Metal in trees

[capetrees]

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?

 

[(WLL)]

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

 

[Nailsbeats]

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.

 

[dumbhunter]

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.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

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.

 

[capetrees]

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?

 

[hornett224]

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:

 

[J.Walker]

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]

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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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

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

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.

 

[(WLL)]

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

 

[joesawer]

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=

 

[TimberMcPherson]

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

 

[belgian]

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....

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

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!

 

[juststumps]

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 !!!

 

[TexasTreemonkey]

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

 

[nytreeman]

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!

 

[pbtree]

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.

 

[A. Stanton]

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