Anatomy of the Buckhorn Tavern Tree
Now that Jake is exploring the vast prairies of the west, I am left to tend to the interlobate prairies in Michigan. Winter is coming and it is a good time to bond with the forests that co-inhabit the oak openings of our area. Todays lesson is gathered from the harvesting of a large old red oak tree that blew over last spring.
The first step is to honor the tree for its contribution to the land. It has produced countless food for many small animals for decades as well as its role in cleansing the air and building the soil of the forest. The fallen tree has uprooted a large stump which creates an opening in the earth for important fungi and bacteria to grow. This tree will be harvested for fuel in my wood burning stove that heats my home. It seems rediculous that such a fine piece of wood which has served wood's highest, best purpose (being a living tree) for a century and a half would be used for one of the lowest purposes (burning for heat). This however is the world we live in and we honor the tree for its contribution.
Next, the first cuts into the trunk with the chain saw free up several twenty inch long logs which will be split later into firewood. I stack the wood outdoors to air dry until next spring when it will be split and then stored indoors to dry. The tree has a 23 inch dbh and about 35 feet of straight, clear oak wood, before branching out into a beautiful broad crown. Anyone who has ever cut a red oak can attest to the intoxicating aroma of the fresh cut oak wood. It is no surprise that distillers used this delicious wood for construction of their burbon casks and its rich aroma permeates fine burbon. I stop to rest and sit down in the forest next to copious piles of rich red oak sawdust that my saw has piled up from doing its work. Inhale and savor the aroma.
As I stack the round logs, I notice that this tree makes a great example of why old growth wood was so desireable for constructing things and why the young trees that we use today as a "renewable resource" are not the same as old growth wood which is hard to find. My new saw is sharp and leaves a nice clean cut that reveals the rings of the tree clearly. The center of the tree has thick rings of young growth for the first 30 to 50 years of age. The thickness of the rings gets progressively thinner as the tree ages. This aging effect is what gives the old growth wood its superior properties of strength and beauty from its dense tight grain.

 As the tree reaches an age of about 100 years the growth is very slow and is producing the finest wood. This tree has 146 rings measured at the first cut about two feet above the earth. It was just sprouting about the time that John Rhodes was opening his famous Buckhorn Tavern on the Shiawassee Trail near here.

At the center of the tree the rings are measured at about 9 years per inch of radius. At the outer edge the rings measure 24 years per inch of radial growth.

This section is from further up the trunk has 136 rings. It is incredible how tight the outer rings are and I have to put on my glasses to see well enought to count the rings. That is only about 0.040 inch of growth per year (less than the gap on a spark plug).

I stand in awe at this fine tree and wish that there was some way that I could tap into the changes to the landscape that it has seen. I would never cut a live tree so the opportunity to disect such a fine example is truly appreciated. This is an important benchmark since this tree is far from the largest in my forest. Always honor your ancestors.