Some times you don't find out that a tree is hollow until you cut into it, at least that was my experience with an oak that was around 26" DBH. It was a tree right on the edge of a pond that beavers had chewed the bark off around the bottom enough to kill the tree.
The land owner asked me to drop the tree in the winter on the ice as not to damage other trees around it.
When making the face cut I found out quickly that there was only a 3" to 4" shell of fairly solid wood around the outer edge of the tree. Being the tree was bigger in diameter than my gbar length doing a bore cut and leaving a little holding wood in the back seemed like the only safe option. Once I released theholding wood I was able to move quickly along my escape route and the tree fell where I expected it to on the ice.
The ice was 18" think in that spot but a couple of branches punched their way through the ice. Sure does make a thunderous sound when a dead tree lands on the ice. Some times you don't know if a tree is hollow or not until you cut into it. I don't think I would have done anything different had I known first. Hollow trees can twist and do a lot of crazy things, they are dangerous but some times they have to come down.
Randy
