If I drive a nail into a tree at 5' off the ground.

[Ed]

The lady next door had a Hard Maple taken down because of storm damage. Years ago her late husband found the center of the tree hollow & rotten, so he got out a ladder, bought some concrete and filled it up! Luckly, we knew it was there, worked around it, only dulled one chain.

Ed

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

The lady next door had a Hard Maple taken down because of storm damage. Years ago her late husband found the center of the tree hollow & rotten, so he got out a ladder, bought some concrete and filled it up! Luckly, we knew it was there, worked around it, only dulled one chain.

Ed

Ed, its a good thing they did not put REBAR in the concrete back then.  :D

[beenthere]

Ed, its a good thing they did not put REBAR in the concrete back then

They did that too.
The apparent hollowed-out tree left a weakness, so long bolts or chain was included first to hold a tree together and then the concrete added. Have one just 1/2 mile down the road that had that "repair" to keep one of the huge limbs from falling on the home if/when the tree split. Lady had a lot of money and removing her favorite tree wasn't an option.

[Nomad]

Concrete in a tree?

Years ago people used to fill knot holes with concrete in the belief that it would prevent rot and help the tree heal over. I't doesn't help, so no qualified arborist will do it these days, but the lumps of concrete might still be lurking in yard trees from back then.

Ian

Ian is right. There are some trees in my town where they filled in holes with concrete. The tree has almost grown around the concrete and you can look about 4 inches down into the opening and see the concrete that was put there years and years ago.

     I can attest that hitting concrete isn't funny.  You ain't gonna cut through it either. >:(
     BTW, you can't cut through rebar either.  Don't ask how I know that. :

[ArborJake]

 The idea with the concrete years ago was to add stability to the tree and keep water out. It did neither. They switched to a sorta putty like material for cavity fillings later to seal out moisture, then would paint it with wound dressing for cosmetics. Now they say your usually better off leaving most cavities open so they can get air and dry back out rather than fill them and seal moisture in. I fill cavities for cosmetic reasons mainly and not that often, just when a customer insists and I use spray foam insulation. Let it expand out of the hole and then shave it off neatly. A little wound dressing and you cant hardly tell its there. Helps when someone comes back to take the tree down yrs later. I once found a brick wall in a huge red oak. it was coverd up completely.

[Tom the Sawyer]

Courtesy of the Parks Department...


 
Bad on blades 

[SwampDonkey]

And chains. Ouch!!

[Slabs]

Now you know why custom sawyers have metal detectors and many just reject yard trees.

Yes, I've seen detectors miss nails and show falses on stains but have found many nails and savd blades with a good White detector.

[pmatt]

Leaves a nice "rough-sawn" kerf in the wood, unless the nail is bigger than 10p.  Sawed a bullet in half one time, not a big deal except the bullet was sawn lengthwise!  That means the bullet was headed up when it lodged in the tree.  Should have saved that one.

Pat

[hackberry jake]

I gave away my old planer. It made an aweful noise when it was running. But if I still had it I would think about shooting up some boards with a shot gun and some 22 without the copper jacket. Then make something out of them. Now that would be a conversation starter.

[Magicman]

 

 
Here is a 22 bullet that I found while making T&G.


 
My planner re-found this nail.   :-\

[terrifictimbersllc]

This one found by chain slabber.   Musket ball into sycamore about year 1860.  https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,58151.msg845841.html#msg845841


 

[Tim Lea]

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