This is the tree I withdrew from the KnoB contest. As the summer drew on, I knew I was not going to be able to finish the work before hot weather set in, so decided to avoid endangering it.
I've done some work on it and it will now wait untillate winter for the next steps. The first branch on this tree is a back branch of considerable size. Unfortunately, the foliage on this one grows right back toward the tree. I decided to lower the large, older portion of the branch and compress the foliage to embrace the branch.
I protected the old bark with raffia and splines, then wired the branch. The guy wire is fairly heavy copper, probably 12 or 14 gauge. It is anchored by a screw I drove into the dead root. With an assistant holding the tree and twisting the slack out of the guy, I pushed the branch down and toward the left side of the tree.
This is a good looking tree.... it is very odd that the back branch is growing like that, the way it comes back to the trunk. I would think it would be fairly simple to bend back though. Although there will always be a ton of movement right where it transitions from growing away from the trunk. It looks healthy though and I look forward to seeing where this tree goes in the future.