A curse on fence wire

[British Red]

I've been getting ahead of next years firewood recently

Gransfors Bruks Working Axe by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Maul & wedges by English Countrylife, on Flickr

But one particular ash tree has given me serious grief. Not only has it got mild steel fence wire growing through one major limb...

Wire in log by English Countrylife, on Flickr

But it has barbed wire going right through the trunk

Wire in log by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Barbed wire does a serious number on chainsaw teeth!

IMG_20210302_140224 by English Countrylife, on Flickr

I really wish people wouldn't strain wire on trees!

 

[Robbi]

Ooooh, that's got to hurt !

 

[British Red]

Ooooh, that's got to hurt !

My hands vibrated even though its a dampened saw . Chain was a write off

 

[Le Loup]

I've been getting ahead of next years firewood recently

Gransfors Bruks Working Axe by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Maul & wedges by English Countrylife, on Flickr

But one particular ash tree has given me serious grief. Not only has it got mild steel fence wire growing through one major limb...

Wire in log by English Countrylife, on Flickr

But it has barbed wire going right through the trunk

Wire in log by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Barbed wire does a serious number on chainsaw teeth!

IMG_20210302_140224 by English Countrylife, on Flickr

I really wish people wouldn't strain wire on trees!

It is not always that wire is attached to a tree by someone, I have trees here that have grown up next to a fence & the trunk has grown around the wire. I have seen bicycles in the trunks of trees.
Keith.

 

[Silverclaws2]

It is not always that wire is attached to a tree by someone, I have trees here that have grown up next to a fence & the trunk has grown around the wire. I have seen bicycles in the trunks of trees.
Keith.

I have seen similar where there is some still growing around here where it appears trees have curled themselves around fence wire.

 

[British Red]

It is not always that wire is attached to a tree by someone, I have trees here that have grown up next to a fence & the trunk has grown around the wire. I have seen bicycles in the trunks of trees.
Keith.

You are right of course Keith, but in this case I have the proof

Wire emerging here

Barbed wire in tree by English Countrylife, on Flickr


You can follow the scar right round the trunk!

Wire around tree by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Must have been there for years as it is a foot inside the trunk but you can see from the scar how someone used the tree as a straining post!

 

[Broch]

Yep, I have a few the same. Some of the cowboy fencing contractors will still do it but they're not supposed to and the good contractors are embarrassed when they see it. Unfortunately, the farmers don't care and will staple fencing to anything. If any of my neighbours do any fencing (on that rare occasion they decide to do anything) and they've used one of my trees on the fence line I remove it.

 

[grip]

Do what the bandsaw millers do, run a metal detector over your stems. One bloke i know will not put any trees from boundaries through his saw for fear of embedded wire / staples etc

 

[British Red]

Do what the bandsaw millers do, run a metal detector over your stems. One bloke i know will not put any trees from boundaries through his saw for fear of embedded wire / staples etc

Not a bad idea at all!

 

[santaman2000]

Do what the bandsaw millers do, run a metal detector over your stems. One bloke i know will not put any trees from boundaries through his saw for fear of embedded wire / staples etc

Tree huggers deliberately drive nails into tees in national, state, or commercial forests specifically to sabotage harvests.

@Broch you’re correct about farmers. At least up to a,point. We have never either but that said, we never deliberately attached it to any tree that would be harvestable later. After all, those trees are also part of the revenue stream on a farm.

 

[Broch]

After all, those trees are also part of the revenue stream on a farm.

Not here unfortunately. Many farms around here have small areas of woodland that is left totally unmanaged. They are grazed to death by sheep, meaning there is no under-story and no variation in tree age. The timber isn't even used for fuel and wind-blown large trees are just left on the ground un-processed. I would mind less if they did on purpose for habitat creation but they don't; woodland around here has no value at all to the farmer.

I know this is a generalisation but is true of all three farms that my property borders on.

 

[Paul_B]

Unless there's a subsidy involved, or is that too cynical?

 

[santaman2000]

Not here unfortunately. Many farms around here have small areas of woodland that is left totally unmanaged. They are grazed to death by sheep, meaning there is no under-story and no variation in tree age. The timber isn't even used for fuel and wind-blown large trees are just left on the ground un-processed. I would mind less if they did on purpose for habitat creation but they don't; woodland around here has no value at all to the farmer.

I know this is a generalisation but is true of all three farms that my property borders on.

Mine isn’t especially large either. I only have 73 acres and only roughly half of that is in timber (also completely unmanaged) Me or my family has had it harvested three times in my 64 year lifetime: not counting the time I had a salvage done after Hurricane Katrina which blew down over $100k on the east 40 acres (I got a salvage of $36k before the bottom fell out of the market due to the glut caused after the storm)

Within the last year I had a forester cruise the property and he offered an estimated $80k with a guarantee of at least $68k. I’ve put off this harvest (which is overdue) because of the low offer. That and he only wants to clear cut.

 

[Tony]

I feel you Red, I've lost a couple of chains to wire it's a pain.

 

[British Red]

I can live with the accidental "tree grows round wire" kind , but the deliberate attaching grinds my gears . Still, there's lots of nice ash for the stoves so still worth it

How's your life Tone?

 

[santaman2000]

I ran across a blow down in Pensacola this afternoon @British Red. It’s been there since Hurricane Sally last year. Think you could get some firewood from it?

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[British Red]

Think I'll take the big saw

 

[Tony]

I can live with the accidental "tree grows round wire" kind , but the deliberate attaching grinds my gears . Still, there's lots of nice ash for the stoves so still worth it

How's your life Tone?

Good thanks mate, all things considered where I live is a good place to be locked down.
Rats are out in force so I'll be getting the traps out (should have done it a couple weeks ago)

I enjoy your vids mate, keep them coming

 

[British Red]

Will do Tone, we've hot a winemaking one and a firewood processing video coming up do I'll link to them here as they may be of general interest.

I know what you mean about rats, I've done a couple of professional pest control qualifications during lockdown. Quite the eye opener!

 

[Nice65]

Tell me more about that maul if you can please Red?