How long before this one becomes firewood?

[chuckwood]

This is a mature oak around 4 feet wide at the base. I never bothered to check the wide hole in the base, and I can stick my arm all the way through. There's around 8 inches of thickness left around the outside of the trunk, the inside is gone. These are the ones I reckon that can blow up in your face if you try to cut 'em, right? So this ole tree will die a natural death, maybe blocking the road when she comes down. How would a pro handle one of these, I'd sure be nervous climbing on one, how do you know what it's gonna do?

 

[Gologit]

How far up the tree is it hollow? If it's not too far you could use a couple of springboards and cut above the hollow part. You'd want to make your cuts well above the top of the rot and use a quick release face so you're not putting a lot of pressure on the lower part when it commits.

And you're right, it could very well blow up on you if you cut through the rotten part.

 

[lindnova]

I am not a pro, but I have a lot of trees like that that live longer than you think. Might fall tomorrow or years down the road. I would cut the vines on it.

As far as felling it. I would let it come down on its own. I would think a pro would use a bucket truck if it is by the road or climber and work his way down.

 

[SteveSS]

It might surprise you. My Dad has one similar in his yard, but the hole in the side is big enough to get a grown man's torso inside and look around. It's been living like that for as long as I can remember.

 

[Gologit]

Lindnova and SteveSS make good points. Sometimes those old trees will live a long time. If it's not going to hurt anything when it comes down you could just wait and let nature take it's course.

Or, if you're not comfotable with springboards...have a climber look at it and decide if it's safe to climb and chunk down.

 

[Stlshrk]

Come back and check out the leaves this summer and you'll have a much better idea of how long she's got left. It may be decades or much sooner. My Grandfather and I cut one a while back that he said was hollow in the late 60's and it didn't die and come down until a couple of years ago.

And to echo others, let it come down on it's own if it isn't threatening a structure.

 

[Oldman47]

I have a burr oak about like that which is around 5 ft DBH on some bottom land that "owns" over an acre of my woods. The outside is nice and solid so a few years back I put up a deer stand in it. Somewhere around 15 feet off the ground I step off onto a branch that has to be 20 inches in diameter near the trunk and I use it as my stepping off point to continue my climb to the stand. A few feet above that it splits into a double trunk and I put the stand in the crotch. I bought this property over 20 years ago and the first time I walked through my woods I noticed the tree. It was rotting from the inside even then. Don't count on it falling any time soon.

 

[chuckwood]

Come back and check out the leaves this summer and you'll have a much better idea of how long she's got left. It may be decades or much sooner. My Grandfather and I cut one a while back that he said was hollow in the late 60's and it didn't die and come down until a couple of years ago.

And to echo others, let it come down on it's own if it isn't threatening a structure.

Wow, didn't expect this many replies. This tree doesn't have much at all in the way of dead limbs, and it fills out good with leaves like all the others, no signs of bad health aside from the missing heartwood at the base. I could get a guess how far the decay goes up the trunk by sticking a camera in there. Well, if this one could have up to 20 or maybe a lot more years to go, it might just outlast me. There's nothing that much of value in the drop zone so I'll let 'er rip anywhere she wants and on the tree's schedule, not mine, looks like there's no need to worry about it coming down right away. Raccoons and foxes like these things after they come down and there's a nice dry hollow log.

 

[Landmark]

Letting it fall naturally as others have said is the safest but dynamite would be the most
fun......

 

[woodchuck357]

I took down one similar to that a little while back.
The folks had a swing suspended from a foot thick horizontal limb about 20 feet up, and one day it just broke off at the trunk. No one was using the swing at the time, but they had been a couple days earlier.
I had to use a cable since it was near a house and the most weight of the canopy was not on the side it needed to fall toward.
I used a wide notch, left about 4 inches for a hinge on each side, and bored both sides toward the back while some pull was put on the cable. It went over just like any tree would that had the center of the hinge bored out, when I finished the last of the back cut.