Continuing the saga of the oak, we now have, in addition to the vote for black oak, the vote for white oak, and the vote for scarlet oak, received today a vote for red oak and another vote for black oak. In fairness, I don't think anyone can reach a leaf, so they are all looking at the bark and squinting up maybe 25 ft. Tree is maybe 75 ft. tall.
Everyone agrees that there is root rot. The tree will have to come down "eventually." It is not going to fall down by itself, but a large storm may cause it to fall.
I think I am going to get a field guide to North American trees from the library, and will give credence to whoever got the tree right.
The going rate, other than the unlicensed guys from out in the country, is about $900, which includes cutting the wood into firewood lengths (18-20 inches) and hauling away the brush. The tree has a diameter of 30-36 inches.
Question 1: how am I (Chris, really, I suppose) going to cut those rounds up into firewood? Is it something we can do, if we buy the right tools?
Question 2: how many cords of firewood is it going to make?
Question 3: wouldn't it make better lumber? Say, wood shelving or wood flooring? I wonder if we could pay someone to saw it up?
The man I liked the best said we didn't need to take it down, just watch it and wait until the rot was bad enough to start making dead branches, which it doesn't have. He also said that the rot was incurable, but we could treat it by sprinking boric acid all over the bottom of the tree.
The man I liked second best also said the tree didn't have to come down, just watch it. He was funny, he said something like "more free advice for nothing", in a funny way, meaning another free estimate that the company didn't need to do any work.
The other two seemed less experienced. |
