How to get wood without killing trees

There’s a silvicultural technique used in Japan that does just that, and it is called Daisugi.

The buds at the base of the trunk are pruned and treated like large bonsai trees so that the rest of the trunk remains as straight as possible.

The resulting knuckle-free, straight wood, can then be harvested to be processed. All of this without having to kill the entire plant.