Nails in Pecan!

[dogbo2013]

I have sawn several pecan logs in the past couple of years and all but two of them have been loaded with nails. I love the wood that I get out of them but cringe at the thought of putting another one up on the mill. The last log I was beautiful, straight, and 27" in diameter, and loaded with nails! Just before my first cut, I began finding a nail here and a nail there. Then I came across a cluster of nails! I pulled 19 nails before making the first cut. Then I hit 6 more in the process, most were several inches deep into the tree. The last one I hit was near the pith and was 3" long. After doing some research I found out that Oldtimers thought nails were lacking iron or zinc so they would drive nails into the trunk of the tree to encourage nut production. They did get results, but I think for a different reason. The trees produced because of an injury, not an increase in iron or zinc. Anyone else hesitant to cut pecan?
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[Banjo picker]

Welcome.  Nails in logs are not like the Mona Lisa & the leaning tower of Pisa.  They come in bunches and wads.  Walnut is the nail magnet around here....mainly because walnuts are normally only found around old home places here.  It would be good if you filled in at least a little of your profile so we know sorta where you are.  Banjo

[DPatton]

That's a wad of nails for sure. It may even be considered a "whack of nails", but we would need to consult with the official resident FF "Whack" authority. Just last week I sawed through 3 nails that were about 14" deep into an ash log. Must have been put in the tree way back when it was just a wee little fella.

[WV Sawmiller]

Dogbo,

  Where in N Fla are you located? I grew up at the north end of Escambia County just below the Ala line 40 miles N. of Pensacola and 75 miles from Mobile.

   My dad was one of those old timers you are talking about. He planted dozens of pecans that were bearing when he bought them. Several years later we had had no pecans so someone told him about nailing rusty nails in the trees so he had us 3 boys go hammer a dozen or so nails into each of the trees which were 4-6 inched dbh by then. They still did not bear for 15-20 years but now are about 18" dbh and bear pretty regularly. I would hate to be the sawyer getting those longs. :D

[Jeff]

Definitly a legit whack 

[moodnacreek]

Years ago I told a young forest manager to stop using roofing nails and buy aluminum siding nails for posted signs. He wound up with my first sawmill. You can guess the rest.

[sealark37]

Sawing pecan is tough enough without the nail problem.  Even with fresh blades on a band mill, or sharp bits on a circle mill, pecan resists at every turn.

[dogbo2013]

I'm north of Gainesville right in the middle of the northern part of the state. For the trouble that pecan always seems to be, I think I need to charge double!

[Magicman]

The first option for sawing Pecan is no.  The next option is hourly rate plus blades.

[mredden]

I have been chainsaw milling almost nothing but pecan for the past 16 months since Hurricane Michael. These are blowdowns in an old, poverty stricken urban neighborhood.

These trees are beautiful in that they are 28-36 inches in diameter AND the trunks are straight up to about 12-16 feet at the first limb. (Younger "plantation" pecan trees have branches starting at three feet.) However, the lower 6 feet are full of nails, old clotheslines, fencing, wires, etc. And embedded ROPE sucks for a chainsaw operator. From 6 to 16 feet there has been nothing (yet.)

Choices:

(1)Skip over the lower 5-6 ft and cut only 8-10 ft boards.
(2) Debark, search with metal detector. use a drill and prybar to remove all nails detected. Make top cut then re-detect, drill and pry for each cut.
(3) screw it - cut it with the nails

I have done all three on different logs. With one, I needed at least 5 boards that were 15 feet long. I said screw it and cs milled half the log. I would cut from the top and get 10 feet cut nicely. Then, cut through the nails in the lower five feet. Remove the no-damaged chain and start again. I completely ruined two chains and damaged two more that were salvageable with lots of filing and loss of a cutter here and there.  Anyway, after getting enough long cuts, I cut off the bottom 5 feet. You guys probably pay a lot more for blades than I pay for chains. Therefore, the "screw it" approach is probably not feasible.

I currently have a 16 ftx36" log. I have debarked it and removed about 8 nails thus far. along the top half of the log. The bottom half has a chainlink fence embedded in the lower 4-5 feet.  Slow and I probably won't find every piece of metal, but it will be better on my chains than the "screw it" method. Still, I will probably only mill it full length for that top half, then reduce down to 10-12 ft or so for the bottom half.

Is it worth it? Yeah, but only because I have a specialized, fast-paying customer who loves long pecan slabs over 24 inches in width. pays a higher price per bd ft when over 10 ft long.

Is pecan the debil? Nope. It bows down to live oak.