Chain Killer

Trees can grow around lots of things. I see trees with barbed wire going right through them. Field stones can be grown over by a large tree. I cut about a foot above the ground, and hopefully miss the dirt and rocks.

BigV said:

Today we felled 3 large cherry trees in my backyard that were in various stages of decay.
(See picks in THIS post).
While cutting the stump close to the ground the blade on my Stihl suddenly became dull and stopped cutting. Changed to a new blade and this time I saw sparks and knew I hit something hard. Found a 6†square spike at the very base of the stump that was burried 8†inside. I would guess the tree to be around 150 years old. This square spile looks to be very old as well.
It sure did a number on 2 blades...

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You might better help us understand the goings on if you called out the parts involved as "chains" or "bars." I'm guessing that you damaged/destroyed 2 chains with as yet unspecified damage to one or more bars.

This sort of metallic content is always to be suspected in yard or border trees. For cutting on such trees and for flush-cutting stumps, it's common practice to use your worst bar & chain. You know that now. Saves lots of "Oh spit!"s. Folks find the weirdest stuff inside there.

I assume the low cut on the stump was not the felling cut. Had you looked at the felling cut closely, you probably would have seen some tell-tale staining.

BigV said:

LLigetfa said:

I assume the low cut on the stump was not the felling cut. Had you looked at the felling cut closely, you probably would have seen some tell-tale staining.

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The felling cut was made about 25 inches from the ground. No telltale staining that far up. I was cutting the stump as close to the ground as possible so I can grind them out when the ground dries out a bit.

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Well look at it this way: you were probably fortunate that the chainsaw found that instead of the stump grinder!

I have been taking out some trees along our driveway and I know there has been fence nailed to them. It's a shame to waste 5' of the biggest diameter of the trees but I really don't want to chance tearing up the chains for a rick of wood.

Ken

yeah that will put a damper on the party! I cut a MONSTER ash tree two summers ago (burning the wood from it as we speak). It had around a 40 to 50 inch trunk at the base, and it was easily 70 to 80 foot tall, splitting into 4 tops around 30 feet up. Where it split into the four tops, someone (many many moons ago)had put a huge chain around those four trunks (as to help keep them from saggin, I assume? Anyway, that chain was grown almost completely into the tree. That was nothin! As I was bucking the trunk up, I starting RUINING my chains (I went through three Stihl 28" full chisel chains on the trunk). About two thirds into that tree there were RAILROAD SPIKES, every other side, around ever two and a half feet. Unreal. Someone either had a tree cabin in it at one time, or used it for a treestand. Luckily, the guy who I cut it down for gave me some extra money to compensated my chain loss (he felt really bad about it) but that tree was so old that he had no idea those spikes were even there. I gotta start putting all the stuff I find in trees in a bucket, see what I end up with down the road. I find a lot of crap in trees!!

Last year I was helping at the sawmill at our local antique tractor show cutting out a large spike we found in one of the logs. It wound up not being a spike at all. It was a screw driver. While we were working on this, one of the guys told us of a civil war rifle that he found grown into a log.

That looks like an old railroad spike. Definitely will stop the cutting. Ouch!

Ken45 said:

... probably fortunate that the chainsaw found that instead of the stump grinder!...

Ken

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The stump grinders that both of the guys around here use wouldn't even notice that.

BigV said:

Today we felled 3 large cherry trees in my backyard that were in various stages of decay.
(See picks in THIS post).
While cutting the stump close to the ground the blade on my Stihl suddenly became dull and stopped cutting. Changed to a new blade and this time I saw sparks and knew I hit something hard. Found a 6†square spike at the very base of the stump that was burried 8†inside. I would guess the tree to be around 150 years old. This square spile looks to be very old as well.
It sure did a number on 2 blades...

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Cant resist, "blades"???

Ouch!
Property line trees & yard trees are notorious for nails, spikes & fence parts.
Maybe we need to invest in a metal detector. I've hit wire & nails, neither is good for the chain. But nothing that big yet (fingers crossed)

bogydave said:

Maybe we need to invest in a metal detector

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Hmmm, would that work? I've got a big Silver Maple trunk to cut up, and it was a yard tree. I think one of my buddies has a metal detector. Don't want to waste my time on that wood if it's full of metal.

Woody Stover said:

bogydave said:

Maybe we need to invest in a metal detector

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Hmmm, would that work? I've got a big Silver Maple trunk to cut up, and it was a yard tree. I think one of my buddies has a metal detector. Don't want to waste my time on that wood if it's full of metal.

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yes they do work, but remember a good metal detector would be a lot more reliable than a cheap one. I have a old White's G.E.B. 5000 and it does OK, but only penetrates so deep. Depends on how big the girth of the tree is......they use metal detectors at the mills.....

I found this in an 18" or so Ash round a few years ago. It was completely buried. I was lucky to find it when splitting and not with the saw.

I learned along time ago metal in trees is just one of those facts of life. Doen't matter where they grow the bigger they are the more time and chance they've had to accumulate metal. Chains, fence, nails and spikes, tile, tools. I've seen it all. However never hit anything a few minures with a file didn't fix.