Monster Ash goes from the record books to the ground (pic heavy)

[golfandwoodnut]

Some of you may recall about a year ago I called forest rangers in PA to look at a monster ash tree I had dying on my property. I knew it was a monster and very unusual and I thought it should be examined before it was gone. Here is a link to the thread.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/this-big-ash-will-be-in-the-record-books.88205/#post-1143545
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Well to my amazement this tree was actually the largest Ash tree ever recorded in the state. It was over 120 feet tall, it has a total crown of 128 feet (that is almost 40 yards) and he estimated the total cords at 7 and a half cords.

It quickly died and this monster had some unusual features that amazed me and scared me. For one the leaners on the ends looked like barber chairs written all over them. Then in the middle a feature no one has ever seen. Two trunks joined together to form a single trunk. Cutting that would be a feat in that you would have to cut both sides at once. Also there was a total of 6 trunks coming from one base.

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Well a unique chance came, they were removing trees from the power line (I will post in a separate post) and removing many huge trees (my land and surrounding land has never been timbered and some trees are enormous). I took the opportunity to ask them if they would like to make some extra bucks to down this tree. They have never seen a tree like this either but jumped at the chance. One guy told me he would do it for $75 and then the other said $100 to give the 5 workers $20 each. I felt it was a good deal so I said go for it.

Sure enough, both end trunks barber chaired but the guy was ready for it. Another guy said they should have been bore cut but they didn't do it that way. The joined trunk actually caused one saw to get stuck and they need a second saw to finish it. They were more than happy with the arrangement.
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Now I guess I am almost forced to be in the fire wood business/lumber business. There is enough downed trees to produce dozens of cords and many of the logs would produce great lumber. More than I could ever mill with my Alaskan saw mill. I am considering getting a person with a portable saw mill.

 

[bogydave]

Looks like you have wood laying in all directions.

Good job getting all those trunks on the ground ! !

7-1/2 cords of wood is a serious amount of wood.
Should last you a couple years.
Have fun,
Nice pictures

 

[steeltowninwv]

primos wood there....i remember when u originally posted pics of that tree.....ur gonna be a busy man.....may be a bit early...but is there any morel mushrooms around that trunk?....ash is where u find many morels

 

[Jon1270]

I'm having a hard time picturing an ash tree of those dimensions. Neighbors across the road from me have oaks that I'd guess are in the 70-foot range, but they'd be dwarfed by this one. I've driven through northern California so I know from big trees, but in this part of the country a 120' tree of any species is not something one runs into often.

Where in the Pittsburgh area are you? Obviously you're not in town...

 

[TimJ]

Now that is the deal of the century finding someone to take care of that monster for a reasonable price. You would have stewed on that tree much longer if the occasion didn't arise.
Get a cuttin

 

[Jags]

I remember the original thread - that is some sort of funky junky. Its gonna take a little while to get that all knocked into chunks.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

primos wood there....i remember when u originally posted pics of that tree.....ur gonna be a busy man.....may be a bit early...but is there any morel mushrooms around that trunk?....ash is where u find many morels

Steel Town, I wish I knew my mushrooms, my wifes grandfather could tell them apart. I am more afraid I would find the poisonous ones, I have not seen any here yet.

Busy is not the word, I have not even shown the pictures on the power line yet, this is a drop in the bucket.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I'm having a hard time picturing an ash tree of those dimensions. Neighbors across the road from me have oaks that I'd guess are in the 70-foot range, but they'd be dwarfed by this one. I've driven through northern California so I know from big trees, but in this part of the country a 120' tree of any species is not something one runs into often.

Where in the Pittsburgh area are you? Obviously you're not in town...

I Jon, I think I remember your posts. I live in Moon Township by the old airport. The township makes it impossible to take out trees with their regulations, so as a result the trees just keep growing until they die. I have mixed feeling about it as it is a waste of money, but the big trees do look nice. But some of these dieing trees just become a hazard.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Now that is the deal of the century finding someone to take care of that monster for a reasonable price. You would have stewed on that tree much longer if the occasion didn't arise.
Get a cuttin

Tim, yet that tree had me more than a little scared, I had read about wrapping a chain around a leaner to prevent a barber chair. These guys can drop a tree in fast order. If you look at the one picture above I noticed a red hat. That is a guy climbing a tree in the distance by the power line.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Jags, it does not look too bad as most of the trunks are in different directions. I was afraid they would be all stacked and mangled. I am sure the Bobcat will come in handy. I know you like your toys.

