Will the plan become reality?
Lucas mills and Greenways converting oak tree into joists for the Long
House
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Joists or Jowl? 20th April 2019
My dream brings tears to my eyes. I
need to make a decision about a beautiful tree.
This week I have been overseeing the
milling of a large oak
tree and supervising the making of clay lump blocks. I pinch myself,
and it
hurts. Please don't get me wrong, I love what I do, and feel very
blessed to be project managing the
reinstatement of a 1580 Timber Frame. It's 'like for like' using locally
sourced trees, but
with it comes layers of responsibilities that pull at my shoulders … I
want to
do right by these trees …
On Monday I went to measure the Jowl
Tree. This, is the name
I had given a 6M long oak felled last year to let more light (and
subsequently
more flora and fauna) into local woodland. Jowl Tree has a huge
buttress, just
perfect for turning upside down and using as key support in the timber
frame.
When I last visited this tree it
spoke to me of becoming
four jowl posts. A person with cleaving experience could open this tree
lengthways and make full use of its natural curves. Each half could be
halved lengthways. We have
in the past used a Lucas Mill to convert tree into jowl and because of
the
nature of the straight cut of the machine, whilst it is do-able, it is
also
hugely wasteful of wood. For this reason, I am reluctant to mill this
tree.
Dare I dream of this huge Jowl Tree
being hand converted? Dare I?
My other dilemma is this:- for the next
stage of the Long House project
I need 32 ceiling joists, much smaller pieces than the mighty jowl. I
was
loathed to get the jowl tree milled into joists, so on Monday I had
come to
make my peace with the tree and to explain to it what was to happen. I
was sad,
but there didn’t appear to be any other choice, or was there?
I found the woodsman and his
apprentice splitting firewood. Their
main trade is firewood, and in my heart of hearts I am pleased the Jowl
Tree
was to become a building, even if that meant as joists and not jowl.
Long story. Short. Unbeknown to me
there is a second oak, a bigger straighter
tree that would make perfect joists and plenty of them.
BIG BIG thank-yous to
Graham and The Universe for listening. And maybe, just maybe the Jowl
Tree will
one day become four jowls?
Here is a photo of the Jowl Tree and
the joists from Tree 2!
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