The old tree was incredibly bent. It's 3 main branches left the trunk about 8 feet from the ground at near right angles, curved outwards for about 5 feet then shot up. This picture isn't of the actual tree but you can see what I'm getting at. After felling it became clear that the tree used to have a 4th main branch, which must have hung over the public pavement the other side of a beech hedge. Presumably this branch had become unsafe and had been removed as we found a huge plug of nutty concrete in the hole left behind. Like any bad dental surgery the rot that hadn't been eradicated and had continued to eat away to the trunk and downwards to the roots. The fate of the whole tree had been sealed and extraction dentistry was called for.
Being a teacher I have a longish summer holiday (sic) and so I have looked forward to working on this timber and finally got to grips with it in mid August. With my new trusty froe in hand I set about splitting logs and then shaping some hurdles with axe and drawknife. Here's what I've found out about silver birch.
- any length of seemingly straight wood is incredibly twisted inside. The grain of the wood spirals as it grows (presumably in response to the wind and sway)
- the grain is very tight and dense making the wood tenaciously hard and tough going even under recently sharpened tools
- any products coming from the wood will be twisted and unique. There is no option other than working the wood in the way in which it wanted to be worked. I particularly enjoyed this challenge as it made me aware of the partnership between bodger and bodgee
