A Lesson of Trees

A spreading white oak in the Lands of the Painted Post (Lindley, NY)

When you run tree hounds, you have a tendency (or so, one would hope) to look up into a lot of trees.

With a good hound, likely something will be looking back.

After a while, you begin studying individual trees.

For example . . .

The amazing symmetry of a massive, spreading white oak that produces a lot of acorns (i.e., mast) most years. How many winters and summers has it seen along with generations of farmers tilling the fields nearby?


 

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An incredibly well lain stone wall--what remains of an old hotel on Sugar Hill in Schuyler County.

An old sugar maple used as a den tree from year to year. (Those who know me know I ask folks not to cut down den trees if they can help it.)

A ravine filled with hemlocks that produce a lot of seed cones.

Or an ancient shagbark that produces a lot of hickory nuts.

In this hollow, there’s an overgrown, long-abandoned orchard that still produces a lot of apples where an old motel once stood--as equally forgotten--and a place I recall as a preteen, seeing three of the former inn's walls still intact and watching a bluetick coonhound named Duke searching once-guest rooms for raccoon who undoubtedly had made the dilapidated structure their home . . .

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A weeping willow (center background) along a backroad not far from where I live.

Or that lonely weeping willow--an island unto itself--growing in a small, nameless pond.











Oftentimes, you’ll see something special about the shape of an individual tree. As a kid, I used certain trees as landmarks to navigate the woods. (Still do.)  

You might note the height of a towering eastern white pine, tallest tree species in the state of New York, or the huge girth of a mottled-bark sycamore down by the river.

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A burl on a white oak in Painted Post.

Every now and again, you'll see something on a tree that looks a bit off--an outgrowth that makes you stop to stare and wonder why.

Some of these growths are known as "burls." There’s a general consensus that burls are caused by some sort of stress to the tree—whether physical damage (e.g., hit by lightning) or some sort of infection. Some of those same experts admit, though, they’re not absolutely sure what causes a burl.

Within each burl is a one-of-a-kind wood grain. There are some folks with the requisite skills and tools who can turn these burls into some beautiful bowls or other impressive works of art.

There are so many videos on YouTube, varying in length from “shorts” to 10+ minute videos, showing how burls are machined (to include burls from trees around the world) that I recommend going to YouTube and search for “woodworking a burl” to pick a video/s of the length you’d like to watch. I watched close to a half dozen videos from short to long—none were disappointing. Simply amazing what can be achieved.

I suppose some might look at a burl as a defect. But then, someone’s throwaway is another’s keepsake.

A lesson (or two) of trees, I suppose.

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