In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options

A Lucky Tragedy

JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
edited July 2006 in General Discussion
This is the man I buy my beef from every year. He live across the road a ways. So, I guess the sky really is falling after all. [:D]

Tree.jpg
The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.

Comments

  • Options
    yoshmysteryoshmyster Member Posts: 21,087 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sounds to me like he'll have plenty of wood for the old smoker for all that beef.

    I'm curious will the insurance pay out on act of god?
  • Options
    bobskibobski Member Posts: 17,868 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    sad to see old tress go. imagine the generations that passed by it. glad to hear no one was hurt. have him call gunstock companies. they might be interested. all that feathered crotch stump swirl may bring a pretty penny!
    Retired Naval Aviation
    Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
    Former NSSA All American
    Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
    MO, CT, VA.
  • Options
    allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,242 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sad to see such a giant of nature keel over.

    Insurance won't pay, since it didn't fall on the house, unless he went to Lloyd's of London and bought a life insurance policy on the tree.
  • Options
    dlrjjdlrjj Member Posts: 5,528 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Is that a Red Oak? I've got a couple nearly that size on the farm and I don't look foreward to cutting them up, but it's likely to happen. The Red Oaks tend to rot from the inside out once they get to an advanced age and finally get to the point where they just break off. I've had to clean up one or two in the past and it is a big job on a tree that size. They have several limbs as big as most trees, and that's a bunch of firewood.
    Tax evasion is illegal, tax avoidance is an art form.
  • Options
    bartobarto Member Posts: 4,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    We have one VERY old Port Orford cedar tree a few miles from here that measures 52 feet in circumference @ 5 feet above the ground.
    The same thing generally happens to these giants, they rot from the inside out, if a logger doesn't get em first.
    At export prices, a tree that size has a value (on the stump) of around $80,000.
    [8)]barto[8)]
  • Options
    Horse Plains DrifterHorse Plains Drifter Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 39,383 ***** Forums Admin
    edited November -1
    Big tree, looks like it rotted and tipped over. Lucky for the guy it fell away from his house.

    barto....Is a Port Orford cedar the same tree as Alaska Yellow cedar?
  • Options
    bartobarto Member Posts: 4,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    MT357-
    No sir, a Port Orford cedar is also known around here as white cedar or some even call it incense cedar. Very strong smell (pleasant) that will make your eyes water. Snow white heartwood. The bark on a tree that size would exceed 12 inches thick.
    [^]barto[^]
  • Options
    Horse Plains DrifterHorse Plains Drifter Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 39,383 ***** Forums Admin
    edited November -1
    Thanks barto. I spent the better part of 20 years falling timber and don't recall ever seeing one, heard of them though.
  • Options
    pickenuppickenup Member Posts: 22,844 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    That is a LOT of board feet.
  • Options
    Slow_HandSlow_Hand Member Posts: 2,835
    edited November -1
    The caption used the word "ancient". Any idea how old that tree actually is?

    If it is in fact several hundred years old, and if he technically "owns" the tree outright, maybe he could sell some of the wood to the high-end antique furniture and/or historical building restoration firms if it's mostly still solid.
  • Options
    JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I doubt if insurance will cover the car, but I don't know. If I run into him next week and don't forget, I'll ask him about insurance and the age of the tree. He's the kind of guy who will count the rings if they're countable. I'm just guessing, but I doubt it's more than two hundred years old, it that. I think it is just a regular old white oak. More than likely fire wood, but he has a nephew in the logging business, so I'm sure he'll check it out before he cuts it.
    The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
  • Options
    Slow_HandSlow_Hand Member Posts: 2,835
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by JamesRK
    I doubt if insurance will cover the car, but I don't know. If I run into him next week and don't forget, I'll ask him about insurance and the age of the tree. He's the kind of guy who will count the rings if they're countable. I'm just guessing, but I doubt it's more than two hundred years old, it that. I think it is just a regular old white oak. More than likely fire wood, but he has a nephew in the logging business, so I'm sure he'll check it out before he cuts it.


    James, I never realized how much old wood, especially oak, is worth to the high-end builders and restorers. I watched an episode of "This Old House" years back and they needed to repair and restore an original pegged wooden plank floor in a farmhouse that was almost 300 years old. Wound up making a very long day trip to one specialty supply place that reclaimed very old wood, carefully removed any paint and varnish and cut and trimmed it down to the buyer's specs. Stuff looked awful at first but it costs a fortune afterwards!

    Your friend may be able to get enough bucks as a result to offset the deductibles and any uncovered losses.
  • Options
    dlrjjdlrjj Member Posts: 5,528 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    An old tree that is still alive, or even just died, is not the same thing as old wood. Wood acquires color and texture with age after it is harvested that just can't be duplicated by new wood, even if from very old trees.
    Tax evasion is illegal, tax avoidance is an art form.
  • Options
    Slow_HandSlow_Hand Member Posts: 2,835
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by dlrjj
    An old tree that is still alive, or even just died, is not the same thing as old wood. Wood acquires color and texture with age after it is harvested that just can't be duplicated by new wood, even if from very old trees.


    True to that end, but I figured that loggers are not permitted to cut down very old trees - especially oak, elm and maple trees - for wood unless the tree is dead, rotted or diseased.

    This particular one was probably healthy and may be a lot older than 200 years - or not - and is already down and just barely alive as long as the roots are still fairly wet.

    I'm guessing that wood from a 200+ year old tree - freshly deceased - has more street value to some than the new wood from a "farmed" tree that was planted within the last 20 - 25 years has.

    Just a guess here but since the tree's down and his car's destroyed, it never hurts to shop it for a price. And then again, it may only turn out to be a big load of really wet, hard wood.[:D]
  • Options
    fishkiller41fishkiller41 Member Posts: 50,608
    edited November -1
    Center of that tree has been rotting out for 100 years.Majestic old tree,but hollowed out...No good for anything but small pieces..Like smokin jerkey, or gun-stocks... They'll be heavy, but strong.
    Jeff
  • Options
    yoshmysteryoshmyster Member Posts: 21,087 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hey let us know how much powder/charge it'll take to pop the stump out[:D]. BBQ and it'll be one hell of a 4th.
  • Options
    bobskibobski Member Posts: 17,868 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    just gunstocks?
    thats where the money is. some stock co.'s will come and haul it away for next generations profits. some of your guns now have wood on them from last century!
    Retired Naval Aviation
    Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
    Former NSSA All American
    Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
    MO, CT, VA.
  • Options
    BlueTicBlueTic Member Posts: 4,072
    edited November -1
    MT357 - wanna come up and drop an old maple - before it takes out my shop?? I've been waiting several years to get some of the wood out of it. It is twisted from the ground up, but rotting from the center out. Should have a few good pistol grips in there somewhere and rifle stocks.....
  • Options
    IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It could have tipped over from too much weight in the crown leveraging internal rot, but it also could be the ground was so sodden the roots just didn't have enough hold. We've lost several magnificent trees in this area over the last few months for this reason and VA has had even more rain than upper New England. Whatever the reason, it is sad to see the passing of these giants.
  • Options
    mondmond Member Posts: 6,458
    edited November -1
    guess the ol' giant ,just had enough..[:0]
Sign In or Register to comment.