Hammer and Chisel: Tree Surgeon Turns Leylandii Tree Into Beautiful Sculptures

Being a tree surgeon is a tougher job than many people initially realise. It’s not enough to just look at a tree and decide which branch to cut down, if you don't know what you're doing you could easily end up killing or at least seriously hurting yourself. That’s why being a tree surgeon is a highly paid job, both for their expertise and the level of danger involved. For former tree surgeon Rob Heard though, he’s hit upon an idea that looks just as tough with his hand-carved wooden models.

A car accident left Rob with an injured wrist and an inability to do his job for six months, so he understandably became bored. He took a look at the Leylandii tree, a tree that is pretty useless once it has been felled, and hit on the idea of creating art out of it. The results are ‘bough houses’, intricate models of structures that look like something straight out of a fantasy world. You can almost imagine Elves living in them, with sparkling fireflies flittering around.

Rob takes about 400 to 500 hours to build each ‘bough house’ with each one being completely unique. He hand cuts and carves them, fixing parts together using pins and glue. Even each individual roof tile is carved independently, and the detail he puts into the stairs and windows is just as impressive. You can even follow each walkway or staircase to a specific room or landing, with every turret and tower reachable.

This isn’t just art though; Rob wants children to play with them and initially made them for his daughters. It’s a great way to use a tree that isn’t much use, and one that is becoming quite hated. Leylandii trees can grow so tall that there have been numerous complaints to local councils due to neighbours letting them grow out of control and blocking out light and views. Since 2005 local authorities have been able to fine people up to £1,000 if they fail to cut them down when ordered to. So if you have one or know of one that needs cutting down just request it be sent to Rob as at least he can create some pretty impressive art out of them.

You have to have a pretty creative imagination to come up with designs on the scale of Rob’s, but apart from that what else would you need? Well, you'd need a qualified tree surgeon or logger to get hold of the wood in the first place, but if you're trained in all that then obviously a chainsaw would do nicely. You could also check your local area to see if anyone is getting rid of a tree and would either let you have the wood or offer it for a fee (check out this guide to getting free wood, although you'd probably one some pretty big logs to follow Rob's example).

We’re suspecting Rob used tools like a hammer and chisel when it came to the creation phase. There are a number of different chisels; including carving chisels and bevel edge chisels, although it would be worth your while getting hold of a full chisel set if you're going to commit to this. Finally you also need plenty of spare time and patience, but as DIYer's we're probably used to that anyway!