Tree i.d please

[s.varty]

2 hours ago, Stubby said:

Yes , its good . Very hard . 

And very heavy

[ABtrees]

Agreed - definitely a lapsed Hornbeam pollard.  I'm lucky enough to have lots (50+) of them (pictures if anyone wants some ?).  Occasionally they fall over, at which point they do indeed make excellent firewood (more calorific than Oak, I think) and it dries relatively quickly but .... it is notoriously hard especially when dried. I always make sure it's ringed up asap.

[Stere]

You must be landed gentry to own 50 hornbeam pollards that big or have a very long driveway?

 

😐

 

Can you re-pollard them to reduce the chance of them falling over?

[ABtrees]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

You must be landed gentry to own 50 hornbeam pollards that big or have a very long driveway?

 

😐

 

Can you re-pollard them to reduce the chance of them falling over?

Hi.  I am certainly NOT 'landed gentry' - just very lucky !  20 years ago I bought an old mill house in central France and Hornbeam was a necessity for the mill.  We still have the mill gear but sadly no millstream !  When it was working, one of the gears on the mechanism is made of cast iron whilst the teeth on the corresponding cog were made of Hornbeam (as above - it's very hard). That way if for any reason there was a jam all the wooden teeth broke (rather than cast against cast). Replace all the teeth and it was up and running again in about 1/2 an hour with very little effort - genius eh?  Very common round these parts.  

 

I can put some pictures up if you want ?

 

[Stere]

Sounds interesting so post some up.

[sime42]

57 minutes ago, ABtrees said:

Hi.  I am certainly NOT 'landed gentry' - just very lucky !  20 years ago I bought an old mill house in central France and Hornbeam was a necessity for the mill.  We still have the mill gear but sadly no millstream !  When it was working, one of the gears on the mechanism is made of cast iron whilst the teeth on the corresponding cog were made of Hornbeam (as above - it's very hard). That way if for any reason there was a jam all the wooden teeth broke (rather than cast against cast). Replace all the teeth and it was up and running again in about 1/2 an hour with very little effort - genius eh?  Very common round these parts.  

 

I can put some pictures up if you want ?

 

 

I for one, would love to see some pictures please. 

 

I had a tour of a watermill in Brittany a couple of years ago, friends of friends. It was fascinating. There's seems to be no shortage of old watermills still kicking around in France.