Oxfordshire Woodland Group

I spotted a tree surgeon half way up a tall eucalyptus tree and was pleased to discover that this was Joe Currie of Classic tree Services who was charged with reducing the overall height of this quick growing tree.

Later Joe told me that his climbing rope was 50 metres long doubled over and did not reach to the top of this tree (for obvious reasons) and so the tree was probably about 30 metres (98 ft) high. I know that this tree was planted no more than 30 years ago and so this demonstrates that these trees are capable of growing at the rate of 1 metre per year.

When climbing in such a tree it's very important to have good working knowledge of rope and harness safety procedures and this is definately a "don't try this at home" project undertaken dressed in plimsoles and tee shirt.

High winds stopped progress and so once again working safely is a paramount consideration.

Ken Hume

After the storm abated and the sun came out the tree surgeons returned and climbed the tree

to finish the crown reduction of the eucalyptus. You need to have a head for heights and competence to undertake this kind of work.

No doubt this tree will sprout back producing hundreds of small branches thereby soon casting a dense shade on the surrounding gardens.

On a more positive note the tree has produced a healthy log pile from the arisings ready for conversion to firewood

A quick, easy and safe way to produce the firewood billets is to use a saw bench.

This both clamps the branch and keeps the operator away from the cutting blade.

The branch is progressively fed through the saw bench to produce firewood billets.

Ken Hume