How old was this tree? Metal found in wood!

[Jotel me this]

I was cleaning out the ash from my fireplace and found this 4.25" screw eye!
I was burning splits recently and in no matter, shape, or form, was any part of this screw eye sticking out of the wood pre-burn. This means the original tree grew around the entire thing (metal wire attached and all). Amazing.

Ive been burning oak and ash if that helps to determine the age of the original tree.
If the hook is 4.25" and, considering, the tree would have to be thicker than 4.25" (unless the hook poked through the other side), how could we determine the age?

Goes to show how dangerous it is to use a chiansaw. I cant imagine cutting down a tree and the saw hitting full force into a metal screw like this. Has this happened to anyone before?

 

[spuldup]

You got lucky to not hit that! Hard to saw age because soil, competition, and sunlight have a big impact. Tree was big enough to be a candidate to receive the screw, then grew at least another 12" in diameter to "eat" it and leave no trace. If it was a fencerow you might see if an educated guess could be made as to when it was installed.

And yes it does happen to hit those. The saw sends a few sparks out the kerf, then just makes dust. Then you swear, then you sharpen chain. This was from 10 days ago cutting on a fence row:

 

[Vg3200p]

That's cool. I've found metal fence posts/ fencewire in pines before but no eyebokts yet

 

[PaulOinMA]

My former tree guy said unknown metal is why he never allows a person in his truck when using his chipper.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I’ve seen growth rings in silver maple 1/2” apart. In the right conditions, happy trees put on girth.

 

[Corey]

Guess you could estimate if you have another piece of that wood...count and average some growth rings... figure the tree had to be some number of years old when the hardware was put in, plus some number of years to grow around it...an additional 4-1/2" of growth rings.

I was splitting some wood just the other day and happened to see screw threads - roughly consistent with the bottom ~3/4 inch of what you show there - sticking out of the split wood. I flipped around to the 'bark' side and no evidence of anything being screwed into the wood. Cuess I wasn't curious enough to keep splitting and see exactly what hardware was buried. But yeah, seems to happen all the time - people put up a gate, clothes line, fence wire, or what ever. Over a few decades it's 'forgotten' and the hardware is absorbed into the tree.

As if google watching me every where I go... a few days after my find, this follows me around youtube. Sort of scary on many levels!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

depending on how far the piece was originally screwed onto the tree, it might have only had to grow over the eye. It might have all happened relatively quickly.

 

[Jotel me this]

My former tree guy said unknown metal is why he never allows a person in his truck when using his chipper.

I didnt even think of that. I cant imagine working on a chipper and hitting one of these.

 

[Jotel me this]

Guess you could estimate if you have another piece of that wood...count and average some growth rings... figure the tree had to be some number of years old when the hardware was put in, plus some number of years to grow around it...an additional 4-1/2" of growth rings.

I was splitting some wood just the other day and happened to see screw threads - roughly consistent with the bottom ~3/4 inch of what you show there - sticking out of the split wood. I flipped around to the 'bark' side and no evidence of anything being screwed into the wood. Cuess I wasn't curious enough to keep splitting and see exactly what hardware was buried. But yeah, seems to happen all the time - people put up a gate, clothes line, fence wire, or what ever. Over a few decades it's 'forgotten' and the hardware is absorbed into the tree.

As if google watching me every where I go... a few days after my find, this follows me around youtube. Sort of scary on many levels!

Thats incredible. Its good to know that seeing black streaking on the outside of wood may be metal inside the tree.