 

[Waulie]

Nice "score". I have two young sugar maples that have grown together to form one trunk like that. I was going to cut one to make the other happy until I looked up and realized they had become one tree.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Nice "score". I have two young sugar maples that have grown together to form one trunk like that. I was going to cut one to make the other happy until I looked up and realized they had become one tree.

Interesting Waulie as everyone I talked to said they never saw that happen before. It does make cutting it down a challenge. I am not sure if they did it but they were talking about having two guys cut at once from both sides to drop it in unison.

 

[Waulie]

I'd never seen it before either. One maple wraps almost all the way around the other like a helix. This is the one I was going to cut to give room to the other. But, around 20 feet up where the trees touch in the wrap they are completely grown together. These are actually two seperate trees too. Strange.

 

[JrCRXHF]

I just got one from the neighbors that was 3ft across i did not take a pic of the biggest chunks but i have one of the biggest whole one i could fit in the bucket.

Ash is good fire wood may not be the best but i never pass it up. Right now i have small amount of elm, Ash and then lots of maple.

 

[oldspark]

So that is Green Ash I take it as that is what it looks like, never pass up a piece of ash.

 

[Woody Stover]

Holy Kamoly, that should keep you busy for a while (and keep the stove fed for a while!)
I commented in another thread that I hadn't seen a lot of that darker heartwood on the White Ash here, but I cut one yesterday and it looked about like what you pictured there...except not nearly as big.

 

[oldspark]

The bark looks like Green Ash to me also, maybe because its so old and big.

 

[Jon1270]

I live in Moon Township by the old airport.

Ah, I have only been in Pgh for a little over a year, and haven't gotten over into your area yet. I'm on the other side of town, just past the Squirrel Hill tunnel.

everyone I talked to said they never saw that happen before.

I don't know much about the method, but you can do it on purpose:

 

[ScotO]

That's mountain ash (white ash) around here, Sparky. And GAWN, I remember that original post like it was yesterday. Impressive job there, looks like the guys done a good job........

 

[Woody Stover]

Interesting Waulie as everyone I talked to said they never saw that happen before.

I hadn't seen it before, either.

These two small Dogwoods (about 3" trunks) joined up...

Thats actually a common thing with plants. I have even done it buy forceing two trunks together with a graft type cut on the bark. Grape vines will do that naturally too.

 

[Hills Hoard]

nice forest, quad with trailer, chopping trees, massive loads of fire wood.....just awesome!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Golf, I too remember your original post. Glad you got that mess down okay. Actually, it would have almost been an honor to be able to fell that bunch. I see some rot in there too so there were no doubt some carpenter ants.

Not so sure about lumber at least in these ash as they don't look like any are very straight for any length. Good firewood though.

 

[oldspark]

That's mountain ash (white ash) around here, Sparky. And GAWN, I remember that original post like it was yesterday. Impressive job there, looks like the guys done a good job........

Must be a local thing as mountain ash is a different tree then white ash.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

That's mountain ash (white ash) around here, Sparky. And GAWN, I remember that original post like it was yesterday. Impressive job there, looks like the guys done a good job........

Hi Scotty, nice to hear from you. These guys were mostly just using 360s to cut with, they were a nice bunch of guys that drive all the way from Franklin PA every day. That is a good hour and a half.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Golf, I too remember your original post. Glad you got that mess down okay. Actually, it would have almost been an honor to be able to fell that bunch. I see some rot in there too so there were no doubt some carpenter ants.

Not so sure about lumber at least in these ash as they don't look like any are very straight for any length. Good firewood though.

BS you are right about the rot. Even a lot of the Oak trees have some punkiness in the trunks and ant damage. I am sure with the length and quantity of the wood I will find some worth turning into lumber. Look at the two logs next to the Quad, they are pretty straight and really I just need 8 to 10 ft lengths. In fact an old carpenter told me to just cut wood in 5 foot sections because almost anything you want to make 5 ft is long enough. I told him I was making some base boards, and I want those as long as possible.