joe Shmoe

When I bought my house several years ago from an elderly couple, the garden was completely overgrown - I'm talking to the point where Brambles had snaked their way up to the top of 20ft elderly diseased Apple trees, and I couldn't even tell how big the garden was as you couldn't get in it!!! Anyway, after a couple of months work, I managed to clear away all the brambles and found this lovely baby-oak in the middle. I kept it of course, and its now around 12-13ft high with the crown (I think that's what its called?) at the top of the picture being 6.5ft tall. I was trying to guess the age, and whether it was self-seeded? It has had acorns for the 4-5 years that I have been there, so would that help indicate a minimum age? I though it might be self-seeded as the Elderly couple clearly hadn't done any gardening for the last 20years I would guess, so I doubt if they went out of their way to buy a baby oak and plant it lol. Any ideas? I was intending to leave it as it grows naturally, but someone recently said I should chop off the lower branches as they would not go higher with the tree, and always stay low from the ground? Does that sound right? If I were to remove the lower branches, would it speed-up the overall growth of the tree? I would like to be able to enjoy a small-medium sided oak in my garden before I die (hahah). How big do you think it might get in another 10years ? Anyway, I love the tree - hope you enjoy the pic. Thanks. Joe.

Sweet - cheers guys. I'll let you know how I get on this weekend!!! Im looking forward to it haha

Cheers Everyone. Im gonna order the MAUL that Steve Bullman suggested and aim to get chopping straight away, although it will prob take me several weeks, haha. What does Matty mean when he says work the Rings from the outside ?

Hello, I have access to a Eucalyptus trunk that has just been felled. Its approx 2ft radius. I wanted to chop it up into suitable peices for use as firewood, as I intend to fit a log-burning stove in the near future. How do I go about splitting the huge trunk into smaller pieces ? Should I buy a wood-axe and split the trunk by hand, in which case, can someone recommend a suitable one, or perhaps I should hire a log-splitter (will I be able to get one large enough for a 2ft Trunk?) Any advice on how this should be done would be great. Cheers Joe.