Found a hidden suprise inside some bur oak :-(

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

hupte

ArboristSite Guru
Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
884
Reaction score
904
Location
il
I was cutting up a 30 inch bur oak and hit something. didn't know what it was but I wasn't about to throw away the good wood.

I got the tree from a friend who is a pipefitter. I didn't know pipefitters put pipe in wood too. lol.
 
I wasn't sure if the pics would load or not. here is some more.
I started chopping away at the wood with an old splitting maul I had laying around. I thought this might make an interesting story at least. as you can see it was completely buried inside the tree for at least 10 years. its starting to take shape of what it really is. so far I have no clue. here it is in my hand I'm guessing it was some kind of holder for a clothesline or something?? idk for sure. the weird thing is that it was completely filled with wood despite being solid metal on 3 sides. (I probably shouldn't be surprised) mother nature at its finest. cost me a chain, and some sweat and time. but I hope it was entertaining at least. :)
 
I found something in my stove the other morning. I was raking coals and heard a clang of metal on metal. Apparently when I was splitting some Hickory I must have gotten mad and called it a day after getting a wedge stuck in the wood. I must have forgotten about the wedge being stuck because the next time I went out to split wood and split that piece down to a small enough chunk leaving the wedge hidden. The night before I was loading the stove and distinctly remember saying to myself "this piece is heavy it will burn like iron". It definitely burned and left the iron glowing cherry red among the colas for the morning.

When you find stuff in wood; I can tell you from first hand experience, it was most likely left there by a moron!! :oops:
Sorry about your chain.
 
I was asked to help with cutting a tree that had fallen in someone's yard I was not getting anything for my efforts just trying to be a Good Samaritan . Knowing my chain was dull I stopped in at the stihl dealer and bought a. 30$ rm chain . I started in it . It was a large sugar maple that got knocked down in a storm . Immediately after about 10 seconds of putting my bar to it I found a steel dog chain deeply embedded in it . I found it the hard way .The outside of the tree had grown around it and it was invisible to the eye . It instantly destroyed the chain . Just completely toasted the teeth. . Boy was I mad didn't even get one slice out the stupid thing !.cutting in people's front yards can be problematic . Dogs chained up Old deer stands ,clothes lines ,tree forts .lots of hazards . One of the reasons I don't like cutting in heavy snow . It's hard and often impossible to view were that bar is going or potential hazards to avoid . Plus moving around the area is burdensome .You can quickly lose your profits for the day and take three steps back in that situation
 
I can say,,ive been extremely lucky,,in all the trees I have cut. ive hit barbed wire,,and no 9 wire a few times,,but the chain went right thru it...and like one said,,ive found more than a few pieces of metal,,the next morning in the stove, in the coals...just happened to miss them with the cs...
 
Years ago some old farmers used to pull the crotch of a tree together with chain...usually 3/8" I tossed a piece on my splitter and kept trying to split the bastard. No matter what I did it wouldnt split. I tossed it aside for the bonfire. A few months later I finally found out why it wouldnt split. There was a chain wrapped around the trunk just below the crotch. it was embedded about 2 inches.

Jeff
 
Years ago my uncle had a huge maple in front of his house-don't remember why-but it had to come down. Tree service took it down from the top, when they got to the trunk several feet up from the ground, they hit something that destroyed their chains. Long story short, apparently the tree developed a hollow years ago, and a former homeowner filled it with concrete. Ouch!
 
Years ago my uncle had a huge maple in front of his house-don't remember why-but it had to come down. Tree service took it down from the top, when they got to the trunk several feet up from the ground, they hit something that destroyed their chains. Long story short, apparently the tree developed a hollow years ago, and a former homeowner filled it with concrete. Ouch!
Dang, I've never heard of that before. That would be a PITA and I'd be pizzed. My Dad had a huge willow tree removed, the guy chunking it hit heavy duty roller chain in a crotch about 15 feet up. I hit a ceramic insulator once and a cinder bock in another.
 
I found something in my stove the other morning. I was raking coals and heard a clang of metal on metal. Apparently when I was splitting some Hickory I must have gotten mad and called it a day after getting a wedge stuck in the wood. I must have forgotten about the wedge being stuck because the next time I went out to split wood and split that piece down to a small enough chunk leaving the wedge hidden. The night before I was loading the stove and distinctly remember saying to myself "this piece is heavy it will burn like iron". It definitely burned and left the iron glowing cherry red among the colas for the morning.

When you find stuff in wood; I can tell you from first hand experience, it was most likely left there by a moron!! :oops:
Sorry about your chain.
:laugh:
 
I've seen that same black discoloration around deeply imbedded barbed wire too. It turns a pretty good size area of wood black from leaching or oxidation I guess? I've been pretty lucky to avoid metal objects except in a property line big mulberry tree that sure dulled my chain quick!!!!:(
 
one more pic Gotta say I love Burr Oak trees too!!!!! Now..."That's a "Tree":D

here it is next to the log. on the right side of the pic is my coat. I got plenty warm chopping away at it. lol.
 
On our new property there is a tree growing around an old metal deer stand, I thought about trying to get some of it down but I would end up destroying the tree.

Sorry about the chain.
 
I ruined a brand new 28" chain on my dolmar last summer cutting up a big ash tree(40" at the base) at my neighbors yard. There were 2 bolts sticking out of the tree that looked to be from a clothes line probably 50 years ago. I stayed at least 6" away from them thinking I'd miss them, but they somehow managed to be attached to 1/4"x1" flat metal that went all the way through that damn tree. I actually had to cut them in half with a hack saw once I notched out a spot. I wasn't about to leave those 2 huge rounds, especially after I toasted my chain.
 
I had a huge ash tree at a buddies house that I was taking down for him. It had to fall in the exact spot or something was going to get smashed. After the face cut that went to deep, the back cut found chainlink 5 inches in. That was a stressful next 5 hrs.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top