Elm Raft

This Elm Raft was collected in March this year and is now doing very nicely. I has amazing gnarled deadwood and is strong and healthy. I added the bottle for scale but its nearly a 1M long and about 1/2 M high.

OK........Your starting to p**s me off now......How dare you come on here, teasing me with such lovely native material

Good taste of wine too.

Hey Will...this is the same guy with that other sweetl "little" elm stump!! I'd be ticked off too.

Nice raft!!

Its like you guys in the UK walk to the store and are all the way tripping over elms, scots pines and hawthorns. What's the deal!

Neil. You wouldn't believe the amount of legwork I've done over the years!!

will baddeley wrote:OK........Your starting to p**s me off now......How dare you come on here, teasing me with such lovely native material

Not fair how one man can find two fantastic pieces so far!!! How many more you got hiding??? Jo that is spectaculer! Enjoy.

Will,
I know how much I've done in a short few years...and compared to you I'm a youngster
Just kidding, I can only imagine Will!!

We seldom see any material that would be good for rafts. It must be something in the environment that you guys have going on there. I've seen a few very good rafts, the one in this post & several more.

All look very good. Keep it up!!
Neil

These elms were a lucky find and although it seems like I've just dropped in a picked them up the work to get them has been rediculous. Having found them it took 3 meetings with people using the land to find out who owned it. Having found that out then letters to the owner and two meetings. Silver then crossed palms to the tune of a few hundred pounds for the rights to collect on one day. Then came the day of digging, 12 hours straight back breaking work and boxing at home. Six month in all but worth it in the end.

We can find Elms like this because 30 years ago all but a tiny handful of our Elms were killed by Dutch Elm disease. Those that survived did so as stumps or residual roots, the whole top having died off. You can find these in tiny pockets and collect them with strict permission. My dig was even inspected by a local park ranger. The funny part was that on the day of the dig the guys who used the field for grazing their horses weren't told by the land owner that we would be there and called the police because a couple of gypsies were in their field 'digging out a dog stuck in a rabit hole' Glad I had my letter from the land owner on me. The perils and price of yamadori!

That's a great story! A dog in a rabbit hole

In any event digging trees is often very hard work and it can be rewarding if you find good material to put your labor into. Which it looks like you've done.

Persistence pays great dividends.

Well deserved and earnt mate!

Bonjour,

Un peu dans cet esprit

Ah pascal........what can I say, I really, really hope so ! beautiful pen and ink work. I would like to feature some of your drawings on an article on my site www.bonsaibasho.com could we do that ?

yes of course