Old growth stumps

[cutforfun]

Is there a way to tell about how old a stump may be and if it was cut with a cross cut saw or a motorized saw?

I look at this ugly old cedar stump every day of my life and would like to know a little bit more of the history. I played on it while growing up as a child (family property)and 8 years ago it helped my wife and I decide where to build are home. I put my cp125 wearing a 36" b/c for an idea of the size. It is completely rotten on the inside but the outer layer is still holding strong.

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[RandyMac]

Sometimes you can see a kerf line or often a slight arc on the backcut if sawn with a crosscut.
I'm guessing by how tall it is, hand felled is a high probability.

It can be tough to tell sometimes.
This stump was burnt twice, it was felled with a 10-10.

 

[cutforfun]

hard to tell on this stump, the outer layer is only about 2 in thick at the top and looks like the cut was pretty flat

 

[fearofpavement]

Can you tell if the holes for the stand boards were bore cut with a chainsaw or chopped with an axe?

 

[cutforfun]

hard to tell, there are no signs of chain made cuts around any of the holes, i will get some close up pics tomorrow

 

[RandyMac]

hard to tell, there are no signs of chain made cuts around any of the holes, i will get some close up pics tomorrow

That is a fairly good way, however I have done springboard holes with an ax and have seen plenty of other power sawn stumps with hand chopped holes.

 

[TreeGuyHR]

Another piece of evidence is the fact that it had a traditional face, and not a Humboldt -- hard to chop upwards with an ax! Also, you might be able to check in the land records and get an idea of when the land was first logged; I doubt that this cedar would have been skipped over, unless it was highly defective at the time.

 

[cutforfun]

my family has owned the property since 1908 or so as far as records go, and as far as i can tell there has not been any logging records kept. i did not go out and look over the stump today i will try this weekend.