When a human and an oak tree cross paths.
The types of projects that really check the "Life of Treedom" boxes for me follow the transformation of a tree in a field, to timber and end with "a something". We start with a tree in field.
The Tree
About 150 years ago, in a space next to the above tree, in a field somewhere in Northumberland, an oak tree began to grow. Spanning two world wars and watching as generations of humans come and go, it would grow into a big strong oak tree. However, in November 2021 a storm would bring unusual northerly winds causing this strong oak tree, and a neighbouring beech tree, to fall.
For a few months after the storm in the North of England we were all used to seeing uprooted trees, and the field that contained this tree was no different. At some point the oak tree in question underwent its first transformation from a tree into a series of logs. Some of which were transported off for firewood, some left in place. The only evidence of a tree having stood there is the slowly decaying root plate (pictured below) but even that is on a timer and when that bell dings, this tree will be completely erased from visible history.1
Tree to Log
I crossed paths with the oak log in September of 2023. It was log-love-at-first-sight. It is a hefty log, measuring 6.8 metres in length and averaging out at a diameter of about one metre, it is the biggest log I’ve ever worked with. Not that I’ve worked with many logs – after all, I’ve only been at this for just over a year now. But just how did I find myself in this field I hear you ask? Let’s back it up and provide some details about how a log in a field in Northumberland crossed paths with yours truly.
Connections
One of the first things we were suggested to do at treeschool was to join a few organisations. The Arboricultural Association (AA) and the Royal Forestry Society (RFS). Both offered student memberships and whilst the RFS comes with a £12 a student fee, you do get a rather nice quarterly printed journal. You also get assigned into a chapter and thus invited to events.
I was at one such RFS event in June of 2023, where I met a some new people. Two of those people were a couple (Hugh and Wei) who lived in Stocksfield, not too far from Treedom Woods. We got talking and the topic of logs came up and they happened to mention that they had a rather large oak log and asked if I’d be interested in it. Whilst they run a firewood business, Hugh didn’t want to see this particular log (and as it turns out – a few others) go to firewood in which the utility of the wood is measured in minutes for the essential, but fairly trivial task of keeping you warm in the winter. Instead, Hugh wanted to ensure the utility of the log was measured in decades, not minutes.
I can always use nice oak, especially local oak, and after some light bartering we came to an arrangement where in exchange for me crosscutting some larger logs for their firewood business, I’d take ownership of the log and a few smaller logs on the understanding that I’d use it appropriately and return a few milled sections of the logs back to them. Sweat equity for the win. However, two small problems stood before me. Firstly, I have no means of lifting, moving or transporting any large timber and secondly, whilst I do have the means to mill smaller sections of timber, I do not own a powerful enough saw to mill 36 inch oak. Oak is tough and my experiences so far with milling would suggest my limit with the MS462 is 12-14” inches in oak.
Problems schmoblems. By deliberately putting myself in a situation I found myself with an invitation to an opportunity. I nearly didn’t go to this event, but I did. I nearly said no the opportunity because I couldn’t solve the problems myself, but I said yes.
Sweat Equity
This was a quid pro quo arrangement in three parts:
1 - Crosscutting
The limbs, some of the stem of this tree and a large amount of a neighbouring beech tree which had also failed in the storm had been moved to a location in which the owner of the log processes firewood. I was to crosscut the limbs up into rounds and cut any larger rounds into two parts so that they could be processed by machines into firewood.
In exchange for crosscutting the limbs, I would take ownership of the large oak log (in a field five miles away which I’d not yet seen) and a smaller section of the log which was at the log processing location. You can see the smaller section (it’s not actually small, it’s just smaller than the bigger section) on the right just in front of the saw horse in the picture below. It is about two metres in length and about 80cm in diameter at the thinnest end.
I originally thought (like a romantic no-brain) that the crosscutting would take me four hours. I was wrong. So far I’m about six hours in and I have about three hours left to go. I should have budgeted a day for this. But I’m just starting out and I expect my estimations of time to be off a little at the start. At the end of six hours I have this left to process. The exception being the two logs with the yellow circles.
2 - Usefulness measured in years and ideally, decades.
