Split trunk to eliminate reverse taper

Cajunrider

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^^^ This. The first thing I thought when I saw your photo was not "oh look inverse taper". It was "what is going on in the upper part of the tree such that this wound did not heal?" Also, without seeing the nebari, I'm not sure I'd be too worried about the trunk yet. Uncover those roots so you know what you're working with. You may end up deciding that a formal upright is not the best form for the tree - in which case trying to work towards a stove pipe straight trunk may not be your goal.

HOWEVER... commenting simply on the technical aspects of your work I would make sure that your initial carving leaves a concave space to account for the inevitable bulge as the scar heals. As far as I'm concerned, an epoxy filler works against this. If you were worried about fungus, I would have carved down the deadwood and then applied a clear penetrating epoxy - like what they use for wood rot on old houses. Interestingly, I have never thought about using custom wood vise faces - even though I have used them in the past for woodworking projects. I could see how you might be able to rout a semi-circular channel in a couple of blocks of wood and use them for your clamps/vises and it might yield better results than flat pieces of wood.

Regardless - make sure you let the top of your tree grow like mad so that you can create vascular demand that will cause the trunk to thicken. If the top of your tree isn't growing strongly, the trunk will only thicken very slowly, if at all.
I thought about carving out the clamp jaws myself but got lazy. It is hard to see from the front but there is room for the heal. I also plan to carve away the epoxy as the lip of the wound starts to roll in. As it is now the width of the old scar was reduced by 1/2”. I am happy with that.

Btw this wound on the tree was from late fall last year. This tree heals quickly.
 
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