There were a lot of old branch stubs that didn’t quite heal over. The water came right in and rotted out the center.
Big White Oak 3
WunderWoods
Hardwoods from St. Charles & St. Louis (Live-edge slabs, lumber and woodworking)
Any idea why white oaks have those bulges where they abandon branches? It’s a diagnostic feature on the swamp white oaks at my house: old branch lumps on the trunk.
This tree was in a residential area, so I don’t know if the branches that didn’t heal were poorly pruned, died out or were ripped off. Most of the time it seems like the problem is a dead branch that just lingers and doesn’t fall out, which then makes a cone shaped entrance into the middle of the tree when the branch finally does fall out. It may be a case where the durability of the
lumber works against the tree. A branch that rotted off quicker would have a better chance of healing over. Just a hypothesis on my part. I see it a lot in White Oaks and it is sad to see that just a small opening can bring down something so big and old.