Its always a shame when a big oak tree succumbs to stormy weather. Especially when they were as nice as this one. The first 6 meters of the trunk were perfectly straight and there were no large knots in it. After that there was a large curved section. I discussed what it could be used for with the client and it just so happened that the tree fell right towards a small river which they had intended to build a bridge over. Shipwrights of the past used to treasure natural curves in oak as they are much stronger than ones that are cut from straight grained timber. So it was decided to make use of the curved part to make two sides of a footbridge.
After milling the curved bit in half I then went on to cut 2 inch planks out of the first straight section of the trunk. These were for the treads of the bridge. I also cut some 3 inch planks which were sawn again to make 3x3 for the structural parts of the bridge.
The gardeners did a brilliant job of clearing the area and then setting two concrete pads for the bridge to sit on.
The hand rails and treads were then cut in and attached. It was a really nice job to follow from start to finish and I'm pretty happy with it. Its all made out of solid Oak so I'd imagine it will last the foreseeable future!
