Have You Ever Sawn A Limb Larger In Diameter Than You Are?

Chris Burchfield · October 05, 2010, 08:30:48 AM

I haven't. We had a very large old Oak blow down back in late spring. It was hollow and five to six feet measured at breast height through the middle. There is also evidence the inside was once on fire. This was not visible till she busted apart under the storm's wind load. This first limb was hanging out and was very straight. Being off the ground on the tip, I just knew if I cut at an angle away from the limb it would just fall straight down. Not! I was chewing through it and 3/4 of the way down, it pinched closed onto the saw blade. I'm just guessing, that lower limb was always reaching for sun light. Being low, it developed weight that caused it to hang down and grow virtually straight. I also suspect, if I had put it on the mill, it would have curled back to itself before I finished the cut. I cut 17 - 20" chunks from that limb to put under the log splitter. Aside from fire wood, keep a watch on this board for "Firewood Reindeer." After I get a trailer load of fire wood home, this will be my Christmas Project. I've a 1" tenon cutter on the way from Lee Valley I'll be using. I already had a 1 1/2" tenon cutter that was too big for the job I have planned.

Tom · October 06, 2010, 03:35:17 PM

I came real close with a piece of The Spyglass Oak. It was so large that only the limbs were shipped to Jacksonville to the Historic Tree Company where I was hired to saw it up. I also was presented with, and sawed, limbs from Ohio's Champion Cottonwood Tree. That was back in 1995. What an experience that was.

The company was a plan of Jeff G. Meyer (Born May 14, 1958 - Amana , Iowa) to save history by turning historic trees into certified keepsakes. I was called upon, several times, to saw trees that his company had acquired. One that meant the most to me was the Eastern Red Cedar tree beneath which, it was claimed, that the bugle call, Taps, was written. Each of the administrators who came to the pigroast, the last time I attended, now as a small piece of it.

The Spyglass Oak: The tree supposedly sprouted in 1606 and was used in the Revolutionary War and Civil War as a platform to spy on the enemy. I had to work around the chains and hardware placed in the tree to hold the platform on which the soldiers stood.

Chris Burchfield · October 06, 2010, 06:23:41 PM

The chunks close to the tree are about all I can wrestle onto the bush hog then over and under the log splitter. I can get two on one side of the bush hog. Today, I noticed the pith was centered @ about a 1/4 of the overall round. Growth rings close to the center are tight. The other side are wide and the chunks are oval like an egg. I didn't think so at first. At first glance, I sure wanted to put a piece of that limb/log on the mill. It would have been a mistake and waisted effort. I have a 35 ton log splitter from Tractor supply I've had a few years. It's doing a good job. There is great tension in those tight growth rings. Just start a split and it pops clean to the bottom 20 inches down.

Tom · October 06, 2010, 10:06:03 PM

Oh no! I was hoping that you could get some boards. What a conversation piece that would have been.

Jeff · December 26, 2014, 03:28:55 PM

I came across some info I had here while tidying up some papers. I searched to see if I could find it here, or anywhere on the internet and didn't, so I've decided to type it out in this topic. I also have a small memento that came from that tree, given to me by Mr. Tom that I'll take a picture of before I post this.

In 1606, the acorn of a red oak sprouted on a hillside in what is now Alexandria, Virginia. At that time, the area was home and hunting grounds to the Powhatan Tribe, a Native American group dwelling in the Middle Atlantic Region. As the European settlers came to establish new homes and live in nearby colonial towns, the tree grew tall and prominent on the hillside overlooking the Potomac River. These new citizens talked of independence from foreign rule and they came to look upon themselves as citizens of a new nation of freedom and democracy.

By 1863, over 150 years had passed since the acorn sprouted and the Civil War raged throughout Virginia. From the high limbs of the now massive red oak tree, General Winfield Scott's Union lookouts spied on the Confederate activities below. A platform was suspended from cables affixed to the tree's stout trunk to make spying on the Confederate "Army of the Potomac" more comfortable. On several occasions, President Abraham Lincoln visited General Scott at the Union camp to discuss strategy and protection of the Capitol. The tree became known as the "Spyglass Oak."

After a long life of nearly 400 years, the Spyglass Oak gave in to old age and was taken down in 1995.