# Metal in trees



## capetrees (Apr 13, 2008)

I was removing a large maple last week and had all new chains as I wanted no problems with equipment. I wanted to cut the tree down as fast as possible. (Lots of whiny neighbors.) As I got down to the trunk, I made a cut and sure enough, of all the places to make a cut in a 40 foot tree, I had to hit the one nail in the thing, dead middle of the log and of course it immediately dulled my chain. Took it to be reshaprened and all is fine with that chain now. 
Went to another tree job, another maple yesterday and again, after getting it down to the trunk, decided to cut it off at the base and drop the remaining 8' x 32" trunk on the road then cut it up. (I had a police detail so it was ok.) I go to cut it in chunks and find out that 12" up from the bottom is another piece of metal inside and it dulled my chain. Changed chains and decided to start chunking it from the upper side of the trunk. XCam in about 12" and did it again, another piece of metal. At this point I decided to get an axcavatort and remove the trunk whole from the site. 

Is there anyway to detect if a tree has metal in it? I've seen nails in trees as mentioned, old horseshoes left long ago in crotches, old dog chains, hammock hooks, etc. I would hate to send a log through the chipper and find out the hard way. I think the tree trunk from yesterday had a piece of rebar in the middle or an old sign post as the tree was on a corner of two streets. Is there anything to detect the metal?


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## (WLL) (Apr 13, 2008)

sometimes i see some disscoloring and know there is some metal in the trunk. if this seems to be happining all the time you may want to get a small hand held metal detector to avoid dammage to the equipment. ive seen them for under 100.00 bucks. but they will not find concrete


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## Nailsbeats (Apr 13, 2008)

Yeah Cape, get ready for this, it's called a METAL DETECTOR. lol.

You can buy these for logs, mills use them a lot to check the feared yard trees. I have my own bandmill and thought about getting one, instead I just keep hammering through the nails. The mill hardly even makes a sound, you just hear a little "chink" sound. Then you best be watching your blade close.


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## dumbhunter (Apr 13, 2008)

yup, yard wood is bad about having all sorts of metal and concrete in them, but i have found metal in old growth in the middle of the woods.... could have been from an old homestead, or someone placing a target up to shoot or many numerous things. ive been clearing along my property to put up a fence and have discovered 2 old fences 'buried' in the ground one on top of the other, been lucky i havent hit nails this time.


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## M.D. Vaden (Apr 13, 2008)

The man down the road who mills / saws logs into lumber, here in Applegate Valley, showed me his metal detector. He checks some logs before cutting.


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## capetrees (Apr 13, 2008)

Yes nails, I'm very familiar with them. The questions I have about them is how deep into the wood they can go and how much does a small one cost. I've used one in a previous profession and they were good to about two feet into soil and cost about $600, not something that is in the budget for so few times. Is there a less pricey alternative? And can they pinpoint the spot where the metal is. The ones I used years ago were good to about two feet deep as mentioned and to around 3 feet diameter. And could a metal detector pick up a 16 penny nail 18" into the trunk?


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## hornett224 (Apr 13, 2008)

*we just did a swamp maple in the north end of Hartford.*

it was behind a 3 story apartment building.it must have had over 20 clothesline pulleys in it.not to mention nails out the wazoo.

dropping the stalk and cutting it up was fun.it had a 6' t bar in it.i gave them a great deal,ruined $200+ worth of chains,God knows how much in fuel,and the owner in NYC tried to add things that weren't in the contract.we worked a couple nights until 9:30/10 to get the job done.i hate climbing in the dark.

and guess what.i'm still waiting for my money.looks like '08 is gonna be a great year.:hmm3grin2orange:


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## J.Walker (Apr 13, 2008)

*Metal in trees*

My brother-in-law came out one day while I was at work. He built a tree stand in one of my Red Oaks. Now the stand has fallen appart, but the metal spikes are now being overgrown by the tree.





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## gremlin (Apr 13, 2008)

J.Walker said:


> My brother-in-law came out one day while I was at work. He built a tree stand in one of my Red Oaks. Now the stand has fallen appart, but the metal spikes are now being overgrown by the tree.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



now that stinks. i ruined a chain on a tree about a month or so ago. found a rail road spike about 8 inches in. chapped my hide


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## BlueRidgeMark (Apr 13, 2008)

dumbhunter said:


> metal in old growth in the middle of the woods.... could have been from an old homestead, or someone placing a target up to shoot




How much would lead hurt a chain? I mean unjacketed. It's gotta be less than a nail or other steel.

Any ideas? Just curious.


