metal in log

[thedeeredude]

How do you saw around this?






For those who can't tell, its a railroad tie in a Sycamore.  According to local legend its possible the confederates blew up a northern aggressor railroad and this piece of track landed in the tree and grew around it, or there was an explosion at the iron furnace nearby and it landed there.  Nobody knows for sure, but it looks cool anyway.

[DanG]

How do you saw around this?

Well, you'd better saw around it, 'cause ya ain't going through it! :D :D

I doubt the Civil War theory, for a couple of reasons.  First, the tree would have to be over 200 years old.  I figger it would have had to be at least fifty y.o. to support the iron that high up 140+ years ago.  Besides that, the Rebs wouldn't have blown up the railroad, they would have stolen it. ;D :D

[thedeeredude]

I dont know how old the tree is but its awful big at the butt.  It grows right next to Furnace Creek and across from where the big iron furnace used to be.  Ill get more pics of the tree today on a walk.

[thedeeredude]

What if you use monkey blades :D

[farmerdoug]

At the current price of scrap I bet the stumpage price of that tree will be high. : :D

Farmerdoug

[Furby]

It sure looks like it was placed there to hang or lift something from.

[WDH]

I agree.  Looks like somebody put it up there on purpose.

[Brad_S.]

confederates blew up a northern aggressor railroad

OK, I could understand this from our southern brethren, but you're in PA!   ;)

[WDH]

Go ahead, blame everything on the Rebels.

[dail_h]

   Brad,
   Everyone knowes it was "The War Of Northern Aggression" ,or didn't they teach that in your school? ;D ;D

[beenthere]

.......... its a railroad tie in a Sycamore.  According to local legend its possible the confederates blew up a northern aggressor railroad and this piece of track ...............

Is it track, or a RR tie?  Either way, it has to be heavy.

Talk about a 'widow maker' :


Yah der. Da guy's in da north didn't have anything better ta do.   ;D

[WDH]

Must be that one day, two laborers were carrying that piece of railroad iron in deep snow.  Getting tired, they laid the railroad iron in the crotch of two branches of a nearby tree and left it there.  Well, the snow melted, and.............mystery solved.  It does snow a lot up there, doesn't it?

[Brad_S.]

   Brad,
   Everyone knowes it was "The War Of Northern Aggression" ,or didn't they teach that in your school? ;D ;D

No, they didn't teach it that way. We learned it was "The War of Southern Rebellion". That's why it was Billy Yank and Johnny Reb. ;D

[Robert Long]

Brad-S

You better scan the rest of the tree......if that piece has a story, you will find more stories inside for sure ;)

Robert

[JimBuis]

deerdude,
I don't think there's any chance that rail is civil war era. The rails of that era were not solid steel as now, but rather they were relatively thin steel shaped and formed into the shape of a rail as we know it today.  The rails were rather pliable due to their design and method of manufacture. As a result the competing armies often demolished the other side's rails by twisting them with levers of different kinds so as to ensure they would have to be replaced rather than reused. Yes, I can provide a picture if necessary.  ;)

I agree with others who have said it was put there on purpose.

Jim

[Dan_Shade]

I've seen pictures where they bent all the railroad rails into U shapes, I always figured the built a fire, then used chains/ropes/whatever to bend it around a tree.

it would take a heck of a blast to blow that thing that high, but one thing's for sure, it didn't get there by itself!

I work with a guy from Massachusetts, he don't know nothing about the civil war! ;D

it's sad that 150 years later, we still "suffer" from the poor reconstruction after the war.

[farmerdoug]

RL,

You mention scanning the rest of the tree for metal.  Personnally I would scan every tree in the woods for metal too.  ;D Just think of how many may have been leaned up against a tree and now is inside of them.

Farmerdoug

[Brad_S.]

The rail should have the year of manufacture on it, along with the weight per yard, manufacturer and the process it was formed under. Got a really good pair of binoculars? :D

[JimBuis]

deerdude,
I don't think there's any chance that rail is civil war era. The rails of that era were not solid steel as now, but rather they were relatively thin steel shaped and formed into the shape of a rail as we know it today.  The rails were rather pliable due to their design and method of manufacture. As a result the competing armies often demolished the other side's rails by twisting them with levers of different kinds so as to ensure they would have to be replaced rather than reused. Yes, I can provide a picture if necessary.  ;)

I agree with others who have said it was put there on purpose.

Jim

Am I allowed to quote myself?  Anyway, here's a couple of photos to prove my point.

Here're some guys developing techniques for ripping up and twisting rails.


Here's a closeup of one of the twisted rails. You can see that it is not a solid rail as we use today.

Jim

[SPIKER]

I don't remember where I was now but I remember coming across an old shot gun that had been leaned into a tree & forgot back a long time ago, about 3/4 of the gun was covered by the tree, but was rotted off near ground level & rest of exposed gun was in very bad shape.   It may have been a musket?  I was maybe 12 or so at the time.   My brother pointed it out to me as he was actually one who found/saw it when we were chuck or coon hunting exploring ect.   We looked & looked & tried to figure out a way to rescue that gun lol  :D

MarkM

[Nate Surveyor]

I just wanna see the pics, as he sets his mill up there, to hit that metal! :D :D

N

[thedeeredude]

Sorry I accidentaly said tie, its rail.  Oops.  And we dont get much snow up here, its southern Pennsylvania.  I have no idea how it could of got up there.  I dont think the tree is all too old from the Civil War.  But hey it sounds neat :