Obviously a firewood business takes logs as input and outputs “ready to burn” firewood at as a product. No logs, no product. However, there were some logs that it Hugh later decided (after I’d crosscut the first batch on day one) that should also be turned into things other than firewood. I didn’t take much convincing on this. As long as I agreed to be the person that turned these logs into useful things then they’d also pass into my possession to be milled up. I can always put good oak to use and whilst I cannot use the beech for anything that’s in contact with the elements, I can use it for cabinets and other things that will live under shelter in the woodland or in the workshop.
3 - One slab from each log to go back to the owner.
The final condition of the deal is that Hugh would like to receive one slab from each of the smaller logs that are to be milled. Given that there’s three meaty logs waiting to be slabbed up, excluding the larger log, this seems very reasonable to me.
So that’s the arrangement. 1 - Crosscut a load of logs for firewood and receive some selected logs in exchange. 2 - The logs that I am to take ownership of are to be used to make things in the woodland or workshop that will be useful for timeframes measured in years and ideally, decades. Finally, 3 - The one slab from each of the smaller logs to be returned to Hugh.
Seems balanced to me.
But.
There is always a but. Here’s the but.
I said yes to this deal knowing full well I could not solve two showstopper problems – 1, milling the logs into usable timber and 2, transportation of the logs to the woodland.
The Milling Problem
I have no means of milling timber this size. My experience of milling is limited to a single attempt, which went well but I learned one thing – twelve inch oak is the limit for my current largest saw (462). So I have two potential solutions for milling this timber.
The most obvious being buy the most powerful saw Stihl make - an 881 and upgrade to one of these mills. It’s an expensive solution but certainly on the cards in the near future. However, today is not the near future and so this solution isn’t going to make itself appear in time to mill this wood in September of 2023. The second solution, which I’ll certainly be utilising is one of my buddies at treeschool - Henry. He has the powerful saw and also has a large mill.
Milling this large log is a solved problem. Milling the other logs will be solved when I purchase the necessary equipment in October of 2023. I guess we can call milling a solved problem. Somewhat down to the income of the business, but mostly due to the generosity of colleague.
The Transport Problem
Secondly, I have to move the logs from their current location to Treedom Woodland. I know I will need a powerful pickup (ideally with a tipper body) and a large trailer at some point, but I am not there yet. Vehicles are bound in with the business plan, which is bound up with insurance, which is bound up with tickets and that’s another story for another day.
I was pretty open and clear about these two problems with Hugh and he was ok with it. To be frank, I knew I could solve the milling problem but the transport problem really had me stumped. Not so much for the smaller milled stuff, which I could take board by board in the back of the Rav4 if needs be, but more so for the larger log. I had no way of solving that problem.
None.
Hugh solved it in a few phone calls.
By the 6pm of 5th of September 2023, the unsolvable problem was solved. It involved a bit of cash exchanging hands for time worked at a reasonable rate which I was happy to pay. At 9am on 8th September 2023, this log was to be moved.
The networks of people around me helped me solve unsolvable problems.
I am lucky to be surrounded by such people.
I’m grateful for that.
Moving the log – take one.
Matthew was the person who Hugh arranged the moving of the log with. He does a bunch of terribly useful things (fencing, landscaping, excavation etc) but today he was the log mover.
Plan A was to move the log (or at least attempt to) move it as one log. However, the tractor had a max lift of 1000kg and when Matthew attempted to lift the log, it was in fact the tractor’s back wheels that lifted off the ground. This is generally a sign that you’ve passed the maximum capacity of the machine.
Plan B was to cut the log in half from 6.8 metres into halves of 3.4 metres. This is fine because the log is going to be used to build a thing that is about 3.4 metres in height.
However, after attempting to move the log, the universe reminded us who was in charge of the situation. A puncture in one of trailer tyres was spotted and that kind of paused everything for a little while whilst Hugh and Matthew had a quick trip to Prudhoe to get the puncture fixed.
Cut the Log
By this point in the morning the mist was starting to clear and it had turned into a wonderful day to be in a field with a chainsaw and a log. So whilst they went to fix the tyre, I cut the log in half. It was the largest crosscut I’ve ever done. It was thrilling.
