Standing dead worth it?

Kool_hand_Looke said:

I've got a standing dead that's pretty freaking DEAD. Bark is all off it and the top looks like it was blown off by a strorm. This has been there since before we moved here a year ago.

Is this worth my time felling and splitting?

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What kind of tree is it?

Cut it down its ugly. Have to cut it into pieces so you can get rid of it. Might as well split it up and see what it is. Ah shoot did all that, burn it.

Cut the felling notch and see what youve got. Punk or solid wood. If its mostly rot it will not fall predictably.
The dangerous tricky part is getting it down.
We only bother if its an easy cut or f the wood is still decent.

Kool_hand_Looke said:

I've got a standing dead that's pretty freaking DEAD. Bark is all off it and the top looks like it was blown off by a strorm. This has been there since before we moved here a year ago.

Is this worth my time felling and splitting?

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Kool_hand_Looke said:

We have a lot of elm, sycamore, oak, and hickory around here in fly over country.

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Kool_hand_Looke said:

That's the thing...all the bark is off. I have no clue.

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Safety first for sure! It could also be a nice little habitat for some critters. I was eye balling this one tree a while back and I'm happy I did because it was the home of some Barred Owls.

In a lot of the west standing dead trees tend to be nice and dry. In the east, many people find the branches are fairly dry, while the trunk is pretty wet. Also, standing dead trees can be rotten so be careful.

Got a pic of said tree? Is it an easy take down? I take standing dead sometimes. Some are nice and dry already. Others need to be split and stacked and left to season for a year or more depending on species. My standing dead are usually Elm or White Pine.

Might be a dead ash that the borer got in which case it would be perfect. I love seeing dead standing ash with the bark off. They already have a jump start on seasoning and if the limbs are off all the better.

yes but avoid termites & punky wood. best to inspect after its down, be safe...

Spinny said:

if the limbs are off all the better.

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Yeah, if there are only bigger branches left, it's been dead a while. If there are still some smaller twigs it may have died only a couple or three years ago.

Gasifier said:

Got a pic of said tree?

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Yes, it would be fun to try to guess without the bark, using shape and branch pattern only!

If it's EAB killed ash with no bark, wouldn't all the EAB damage be easy to see? Once you've seen it, you can never forget it. That particular damage would positively identify it as ash.

likely ash or elm noting your location and this is what heats my home almost exclusively here in Michigan. Note the pick above - looks like that = ash. If not like that and it splits really stringy = elm. Standing dead = GOOD fallen dead = Better because you do not have to risk the felling part of the process. As long as it is not rotten you have primo firewood there that has a jump start on seasoning.

What is that quote? "get it before it rots!"

Jotul118 said:

Safety first for sure! It could also be a nice little habitat for some critters. I was eye balling this one tree a while back and I'm happy I did because it was the home of some Barred Owls.

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Got a couple like that on my property - they're not close to anything so I leave them alone. The small and large (pileated) woodpeckers seem to love stopping by those trees in particular.

Bigfoot said:

yes but avoid termites & punky wood. best to inspect after its down, be safe...

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The last smaller dead standing maple I did take down had sections of bark starting to come off, all the branches and top end were intact, and looked great from the outside. I did get some decent splits out of it, but surprisingly the bottom end was pretty punky. I won't touch some dead standing especially things like white birch - they seem to rot from the top down, real fast, and they fall apart and drop big widow-makers.

almost three cords of - red oak that was dead about 5 years ago and still standing , with just the major big branches
was worth it. one tree had about a inch of punk at the base.
Hoping it is ready for next year. Bottoms of trees were very water wet and splits were heavy. Top of trees were very light, probably burnable - I've got older wood that needs to be used up.

when in upstate n.y. years ago, I would seek out the dead wood. burned great. I would seek out the bogs that had been frozen over and cut it down and bring it home.

Does your tree look similar to this? If so, get it! For elm we usually wait until the bark is all or almost all off then cut. This way it splits better and consequently it will burn much better too because it is not all stringy to act like kindling wood. But even waiting this long, that tree pictured would still have lots of moisture in the bottom half.

You need to help that tree on to it's next purposeful life, heating your home and then fertilizing with the ashes.

well that tells a whole lot more about how far gone this tree may be. If you can move it by pushing on it "I" would not cut it down. Just too many bad scenario's possible when felling a severely rotten tree. If you can pull it over from a distance with a vehicle or come a long this would be a much safer plan. Safer yet - if it is off the beaten path and no danger to others just wait for mother nature to do the dirty work.

May not be ash or elm either - all the dead ash and elm I cut is barkless and solid top to bottom. The only thing that rots is the root ball. My next best guess is maple because they seem to rot from the inside out around here.

Be careful

We test cut with a chain saw when deciding whether we want to cut down and up a tree, if looking at it isn't obvious as influences value. Standing or laying.


If it's rotten leave it on the ground for nature to dispose of. Move on.
Woodpeckers don't care if the tree is vertical or horizontal when searching for bugs to eat.