An old logger named Jim set me straight on my pruning cuts last Tuesday

I was out on a job up near Bend and this guy Jim who's been falling timber since the 70s walked over and watched me for a minute. He said 'you're leaving those collar cuts way too long, son, you're just making the tree work harder to heal.' I always thought I was being careful not to flush cut but he showed me exactly where the branch bark ridge stops and how it changes on different species. I've been doing it wrong on oaks for like 3 years now. Anyone else ever get schooled by a random old timer who changed how you cut?

2 comments

2 Comments

jana_hill271mo ago

My grandpa used to say you can tell a lot about a person by how they sharpen a knife. It's funny how the old timers just see things we miss because we're too busy reading about how to do it instead of actually looking at what we're doing.

kaiharris1mo ago

Honestly, I feel personally attacked by your story because I've been that guy leaving collar cuts too long for like five years now. Tbh I thought I was being some kind of tree whisperer by leaving that extra bit, but now I realize I was just giving the tree a stupid little hat it didn't ask for. Ngl Jim sounds like the kind of guy who could watch you swing a hammer once and tell you you're holding it wrong. I bet he's got a whole library of these little corrections just waiting to drop on clueless people like us. Jokes on me though, because now I'm probably gonna go stare at every oak I've ever touched and cringe for the rest of the week.