There are a couple of reasons, just off the top of my head, why
someone would do this. Ox yokes are curved in this way and would
be much stronger if the wood grew that way instead of having to
be carved. Another use could have been sled or sleigh runners.
Same advantage over bending or carving. Fascinating though. The
trees were probably bent like that for building boats. the wood
is stronger if it has a natural bend, boat builders would go out
and look for trees with a close enough bend to it to fit their
project, and i bet a farmer was trying to achieve this. yep,i
agree with the previous poster. I considered this myself years
ago as a way of making strong arches for several projects.
Someone with forethought and time did this. Maybe wagon wheels
or arched doorways/windows or furniture. It takes skill to
wet,bend & secure arches in any scheme. It's called soil creep.
As colder temperatures pervade the area, the moisture in the
soil freezes and expands, displacing the soil and anything not
held fast in it (i