Agreed. I cut 2 truckloads of it today. Chain is gonna need some attention tommorrow.PA. Woodsman said:
Worst wood to chainsaw??
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jeffman3
New Member
I've never cut black locust but I have cut honey locust. That was tough stuff but my vote goes to old dry elm. It acts like the bark (if there is any left) almost always is loaded with sand, dirt, and grit, sometimes even gravel. You can't keep it out of your chain. and I am lucky to get a pickup load cut before I have to change to a sharp chain.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Wood with barbed wire fencing embedded in it . . . 
On a more serious note . . . on wood that I occasionally cut . . . apple.
On a more serious note . . . on wood that I occasionally cut . . . apple.
Not that I use it for burning (O.K. I tried a few sticks but don't tell my wife) but my wife got a big pallet of mahogany scraps at a window manufacturers auction. She is going to do woodworking with it, but anyways it cuts really hard! It is almost like cutting metal with my chop saw.
BJ64
Minister of Fire
jotul8e2 said:
Where I live still has many of those old post still in place. There is one run of fence that may still have the wire from 1894 - the year they set the roads in this Indian territory. The old post are all but gone. From what is left I suspect they are old hedgeapple.
There was a guy from Colorado who set up shop in the parking lot of a local business about 10 years ago. Folks would bring him logs and he would carve bears, birds, and what ever. He was one of those cocky guys that had a knack of irritating the heck out of us. One day my buddy asked him if he could carve any kind of wood.
"If you can get it here I can carve it - $100 bill."
"Big 10-4 dude - we will be back. We want a horse head made."
There was a hedge tree we killed by spraying it a few years before. The roots kept choking off the septic line. It took a while but we managed to extract about 6 foot of trunk 18 inches across. We used a tractor to load the thing.
When we rolled it off the truck for the guy it did not even bounce. We could watch the progress on this project daily. It took a week. Needless to say that put a damper on the cockyness.
smokinj
Minister of Fire
BJ64
Minister of Fire
GaryS
Member
I used to hate cutting black jack when I was a kid. The trunk - which is more like black oak isn't so bad - it's just all those damned dead hard branches. I don't think it's a very widespread tree though. Folks around western missouri or oklahoma probably know more about it.
I've qot quite a bit of osage around the house. Been trying to kill a bunch of the crap behind the house for over a year. Makes a darn good thorn thicket if it gets out of control.
I've qot quite a bit of osage around the house. Been trying to kill a bunch of the crap behind the house for over a year. Makes a darn good thorn thicket if it gets out of control.
Hey Garys,
By Black Jack, do you mean Blackjack Oak (Quercus marilandica)? I've never cut that, in fact I rarely see decent stands of it near me in the pine barren area of southern NJ. We are in the "native tract" for that species of oak, but it doesn't seem to take over like other species. Just a sprinkle here and there.
Cool looking Oak though, very distinctive glossy, clover-like leaves. Doesn't seem to be a big grower compared to others in the red-oak family. Elementary school teachers near us love to put that as an extra credit on the leaf location/identification assignment becasue it is rather hard to find compared to the more common genus and species of trees.
Brian
By Black Jack, do you mean Blackjack Oak (Quercus marilandica)? I've never cut that, in fact I rarely see decent stands of it near me in the pine barren area of southern NJ. We are in the "native tract" for that species of oak, but it doesn't seem to take over like other species. Just a sprinkle here and there.
Cool looking Oak though, very distinctive glossy, clover-like leaves. Doesn't seem to be a big grower compared to others in the red-oak family. Elementary school teachers near us love to put that as an extra credit on the leaf location/identification assignment becasue it is rather hard to find compared to the more common genus and species of trees.
Brian
GaryS
Member
Yes, I think so. Very similar to red oak. Doesn't get real big. Inside rots out pretty fast. Always easy to split by hand.
Of the trees I've cut I'd rate Osage & Hickory as the hardest on chains.
I've not cut some of the the others that seem to be getting named several times like Black Locust & Ironwood. I've cut Honey Locust however & it's no way as hard as Hickory or Osage.
Just the name Ironwood would lead you to think it would raise heck with your gear.
I've not cut some of the the others that seem to be getting named several times like Black Locust & Ironwood. I've cut Honey Locust however & it's no way as hard as Hickory or Osage.
Just the name Ironwood would lead you to think it would raise heck with your gear.
ccwhite
Member
I have to agree with a bunch of the guys who've said good dry seasoned Black Locust (or as we call it around here "organic steel"). My saw is in the basement right now needing attention from my last go-round with some a couple days ago. I'll touch it up again and get out there and hit it again in the next couple days.
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