Two dead American elms at my father-in-law Lloyd’s place had to come down. The surprise was that both trunks were hollow all the way through. Once the top came off the first one, I could stand on the ground and move the whole trunk with one hand.
Why they had to come down
Beetles and weather had gotten both trees, and they had been dead a while. The dead branches hung over Lloyd’s house and over anyone walking underneath. That is the point where a dead tree stops being something you will get to eventually.
A rented lift and a deadline
We rented a towable boom lift for the weekend and went up after them. It was the first time I had ever run one. The lift went back Monday, so there was a clock on the whole job, and the priority was simple: get everything that could fall on the house down first.
Hollow is worse than it sounds
From the outside, a dead tree that is still standing looks like it has some strength left. These had almost none. Being able to rock a trunk that has stood next to a house for decades with one hand is not a good feeling, and it is a reminder that you cannot judge a dead tree by how it looks.
The trunks are still up for now. Everything over the house is down.
Why none of it is firewood
The branches are solid, and that is the part I care about. American elm has interlocked grain. It does not split clean, which is exactly why people used it for chair seats, butcher blocks, and wagon wheel hubs for a couple hundred years. I have built desks and guitars from it before.
So none of this is going in the burn pile. It is going to the mill.
What is next
Part 2 is dropping the trunks. Part 3 is finding out what is actually inside them.
Follow along
One guy in a small shop on his father-in-law’s property in Lindsborg, Kansas. IT Director by day, maker by obsession. Equal parts problem solver, craftsman, and curious human. If you’re the kind of person who takes things apart to see how they work, or watches people who do, you’re in the right place.
Uncut shop sessions go up on YouTube and I stream on Twitch. Everything is @carverwoodworking. There is merch in the shop, or you can buy me a coffee.