1st live tree carving

[JoeVM]

A really nice face. Hope it weathers well.

[Irishman]

A really nice face. Hope it weathers well.

Thanks for taking a look Joe.

[Josh]

This is great! A local fella in our parts made a mural of a section of trunk that had been struck by lightning. It was neat how half the tree was alive and the other half dead and carved. This often made me wonder, does carving a live wood have a risk of damaging the tree or is it such a small thing that there isn’t much worry?

[Irishman]

This is great! A local fella in our parts made a mural of a section of trunk that had been struck by lightning. It was neat how half the tree was alive and the other half dead and carved. This often made me wonder, does carving a live wood have a risk of damaging the tree or is it such a small thing that there isn’t much worry?

Hi Josh,
You can see in an earlier thread that I indicated that I am new to carving live trees. What the research told me is that a carver should not carve beyond the circumference of 50 % so the tree still has enough bark on one side of the tree to allow nutrients to get to the upper limb. Sealing the carving properly may have some impact on the trees ability to recover I expect. Then there is the resiliency of the tree itself, the type of tree, etc. This tree was Ash and was green so I may check in with the owner in a number of months to see how the tree is doing...and cross my fingers