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## (WLL) (Apr 13, 2008)

BlueRidgeMark said:


> How much would lead hurt a chain? I mean unjacketed. It's gotta be less than a nail or other steel.
> 
> Any ideas? Just curious.


im sure its less, i buzzed up some copper wire and kept somewhat of a cutting edge for a brief period


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## joesawer (Apr 14, 2008)

capetrees said:


> Yes nails, I'm very familiar with them. The questions I have about them is how deep into the wood they can go and how much does a small one cost. I've used one in a previous profession and they were good to about two feet into soil and cost about $600, not something that is in the budget for so few times. Is there a less pricey alternative? And can they pinpoint the spot where the metal is. The ones I used years ago were good to about two feet deep as mentioned and to around 3 feet diameter. And could a metal detector pick up a 16 penny nail 18" into the trunk?



The treaure hunter, soil type of metal detectors do not work well on logs. I had a White's and it was almost useless for finding metal in saw logs.
You need something like this.

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=60705&catID=


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## TimberMcPherson (Apr 14, 2008)

I have a system that is absolutly guarenteed to find any peice of metal in a log. I just put on a new full chisel chain on my 66, finds metal every time


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## belgian (Apr 14, 2008)

TimberMcPherson said:


> I have a system that is absolutly guarenteed to find any peice of metal in a log. I just put on a new full chisel chain on my 66, finds metal every time



that's an expensive system though ...  

Farmers over here have a bad habit of using trees for a living fence post and to attach barbed wire. These grow in the wood after years and show up again once you cut them for firewood. I am very weary of trees next to a fence line....


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## BlueRidgeMark (Apr 14, 2008)

belgian said:


> Farmers over here have a bad habit of using trees for a living fence post and to attach barbed wire.




It ain't just over there!


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## juststumps (Apr 14, 2008)

TimberMcPherson said:


> I have a system that is absolutly guarenteed to find any peice of metal in a log. I just put on a new full chisel chain on my 66, finds metal every time



HEY ,,,, i have the older model,,,, an old JR 2095 ,, with a 36" full skip.... best metal detector in the world!!!! works like a charm !!!


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## TexasTreemonkey (Apr 14, 2008)

wont ever forget the time when i found i horseshoe in a y about 16 feet off the ground. a foot an a half diameter branch. haha


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## nytreeman (Apr 14, 2008)

Found lots of crap in trees and the hard way,cut into most of a bicycle frame and forks inside a 8ft thick weeping willow a few years back sombody must have tossed it up into the crotch yrs back and lucky me I found it!


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## pbtree (Apr 15, 2008)

belgian said:


> that's an expensive system though ...
> 
> Farmers over here have a bad habit of using trees for a living fence post and to attach barbed wire. These grow in the wood after years and show up again once you cut them for firewood. I am very weary of trees next to a fence line....



Been there - done that. Hit a piece of 1/2 inch galvanized pipe that had been a tree stake at one point in the past, then engulfed as the tree grew.


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## A. Stanton (Apr 15, 2008)

Next time when you are at the airport and the TSA people are standing aound doing nothing, ask to borrow one of their wands.


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## lumberjack333 (Apr 15, 2008)

A. Stanton said:


> Next time when you are at the airport and the TSA people are standing aound doing nothing, ask to borrow one of their wands.



:greenchainsaw: Excellent!


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## pinemartin (Aug 15, 2009)

Hit this today, 3/8ths eye bolt 10 feet up in a silver maple. The thing is pretty much dead center of a 16in limb. Oh well hazards of the job, sharpen chain and have another go...


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## canopyboy (Aug 17, 2009)

*New saw works the best.*

Hittin' metal in trees just seems to be part of the job. Sometimes you have a good idea it's gonna happen (old treehouse tree, fenceline) and you can just factor a new chain or two into the price of the job.

But my favorite is when I got my brand new 460 last year. I had dropped a 24" oak next to my house a couple weeks earlier and hadn't gotten around to cutting it up yet. Couldn't wait to break in the 460 on it. Came home from the dealer, gased it up and walked straight to the log. Didn't even have a spare chain yet. It cut in about 8" like a dream. And then the dreaded feeling you get when you hit metal and the shavings turned to dust. Man, was I pissed. Brand new saw. 30 seconds of run time. The chain wasn't just dull, it was missing teeth. When all was said and done and I had split out the offending piece I found a 2' long piece of 1-1/4 x 3/16 flatbar lagged to the tree about 6" from the side. Not that extraordinary if it hadn't been the first cut with my new saw. :censored:


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## TimberMcPherson (Aug 18, 2009)

Ask arborists who have done trees in berlin that are over 60 years old, more metal than ozzfest, those darn russians did love spreading it around.


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