Hawthorn raft or interesting log for the fire?

[Cattwooduk]

So I've been walking around the woods with my dog again and come across another interesting Hawthorn which may make an interesting raft. Lots of nice surface roots due to the constant moist soil which is real nice loose leaf mould. If I grab it I'm going to make a nice big box for it and try get it a little before bud break then try the sweating technique @Mike Hennigan mentioned in my previous post where I posted one I'd already collected. I've had a look at Tony Tickles blog post about sweating and looks very promising.

I've got an idea in mind for it but unsure if the roots are way out of the zone of what can be worked with. I quite like the big curved anchor root at the front that feels like it's grounding the whole thing, but would dramatically increase the size of pot required unless they could be wired and brought closer into the trunk.
The right hand side is whats giving me most trouble though - unsure where to cut it back to or at what angle. It's got an elbow which gives it inverse taper so there's that. Could be carved up to make some gnarly material pointing away with a canopy growing over it perhaps.

It's unusual which got my attention, but I don't know if that makes this one completely unusable at the same time.
Thoughts?

 

[BobbyLane]

hawthorn tend to bark up nicely, with some craggy features, in the wild. they're also known for interesting twists and bends. if was me i would pass on this. the other hawthorn stumps you showed me have better bark quality and little more promising.

 

[Cattwooduk]

I think I agree with this one. I feel like I have a picture in mind but no idea how to get it there and too many problems to overcome, just the weird way it's grown keeps luring me back to look at it.

 

[Cattwooduk]

How about this one.
I think this could be made into something really cool but again I'm not sure what to do with the main trunk end on the right... chop it and carve it, or chop it and regrow possibly a larger informal upright than the other ones coming off to the left.

Or cut it after the first or second bunches of uprights and grow it as a heavily leaning informal upright, leaving the big main trunk in the ground.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think that you might be focusing too much on the root of the raft (which will be buried) and not enough on the trees themselves. The second raft I'm not even sure you could get into a pot, you have no roots, and many of the tree trunks are emerging from the sides or even the bottom of the root/main trunk.

Far better to create your own that does everything you want it to do.

 

[BobbyLane]

have you googled and researched raft style bonsai? i think doing that would give you tons of ideas

a quick search and these came up, this is by Harry harrington, i mentioned to research his page

if thats the type of thing you like, then i think this tree is better than the other one, with raft in mind.

 

[Cattwooduk]

Yes I've been looking through loads of images to get ideas. That Harry Harrington one you posted was the one which gave me the idea of cutting the trunk just after either the first or second bunch of branches, it has some similarities I think.

Some of the trunks on Harry's tree are also coming from the sides as well. Any coming from underneath don't HAVE to be used.

 

[TomB]

I think this second one has good potential to replicate Harry's tree, if that's what you want to do. His tree immediately sprang to mind when I saw your picture. I'm not sure I would actually call it a raft - but there are trees growing in the woods near me that look just like it.
Personally, I would go for it.

 

[JoeH]

I like that second one too. Just take the root part with the raft feature and leave the rest of the tree there. It should have enough roots under there.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

The first one seems a little too unruly to bother, The second one is pretty interesting though and could have potential. Collecting the second one with both root systems on either end could be pretty funky! If I were to do that I would cut the big main trunk back to almost nothing, and just focus on the raft part inbetween. You’d need a long, narrow container for it to get both root systems in there. I’m not saying it’s the best material but there is something there I feel.

 

[Cadillactaste]

That second one I see potential! Good luck with it.

 

[Cattwooduk]

I think this second one has good potential to replicate Harry's tree, if that's what you want to do. His tree immediately sprang to mind when I saw your picture. I'm not sure I would actually call it a raft - but there are trees growing in the woods near me that look just like it.
Personally, I would go for it.

Yes this is the first one I found when looking after Bobby mentioned Harry Harrington had collected two new Hawthorns a couple of days ago. My aim wouldn't be so much to copy or replicate completely, that feels like cheating a bit but taking that style as inspiration seems like a good bet for a newb like myself... it'll probably end up looking a lot like it anyway!

The first one seems a little too unruly to bother, The second one is pretty interesting though and could have potential. Collecting the second one with both root systems on either end could be pretty funky! If I were to do that I would cut the big main trunk back to almost nothing, and just focus on the raft part inbetween. You’d need a long, narrow container for it to get both root systems in there. I’m not saying it’s the best material but there is something there I feel.

I was thinking if I do take the whole thing cutting back to a pretty dquat almost sumo trunk and having a broom on the end of the raft might be interesting. Not sure if that breaks all kinds of rules having a raft and a broom attached to each other haha!

All depends what the roots are like underneath I think. I mostly dug around the other smaller end and seemed like decent amount of fine roots under there. I'll start that end and then see what's under the other end as best I can - if it looks promising I might attempt the whole thing, if not I'll cut it back and leave the big trunk on the end to do it's own thing.