Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Tramp Metal In Logs


With all logs that I mill it is inevitable that sooner or later I will hit some sort of tramp metal.


Tramp metal is the unknowingly art of placing a nail or screw in a live and growing tree, most of the time to hold up a sign, birdhouse, or the like, or even placing an object on a low limb or at the base, etc,


Trees most likely to have tramp metal are those that come from neighborhoods or someones yard. I have had customers state : Ive lived here for 20 years and have never put a nail in that tree:


Well it happens, and more often then it should, and of course when I hit tramp metal it ruins the cutting ability of the blade.


Tramp metal can nearly be anything, such as nails, screws, fence wire, insulator's, crowbars, what have you, if left in the tree or on a limb, or even leaning up against a tree long enough, it will grow around it. Here is a photo of a bicycle where I suspect it may have broke down on its rider, and was parked against this now old growth pine, most likely in the northwest. You can see the bike is somewhat off the ground a pretty much consumed by this tree.


The morrow of the story is, If I'm sawing up your log and there is tramp metal in it, I will find it.