Death of a monster

[Soundchasm]

I didn't know I lived in such a cool location for a long time. Literally, across three adjoining property lines I've seen some most venerable giants. One was a 200+ Y/O bur oak which I posted about some years ago, then a remarkable black cherry that must be 200+ Y/O I just now discovered (post forthcoming), and now a beech tree I see out the back of my property since 2002.

I never got close to the beech because it wasn't my property. But it fell on my neighbor's fence after the ice storm. I went down to make some cuts so they could clear their fence and my jaw dropped open.

The circumference at breast height was 14' 4", or 172", equating to 4.6' diameter! Using the only growth factor of "6" that I found on the net, that translated to 330 years old. Searching for monumental trees, I saw a slightly larger beech with a stated germination of 1850, +- 50 years. Regardless, 150, 200 or 300 is remarkable.

The parts on the fence are nearly 3' diameter. Judging from the holes in the sign, maybe the tree died from lead poisoning.

I can't find many examples of a bigger beech. If I wasn't trying to finish splitting six (or more) cords I'd be knocking on the guy's door looking for a score. I might anyway if I can work on bringing more wood onto the property when the wife is away. ;-)

 

[Hasufel]

Judging from the holes in the sign, maybe the tree died from lead poisoning.

In that case you might want to be extra careful if you decide to buck it!

Impressive tree. The area I live in was timbered in the late 1800s so it's hard to find trees more than about 125 years old. Color me jealous!

 

[Kevin Weis]

If you could get hold of an increment borer to count the rings in the trunk would give you a better idea of age. Not impossible but 330 years might be a stretch. 250 give or take is probably more likely but still impressive. Kevin

 

[Microduck17]

I love beach trees. We had a whole forrest of them on our family farm when I Was growing up. There were some true giants back in there. Breaking off part way up is a common failure mode for them. They seem to get hollow with extreme age.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

[weatherguy]

Beech is great firewood, I'd have a hard time not adding that to my pile no matter how much I had.

 

[Soundchasm]

In that case you might want to be extra careful if you decide to buck it!

Impressive tree. The area I live in was timbered in the late 1800s so it's hard to find trees more than about 125 years old. Color me jealous!

That may be the MOST brilliant observation of the day. Even though I've got more wood than I can split or store undercover, I just keep thinking that Beech would be cool. And burn hot. ;-)

I've got spare chains on the way. There are some beautiful limbs down. I'll check them for bullet holes and get with the owner. Thank you so much for the caution.

 

[peakbagger]

Make sure you have good splitter!.Old Beech can be difficult to split takes awhile to season but hard to beat it for long burns. I have been handplitting my maple, birch and ash but now have a lot of beech for wood supply and planning on buying splitter at some point just to deal with the beech.

 

[kennyp2339]

Make sure you have good splitter!.Old Beech can be difficult to split takes awhile to season but hard to beat it for long burns. I have been handplitting my maple, birch and ash but now have a lot of beech for wood supply and planning on buying splitter at some point just to deal with the beech.

Tractor supply has there county line 25ton splitter with kolher engine on sale for $799 today, that's a pretty good deal if you can swing it.

 

[Soundchasm]

Make sure you have good splitter!.Old Beech can be difficult to split takes awhile to season but hard to beat it for long burns. I have been handplitting my maple, birch and ash but now have a lot of beech for wood supply and planning on buying splitter at some point just to deal with the beech.

4-5 years ago I worked a scrounge and picked up some good beech. OMG it gave my little electric a workout. The way that tree grew gave the grain waves (like on the water) along with a slight twist. Everything ended up getting a nice groove from the chainsaw before it went into the splitter. Wholeheartedly agree.

 

[Soundchasm]

Tractor supply has there county line 25ton splitter with kolher engine on sale for $799 today, that's a pretty good deal if you can swing it.

I just got done frustrating a bunch of good souls in another post who were righteously recommending gas over electric. I swear if I had even a slightly appropriate place to store it I'd already have one!! ;-) The electric requires a great deal of strategy and the ability to "see inside" a round. I've gotten quite good at it after 10 or so years. My brother in law calls me the "Split Whisperer". If it can break, I'll find it.

 

[wooduser]

The "Death of a Monster" thread raises the issue of who ows what with respect to timber growing on someone else's property, downed trees, limbs growing on your property and such.

Is this ever an issue or consideration when gathering firewood?

As I understand it, if limbs of trees grow onto your property, you can trim them.

If a tree falls from a neighbor's property and causes you damage, they may have an obligation to pay for the damages if they've known about the hazard or you've warned them about it.

Fruit hanging on your property from your neighbor's tree belongs to the neighbor, but they aren't entitled to trespass on you property to get it.


What are the legalities of firewood and falling trees between neighbors?

 

[bholler]

The "Death of a Monster" thread raises the issue of who ows what with respect to timber growing on someone else's property, downed trees, limbs growing on your property and such.

Is this ever an issue or consideration when gathering firewood?

As I understand it, if limbs of trees grow onto your property, you can trim them.

If a tree falls from a neighbor's property and causes you damage, they may have an obligation to pay for the damages if they've known about the hazard or you've warned them about it.

Fruit hanging on your property from your neighbor's tree belongs to the neighbor, but they aren't entitled to trespass on you property to get it.


What are the legalities of firewood and falling trees between neighbors?

All of those rules vary from state to state. And some municipalities have their own rules as well

 

[kennyp2339]

If a tree falls from a neighbor's property and causes you damage, they may have an obligation to pay for the damages if they've known about the hazard or you've warned them about it.

exactly opposite here in NJ, PA, NY, if a tree from another property falls and causes damage to your property your insurance will have to handle the damage to your property (went through many large storms in these parts and that was always a common foulicy) I suppose your insurance company could sue the other property owners insurance or the property owner themselves if it has been documented through a certified letter from a state approved arborist that a certain tree was a danger tree with actual tests results (have to prove it for the courts) but that could be a long drawn out process and does not fix the hole in the roof in the meantime.
in fact many cities in the area belong to the nation program called "tree city usa" and have adopted ordinances that restrict tree removals / trimming of all tree located within those city / town limits, so its a very touchy subject, working for the power co. I run into this issue all to often.

 

[Soundchasm]

Well, the owner got things cleaned up. They took off the limbs and used a Bobcat to slide the lumber 25-30 feet away to the wood's edge, so it's all still there. In addition, they took down a leaning cherry tree. That's there as well. Maybe 30+ feet of14"-18". I'll definitely go pay them a friendly visit and "Oh, by the way...".

When I saw the crew I hot-footed it over to warn them about the bullet holes. Fortunately (for them), they weren't going to drop it, but just clean things up.

I remember speaking to the owner when I moved here in 2002, and he said he had given up mowing under the thing after it dropped a huge limb behind him one day.

Well, this is an ignominious end to a very long and distinguished life. I'm glad that somebody besides me and six other people have gotten to enjoy it. Have to make it right when we can.