaly and dont have many options as theres not alot left on it.

i doubt fractures are possible as the tree is a nasty, nasty climb and am worried if big fractures are possble, due to the nature of the wood and having a man sitting any where near the possible fracture places. good candidate for monster cornet cuts??

Dave (treeson) and i stood and scratched out heads for a little while and im still undecided.

any advice please.

 

And I'm still scratching my head on this one!

[David Humphries]

has anyone fractured a big willow? it needs weight taking off it drasticaly and dont have many options as theres not alot left on it.

i doubt fractures are possible as the tree is a nasty, nasty climb and am worried if big fractures are possble, due to the nature of the wood and having a man sitting any where near the possible fracture places. good candidate for monster cornet cuts??

Dave (treeson) and i stood and scratched out heads for a little while and im still undecided.

any advice please.

 

And I'm still scratching my head on this one!

 

 

Fellas, I can't speak for Sean, but I have no experience around fracturing Willow specifically, other than coronetting fractured hazard beams.

 

What is the reason behind you wanting to use the technique on this particular tree?

Is it a site consideration or experimentation?

 

I personally wouldn't think Willow would take very well (apart from obviously fracturing easily) to coping with the wounding, and would of thought that decay will onset quickly.

Any advantitious/epicormic regrowth, whether stimulated by the fractures or not, will be poorly attached and will either fail to establish beyond a couple of years or fail during wind load.

 

Any chance of a picture of the tree?

 

 

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited February 7, 2010 by Monkey-D

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

do any of you guys ever make several insertion cuts vertical to the grain, say 4-6 and then cut the back a little till it tears? I am curious how this form of assited failure would assit in semi clean finishes, I.e not so long a rip underside

 

as well as the obvious ripping rather than cutting to achieve the look

[Treeson]

See if I can put some pics up

 

 

This Willow is already going about dismantling itself.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I have noticed that around a third of branch fractures are left with the lower quadrant of wood totaly removed and split away, bit like a quarter slice of cake. cutting this with a saw is simple and would leave less material and time for "finishing" of the corenet? i will dig out some photos