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It can't be petrified unless it's been without air to make it rot for millions of years. it would also most likely have to be buried to accomplish that. I have cut a hickory that had been dead a while and it would dull the chain quite fequently.
 
My guess is that this guy has some wood (mahogany) that has been stored in log form for 20 years for whatever reason. If so it may be like our old hedge posts in the midwest where they are so hard you have to drill a hole in the post to drive a nail in them.

If it was that bad I would look into some of the carbide coated chain. It is moderately expensive but should last through the wood he has to cut. From what I understand it doesn't cut as fast but does cut longer in abrasive conditions. Wouldn't your axe get dull too?

I have cut honeylocust that had been girdled and knocked down along a field on one of the river bottoms around here. It had been flooded so there was a lot of sand in the bark. About 5 cuts through an 18-20" log and the goody was out of the sharpening on round chisel chain. Another 10 cuts and the chain was done. The wood does seem to burn well. (in the stove as we speak):)

Don.

:agree2: Those posts were put in to stay.

Desert Ironwood is harder still and grows in the US. I wouldn't be one to call BS on wood that hard just because I havent seen it. Who would have thought shiney black rocks would burn or the Earth was round.
 
Soooo how did he have it if it couldn't be cut???? Was is still standing? Did he cut it with a wet saw?:biggrinbounce2:

I have some Hophornbeam (some call it Ironwood) around here. Very very hard, but it can be cut. The only one I have worked with that will dull anything fast is Ipe from Brazil.

I was thinking East Hophornbeam (Ironwood) myself. It will dull a saw in a heart beat. I tried cutting it once with a hand bow saw and gave up, it was only about a 8 inch round tree. That is some hard wood, and it also burns hotter btu's than coal.
 
Heapem hard wood. Burn long. Much heat.

I trade you for some whiskey and beads and rifles.

hard wood?......you boys aint' seen hard wood!!. When I was a boy we had trees that you had to cut with a blow torch!! And it aint' cold!!...when I was a boy it would get so cold that my Mama would throw boiling water out the back door and it would freeze so fast that you'd have hot ice!! Robb
 
I have cut and burnt what I was told was “ribbon cut mahogany” found in an old barn left over from the days when boats were made out of wood. Granted it was just thin boards and scraps but I found it no harder to cut with a chainsaw than any other dry board. I suspect you are trying to cut locus. We use it for fence posts around here as it last a bit longer than rock. Old locus posts are exceptionally hard. You would be hard pressed to drive a nail into one and locus will burn hot enough to melt your stove.
 
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