Crab in coppice?

[jamesfwpurdy]

We have two crab stools in the hornbeam coppice. At the moment they are on the edge of this/last years coupe and I don't intend to cut the other side until 2014/15. I had intended to leave them as a feature but now as I cut closer to them I'm unsure.

 

One is within 4m of an Oak standard roughly 15in dbh 40 feet high. The other is a bit further.

 

Does anyone have any ideas what to do with them? Either leave, fell both/one or single one strong stem.

 

I know the wood is quite nice, it would be a shame just to burn it but access is a pig, wheel barrows only. But again any ideas if I do fell?

 

Sent using Arbtalk Mobile App

[agg221]

Apple will never get overly tall, so I would imagine it will stay below the oak standard canopy. It's an interesting tree, so I would be inclined to leave one stem as a standard in its own right. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like the one in the top picture is a twin stem with the one on the right being vertical, and the other is multi-stem with a nice clean stem up the centre, so there is an option to do this. The alternative would be to try leaving the twin-stem one as a single-stem standard, and coppice the other.

 

With regard to use, this is where you need a portable mill. How far down into Sussex are you?

 

Alec

[jamesfwpurdy]

Thanks for your reply.

 

Thats right, the top is a twin stem, one straight the other at an angle. The last picture has two large stems and two or three twisty (sure theres an arb term for this but I'm a beginner) smaller ones.

 

I do like the idea of keeping atleast some of the height so will have more of a think. I was told by a carpenter that the wood can be used in windmill restoration which must be a niche market.

 

I'm near East Grinstead on the West/East Sussex border.

 

Sent using Arbtalk Mobile App

[agg221]

Thanks for your reply.

 

Thats right, the top is a twin stem, one straight the other at an angle. The last picture has two large stems and two or three twisty (sure theres an arb term for this but I'm a beginner) smaller ones.

 

I do like the idea of keeping atleast some of the height so will have more of a think. I was told by a carpenter that the wood can be used in windmill restoration which must be a niche market.

 

I'm near East Grinstead on the West/East Sussex border.

 

Sent using Arbtalk Mobile App

 

If you do decide to fell any of the bigger stems, I would get them down asap as the sap will be about to rise. Leave them long, cut a few of 2-3ft lengths of something else - about 6in diameter, cut one end off each of them on a long tapering slant, then roll the log up onto them to keep it off the ground. PM sent re. milling.

 

Alec