It’d be easy to show you all the good stuff, but then you’d think I never make mistakes. Which I do. I make a LOT of mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes you can make with a chainsaw is going into the ground with the bar. The soil and teeny stones it contains MASH the cutter heads on the chain to the point where you can ruin a chain at worst and give yourself a lot of sharpening to do at best.
Look what I did. This must be the third time I’ve put this bar into the ground.
At this point Hugh and Matthew were expected to be about an hour at the garage as there was a queue. So this was a fine time to say sorry to my chain and give it a sharpen. Thankfully this chain is a “skip tooth” which means every other cutting tooth is skipped. Technically this makes a 36” bar like this, run on 18” bar power – in theory. There’s also some other stuff like less wood being removed and more space to clear it but there’s also some downsides in that the cutters do more, so they blunt quicker. The piper, as they say, must always be paid.
I didn’t moan about sharpening my chain. It was a lovely morning, truly wonderful and I was in a field, on a log sharpening my chain.
Moving the log – take two.
Somehow a miracle happened and the repaired tyre was back from the garage in less than twenty minutes. I hadn’t even finished sharpening my chain when Hugh and Matthew returned. At this point it was really just a case of standing back and watching Matthew do his thing.
Once everything was loaded I was able to get a first look at the inside of the log. You don’t really know what you’re getting until you cut into a log and I could not have been happier to see nice clear wood. It was from the picture I guessed the age of the tree at 145 years. If you can be any more accurate, let me know in the comments.
The Journey
Once it was all loaded we got off on our merry way. We had a journey of about five miles to make. Half of which was on a fairly busy A road and the rest up going up hill along single track B-roads. I drove on in front of Matthew trying to stay far enough ahead so he had plenty of braking space, but not so far so that he’d lose me. He vaguely knew were he was going, but still, I thought it would have been rude to drive off.
I’m glad we did a little convoy though because as we passed through a small village I was fortunate enough to prevent an oil tanker (heating oil - this is a rural area) from turning into the road and driving to meet Matthew head on. I’m pretty sure at first the driver of the tanker didn’t understand what I was doing by blocking him from turning, but I think he figured it out and was ultimately grateful for the wait rather than the alternative which would have been a delightful dance between two big mechanical things on a very thin road.
Eventually we got to the woodland turn off and we descended down the track.
The rest went really quickly. Almost effortlessly. As it turns out almost every single thing I was concerned about either didn’t happen, or it wasn’t even something I should have troubled myself with.
Here’s a little video of the unloading of the logs into the parking space at the woodland.
Here’s some stills so you can understand the scale of the logs.
So what did happen when an oak tree crossed paths with human?
Aside from the above narrative, quite a lot actually. Here’s a neat little list.
I learned (again) that unsolvable problems are generally solvable. They are only unsolvable by your current thinking – often very limited to your own experience. Someone else can likely solve them easily. Acting like an island and trying to solve it all myself is foolish.
I learned (again) that meeting new people is mostly always a good thing2. I should do more of it. I nearly didn’t go to the RFS thing. None of this would have taken place if I didn’t. I can be quite insular by default as it’s easier, but making the effort to get out of my own way always leads to wins and not the losses that I fear.
I need another chainsaw. Right now, that another means bigger. When I have that one, it’ll mean something else. I always need another chainsaw.
I now have the raw material for an exciting new project. I alluded to fact that this log and the other logs are to be for projects where their usefulness is measured in years, and ideally decades. On that note, I’ll leave a little sketch as ultimately, this is what I hope happens when this oak tree meets this human.
Stay tuned for the next “Pavilion” update as we’re hoping to get the log milled up on the 20th of September.
A final nod of acknowledgement and gratitude to Hugh and Matthew who both turned unsolvable problems into a series of rather pedestrian tasks.
Thanks for reading & I appreciate your attention.
Cheers,
Jamie
Pollen analysis and radio carbon dating should still be able to detect it though.
It’s not always a good thing to meet new people because psychopaths and sociopaths are always best avoided. So if you meet one of those, I’d struggle to see how that could be good. Always is a difficult word.
That pavilion looks really nice, (I want one) but where to put it ?