Funny holes

[mcollect]

My friend posted picture of strange holes in his firewood upon splitting. He's an Entomologist and thought they were boring insect holes. I on the other hand think they are man made. Any ideas?

 

[mark cline]

Looks like some sort of wedge or iron that was pounded into the wood and the tree grew over it . Take a magnet and see if you get any pieces to stick. Is this tree from his yard or from around somebodies house ? Trees around houses usually have nails screws , you name it , pounded into them and the tree grows over it. This is why no logger with any sense would harvest a tree from somebodies yard , even if its a 100 yr old Black Walnut. A $1000 blade or band destroyed by hitting that , kills the profit margin.

 

[gzecc]

x2, looks like some sort of metal wedge device was there. Lines are two crisp and straight for nature.

 

[CenterTree]

If those were made by insects, it must have been the same bugs that built the Egyptian Pyramids.

Are those the only ones you found?

Too symmetrical to be borers!




.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

+3 on man made.

 

[Pellet_Pete]

Hmmm, very interesting. Something was definitely cut into the tree, clean across the grain, then callous healed over and into the wound. The angle into the wood & the fact that it's a pair of similar wounds, makes me think it could be a healed over double hatchet mark from a blazed property boundary tree. Bu it's not clear from the photos if the entire wound is wide enough for a hatchet mark. My second guess would be woodland nymphs .

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I would highly doubt that is caused by some insect.

 

[1750]

They are symmetrical and also seem to occupy the same plane. I'd guess maybe an old hinge bracket or some other sort of hanger.

Or, possibly, the infamous parallel borer beetle.