AusBonsai

I believe this might be an English Ash "Fraxinus Excelsior" , cant be certain but i doesn't matter .The trunk and base is what swayed me to collect it from a garden ,aren't Mums great , self sown weed so i was told .Anyway i cut loose on the trunk and hollowed it out just for something different .Using a drill and some self boring auger bits along with some spade bits i drilled down through the fork then cleaned the heart out . A quick trim back to a green bud and we will see if it shows signs of growth in the Spring .This is a roughy but i will detail it if it survives , don't mind which leader throws out the new growth as a decision on a final style is a long way off .Cheers Alpineart

Seal the cambiums. No extreme conditions for a while, it'll be good as gold! thats what im talkn about my man!

Hi Ant , 1 down 30 to go .Don't like my chances of get all the carving done , some of the my elms have 200mm bases .Have to cut them down to size with the chainsaw then carve .Cheers Alpine

Soldier on son! i too have a load of carving to do this year stay tuned!

ps also allow new growth to grow strong and get those cambiums rolling!

I won't touch this now for a couple of seasons however i will seal it .Need to send the saw to the doctor to make sure its up to the challenge .Cheers

hi alpine !

It seem that you have to choose one of the two top of your tree !
(sorry for my english !...i'm French)

with time, you'll have just to re-open the heal....with natural result

What tools are you guys using to carve & hollow? Dremel? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

i prefer manual tools for carving

..Dremel just for dead wood

just for doing something natural...with time

pascal37 wrote:hi alpine !

It seem that you have to choose one of the two top of your tree !
(sorry for my english !...i'm French)

Hi Pascal , that decision will come in time .I will see what the new spring growth does then i will remove either left or right branch .Nice looking Ash you have there .Cheers Alpine

Josh wrote:What tools are you guys using to carve & hollow? Dremel? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Josh , seriously i use a 010 AV Stihl Chainsaw for the quick removal or reduction in size .Then a 100mm angle grinder fitted with 1-2 or 3 tungsten tips saw blades to cut and slice , drilling and boring with a power drill fitted with either self boring augers or spade bits .Hollowing is done with a Router converted to a die grinder using router bits or a rotory drill/file , then i finish off with a dremel type mini grinder .This doesn't apply to Mame trees .Cheers Alpine

of course for big tree..as Kimura...or Cheng Kung with manual tools (Sidiao)

Hi Alpineart, do you still have this tree, if so how is it going (any updated photos). I have the chance to get one with a large trunk. I could do 3 airlayers of it and get 2 good trees plus one stiaght trunk part. Do these back bud on the main trunk ok if I take it to a stump about 30cm high x 10cm wide.

Josh

Hi Kidsandall , mate i haven't seen this tree for quite some time . My guess is the wife has sold it in my absent mindedness over the last 6-9 months . I most certainly haven't got it here .A lot of material has and is being sold off to ease the burden in the next few months as i will be out of action and laid up again very soon . Then again it could be lurking somewhere amongst the jungle of plants .

Cheers Alpine

Thanks for that. Wonder what it looks like now????