Sculpture Carving on Life Tree Trunks

[Merlion]

Normally tree trunks cannot be kept alive when they are used to carve sculptures. I understand some botanists said tree trunks can be kept alive as long as sufficient barks are not removed. It is the bark that transmit water up the trunk to keep the tree alive.

Has anybody heard of this, hopefully priovide us with some information?

When I said sculpture here, it can include the idea of a totem pole on a life tree.

[sculptor]

short answer

a living tree can be carved and remain alive

long answer

really depends on the tree, location and species

some trees seem like an intricate grouping rather than a mono-tree---specific roots are associated with specific branches--(eg: arbor vitae)-cut one root, and a corresponding branch dies---the same with parts of the seeming uniform trunk---carve into one part, and a related branch will die---

some trees can be cut 1/2 way through, folded and will heal and continue to grow (mostly in the ash family)

some trees can have 1/2their bark and underlying wood carved, and will form a bark scab(think picture frame) around the damage and continue to grow
---while others will attempt to scab over the carved area
-----
as a general rule
don't cut around more than 50-60 % of the circumference
and never cut all the way round

then---learn from the trees

if the tree dies after carving, sever it from the ground or it will decay faster.

merlion;
i'm fairly informed about local trees, but know nothing about the ones growing near you

[denise lassaw]

Hi,
A tree draws in water and nutrients from the cambrian layer, which is the thin living membrane just under the bark. the bark acts as protection for this layer and the "wood" is the former living layer of the tree- which is why there are tree rings. tree rings reveal the yearly growth of the tree and from them one can read the history of the local climate going back hundreds of years- depending on the size, tree family and geography and growth cycle. Given all this, I would caution that to carve into the wood of a living tree, esp. as in a Totem pole style which is carving in the round, would definitly kill the tree. In Alaska we have a spruce bark beattle epidemic and lost most of our forests. the tiny beattle bore into the bark and eat their way around the cambrian layer- so once this layer is severed horizontally no nutriants can support the life of the tree and it begins to die very quickly. The NW native peoples who carve totem poles usually cut the tree and let it lie for a few years to do whatever shrinking and curing it has to do- then they carve it and with great ceremony put it in place.
Denise

[Merlion]

Thanks. I've been told locally that trees can be kept alive if 10% of the bark going up the trunk is not removed.

[kraig]

Thanks. I've been told locally that trees can be kept alive if 10% of the bark going up the trunk is not removed.


Thats sounds like the Republican "Trickled On" theory crossed with the Clintonesque... depending what your meaning of the word alive is........

Around here folks will commonly drill two or thee holes in each and every maple tree in an entire forest. There is much care taken with the placement of the holes depending on previous holes.

Giving the woods a surreal "Christe" is the network of veins and arteries bringing the treeblood to a large bleeding bowl. There it is boiled into apotent and addictive substance.

Theres a lot to keeping a tree alive for a few years, and even more to keep it alive for decades or centuries.

[Merlion]

Kraig, you are not a trained botanist are you? That information I got is from the head of a organisation looking after all public parks. He should have the advice of botanists with good knowledge of trees in his organisation.

By keeping the tree 'alive' with 10% bark going up the trunk, it clearly does not mean luxuriant growth of couse.