beastmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
I don't know how old this old stump is, but I've never seen a spring board stump before. Working an isolated area in Sonoma Co. Calif. really Mountainous area. Getting those logs out must of been a challenge. 
Came across this old redwood stump today. Little bit of history. Tv
- Thread starter beastmaster
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The house I own in Felton CA has a Redwood stump in the back with springboard holes in it. Very interesting stuff. I'll have to grab some pictures next time I give my renter a visit! Haha
Here in the Santa Cruz/San Mateo/Santa Clara county area there are probably thousands of redwood stumps with spring board notches. The area I'm working in now was clearcut by 1917 so all those notches date from that time. Springboards are still used by not very often and I think mostly limbs are cut for that purpose on site. There are some quite tall stumps left from the old days.
RandyMac
Stiff Member
Polish hammer
ArboristSite Operative
Why would they leave the stumps so tall?
cuinrearview
Red saw lover
The bottom of the tree has no value would be my guess.
Way back before power saws...
The base of the tree is noticeably harder, therefore a lot more work to cut through.
Once chain saws took over stump height came down
bfrazier
ArboristSite Operative
A couple of reasons.
Olden times, the log buyers (mills) would not pay the logger the additional costs of cutting through the wider buttressed area of the tree because the buttress tapers off quickly (so he couldn't make boards out of it) and the loggers didn't want to spend the extra time and effort cutting through the thicker stumps if they weren't going to get paid for it.
Second, on real steep ground they are still used today. (You have to get around the tree at some point!)
In other cases, stumps have been and are still cut up high to avoid having to cut through a dangerous portion of the tree or risk falling it someplace unsafe, like in this famous example, where this coast Redwood was first cut off 150' up, ("Still 7' thick!") by Jerry Beranek circa 1991.
(Courtesy Jerry Beranek)
So in the old days only the trees themselves (and the public who usually owned them) ever got cheated. In some places here in Southwestern Oregon you can see the giant old stumps (with springboard notches) a second growth that was cut with early power saws about 3' high and a third growth cut right down at ground height - all in the same clearcut. We say "stumps don't lie", because, in the end, they always tell the story of what has happened if you know how to read them.
