Aw, maaann?!? Bogus IDs, wasted time.

[Woody Stover]

I saw what I thought was a dead White Ash pretty close to the road, and was going to drop it for neighbor/member maflake to work up and add to his stacks. He's got a fair amount of Red Oak splits left over which will be great next Fall, and some rounds which won't do him any good. He wants to stack some quick-dry, asap.
I never got out of the car, just looked from the road (pretty darned close to the tree.) When I got over there to drop it today I saw a hole in the base of the trunk, and was focused on the cuts and the condition of the hinge. Best thing to do would have been to tie/pull it down but the worst that could have happened was that I would have had to get it off the road before traffic started picking up later in the afternoon. I made a shallow face cut to retain as much hinge wood as possible, made the backcut, and wedged 'er over. Once it was safely down, I started seeing the ominous signs. Looked at the hinge, etc, and said 'Oh, no!' Looked at the bark and sure enough, saw the tell-tale light gray color deep in the furrows, and the flat ridge tops. 'Nerts!' The only positive is that when this one eventually fell, it was going across the road, and could have been a minor inconvenience for all of us upstream.

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'Oh, well, at least I can get the small Persimmon I had to cut before I dropped the 'Ash.' So I start bucking the trunk from the bottom up. I get to where the trunk branches out and see leaves. 'What the....?? Those are Black Tupelo leaves! You have got to be kidding me!' I went ahead and took what I had bucked; I felt bad enough cutting the live Blackgum, which is a good wildlife/bee tree...woulda felt worse not taking the wood. That tree also had a big hole at the base, one of the main branches was dead, but it may have lasted quite a while, who knows? The two Black Tupes that I previously IDed had nowhere near that blocky and chunky of bark. Then I walked over to two bonafide Persimmons back at the house, and yes the bark is chunky and blocky, but different. Live and learn. I may have a lot more Blackgum and a lot less Persimmon on the premises than I thought...
From what I was able to find with the search, I need to get this split, stacked and covered quick...supposed to rot fast. I split some OK with a maul, so I guess it's not as bad as the Sweetgum horror stories I've heard...

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[HDRock]

Good job
You knew it was hollow before U started cutting right ?

 

[Woody Stover]

Good job
You knew it was hollow before U started cutting right ?

Ya. When I got there with the saw and started cutting the vines away, I saw the hole in the base. Cut a shallow hinge, watched the chips coming out, and hoped for the best. When I got the face cut done, I could see what I had to work with. Not a lot, but enough...

 

[HDRock]

Ya. When I got there with the saw and started cutting the vines away, I saw the hole in the base. Cut a shallow hinge, watched the chips coming out, and hoped for the best. When I got the face cut done, I could see what I had to work with. Not a lot, but enough...

Again Great job gettin it down ok, I think it is a good lesson for other people to see, so they will pay attention, check the tree out real good,cuz if it was unknown things could go real bad.

 

[Woody Stover]

Another thing in my favor was that the lean (not much) was pretty close to where I wanted it to go. I shoulda left a little more hinge meat on the thin side...

 

[bogydave]

Good job getting it down safe.
Wasn't long before it came down on it's own, not knowing when
no worries now

 

[midwestcoast]

And to top it all off, now your adze is covered in poison ivy. I hope you don't get it, but you were in it up to your knees.
If its any consolation I couldn't I.D those trees either.

 

[bogydave]

Is that poison Ivy or poison oak.?
I thought oak.

 

[HDRock]

And to top it all off, now your adze is covered in poison ivy. I hope you don't get it, but you were in it up to your knees.
If its any consolation I couldn't I.D those trees either.

I didn't notice the PI ,but there it is, seriously hope U don't get it

 

[Woody Stover]

you were in it up to your knees.

I pulled a couple of vines off the Tupe trunk that were about two inches in diameter. Around here, if you are only up to your knees in it, you can consider yourself lucky. If I walk the pooch through the woods, it's waist-deep in many spots; You have to keep your arms bent like a runner would if you're wearing short sleeves. Never should have had this place timbered years ago; That evil weed thrives on sunlight. I can usually avoid a bad case but I always have a few little spots of it on my forearms, wrists or hands... Oh, how I wish I was immune to that stuff!

 

[HDRock]

Got a lot around my prop. get it every year

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Very nice and safe takedown. Sorry bout the oops I.D. but then again it was good practice...

 

[BobUrban]

I'm itching just looking at those pics -

 

[thewoodlands]

Nice drop Woody Stover, I'm not good at PI ID, so far I've never seen any but that's because my ID sucks.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm itching just looking at those pics -

It's OK to itch, just don't scratch. I don't care if it's Ivy, tick bites, chiggers or skeeters; If you scratch any of that stuff, it itches ten times as much!

 

[HDRock]

It's OK to itch, just don't scratch. I don't care if it's Ivy, tick bites, chiggers or skeeters; If you scratch any of that stuff, it itches ten times as much!

Ya ! but if U don;t know U R handling it , and take a wizz in the woods ,it's not fun

 

[MasterMech]

http://www.ivyblock.com/index.php

 

[HDRock]

http://www.ivyblock.com/index.php

Smear it on where need be

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm not good at PI ID, so far I've never seen any but that's because my ID sucks.

Study these: There can be lots of variation in the appearance of the leaves, though. Lots of dew on these as well...

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[Wood Duck]

Are you saying that big hollow tree isn't a White Ash? It looks like White Ash to me.

 

[Woody Stover]

Are you saying that big hollow tree isn't a White Ash? It looks like White Ash to me.

Yeah, that thing had me suckered, too. Really deep furrows in the bark, and the light gray in the bottom of the furrows, which is usually a lot easier to see, was hidden well on this one. Flat-top ridges shoulda cued me in...

Song of the week? "Won't Get Fooled Again." The Who

 

[jdp1152]

Leaves of three, leave it be. Ivy Block is pretty effective, though not perfect. Definitely mitigates the damage. I use it often when working in the woods. I also have various prescription creams and prednisone at the house just in case. Nothing like getting your arms covered up and sitting in a very important meeting in a suit and seeing the ooze saturating your shirt sleeves as you present.

 

[Jags]

I am one of the few lucky fellas that must be pretty much immune to the stuff. Even when I know I have been into it, I get a little tingle a while later and it goes away pretty fast. I had a pair of leather gloves (cheap, rather porous) that I was using to pull off some vines. Put them on a week later and felt a light tingle - forgot about using them for that purpose. They went into a fire.

 

[Woody Stover]

handling it , and take a wizz in the woods ,it's not fun

I always remove my gloves before conducting my business.

seeing the ooze saturating your shirt sleeves

It's been many, many years since I had it that bad. As a kid, I did several times. Then after I moved here and before I knew much about getting firewood, I cut through some vines on a trunk and carried the rounds with the ends pressing against my inner forearms. Cortisone shots were administered in many of those cases, but I don't think they deal them out as freely now as they did back in the day.

 

[TimJ]

I hope your not using that pickeron Woody