Turning junk into something: A fun thread

[Rory]

Recently I thought, what a great thread it would be to have a before and after photo of the ugliest, most hideous looking tree you have, and instead of tossing or passing it on, show us what you have tried to create with it. Lets encourage people to find their ugliest mistake, and try to do something with it and post your before and after shots here. Surely a lot of people would have a few that are either dreadfully straight, reverse taper, right angle shoots, bulging, crossed branches, experiments that just didn't work out etc, etc), and it would be fun to see what people have done to overcome these obstacles and try to present something vaguely better.

In hindsight I wish I had kept a few shockers for this thread, but most people cull them when they have exhausted their own attempts. So, if you haven't thrown yours out and you have kept a picture of that one black sheep of the family, post it here. Show us your hideous embarrassment of something you should never have bought or have attempted to work on, and what you have done with it.

My black sheep was a radiata pine that I bought a long time ago ... and I bought it, because I wanted a radiata pine. That was when I was trully the man with a brain, looking at the label and not the stock. Back then I was uneducated and naive, whereas now I'm uneducated and older. It had really bad reverse taper under the soil line to the point that it resembled a gymnast with anorexic legs. It had thick branches as long and straight as a politicians nose. The foliage was barely hanging on at the end, probably supported by spider webs. And the trunk took a perfect 90 degree angle halfway up that resembled my logic at purchasing it. It was $14.95 in a bargain throwout. "what a bargain" I thought. Whereas what I should have thought "what a moron I am". It promptly died on me 2 months later, but at least I proved to myself that I was dumb and stubborn.

[Daluke]

This is one of those posts that I want to contribute to, but will wait, as I know I will be embarrassing myself

[Jason]

Mine tend to go the other way... from something to junk

[Phoenix238]

Mine could still go either way, they're still too young to tell

[time8theuniverse]

I feels like this straight reverse tapered roadside junk could fit in this category.

viewtopic.php?f=104&t=16537

[Rory]

I feels like this straight reverse tapered roadside junk could fit in this category.

viewtopic.php?f=104&t=16537

The first three posts made me chuckle. Gosh, I'd never have even looked twice at that piece of stock you pulled up time8, but that's the spirit! Interesting to see where you take this one.

[Raymond]

Mine tend to go the other way... from something to junk

[dansai]

Unfortunately I can't find any before shot of this one so I did a quick sketch.

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It was liberated from a carpark along with 2 others and had the least potential. It had good root flare and that was about it. A big bar branch and a bare straight section above that. It sat for about a year on my benches before I finally saw a potential tree in it. A few cuts, some bending and about 6 months later some carving and I have the start of something interesting. Of the 3, the best one carked it, the second one has been reduced to a sacrifice branch and a new leader so this is the best of them at the moment. Needs a good clean up of the carving but happy with were it is now.

The photo doesn't really show off the carving well or the movement in the trunk. When I have cleaned it up and get my good camera back I might try and get a better photo.

LP Literati.jpg