Axeman's oddities

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phantomknives

Joined
Mar 31, 2016
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so, we all have our weird stories, not extremely weird, just unusual or interesting stories. This thread is made for these stories. To set the pace, i'll start,


I was bucking an old growth cluster oaks, i cut through one of'm and it was a little harder around the center of the tree (i was using my crosscut) and only to find out the dang thin had 2 heartwoods, fist layer was just normal outer wood, that was at most 5" of the 24" tree, most of this wood was only .5"-3/4" thick, then it goes to normal red oak heart, then at the very center was 1-2" of black heartwood, no, it wasnt rotting, this stuff was as hard as hickory and the grain was so tight i couldnt count it toward the center, obviously i cant cound black rings in black wood but on the normal heartwood it was hard to count.

anyway, what're some of your stories?
 
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When I was a little kid we were at my grandparents house and my dad found his old imperial hatchet in my grandpa's shop which he gave me, well for some reason my dad decided to hold it like a gun going Bang Bang and since it was razor sharp and the stitches were missing from its sheath the corner poked through and deeply sliced his middle finger.
I always figured that my dad pretty much bit the bullet for me so I didn't have to, because not once have I ever cut myself with it.
 
My Grandfather used to burn a fire place and later years a fire place insert. So from the time I could walk every summer we cut wood and stacked to let it dry for the 3-5 cords they would burn every winter. Then as I got older we would sell hardwood by the cord. So needless to say I have spent many a hot afternoon splitting logs. I can still here that sound of the sledge hitting the old metal wedges. I just recently got into the restoration game and I guess it was in my blood. Sure brings back fond memories. I was the oldest Grandson and my Grandparents only had daughters so I was Grandpa's buddy. Thanks for bringing up the topic.
 
BamaDADx3 said:
My Grandfather used to burn a fire place and later years a fire place insert. So from the time I could walk every summer we cut wood and stacked to let it dry for the 3-5 cords they would burn every winter. Then as I got older we would sell hardwood by the cord. So needless to say I have spent many a hot afternoon splitting logs. I can still here that sound of the sledge hitting the old metal wedges. I just recently got into the restoration game and I guess it was in my blood. Sure brings back fond memories. I was the oldest Grandson and my Grandparents only had daughters so I was Grandpa's buddy. Thanks for bringing up the topic.
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phantomknives said:
I was bucking an old growth cluster oaks, i cut through one of'm and it was a little harder around the center of the tree (i was using my crosscut) and only to find out the dang thin had 2 heartwoods, fist layer was just normal outer wood, that was at most 5" of the 24" tree, most of this wood was only .5"-3/4" thick, then it goes to normal red oak heart, then at the very center was 1-2" of black heartwood, no, it wasnt rotting, this stuff was as hard as hickory and the grain was so tight i couldnt count it toward the center, obviously i cant cound black rings in black wood but on the normal heartwood it was hard to count.
Click to expand...

Young trees in the understory can survive for decades with very little growth waiting for the opportunity to emerge once a larger tree falls lets some sunlight down to the forest floor. This is what you're seeing in this oak. There could be 50 years of waiting in that tiny black core.
 
Square_peg said:
Young trees in the understory can survive for decades with very little growth waiting for the opportunity to emerge once a larger tree falls lets some sunlight down to the forest floor. This is what you're seeing in this oak. There could be 50 years of waiting in that tiny black core.
Click to expand...

You've read the recently published (2016) 'the Hidden Life of Trees' by Peter Wohlleben! Wonderful book by an ex forester in Germany. After you've read this book you'll appreciate that a doomed tree chemically tenses up when it's struck with an axe, immediately alerts it's neighbours through the 'wood wide web' (interwoven root and mycorrhizal fungi connections) and that the entire surrounding forest emits a very loud 'Ouch'.
 
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