# Sparks while cutting



## jman66 (Dec 6, 2017)

Morning All,  Was out later than expected last night scrounging up some wood in the woods and while cutting a log about 14 in in diameter sparks were flying.  I wasn't hitting the ground at all, so I know I wasn't hitting a rock or anything.  Is it common to see sparks while cutting through wood??  What causes this??  Thx in advance...  J


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## peakbagger (Dec 6, 2017)

Yes especially if the wood is muddy. Many home sawmill owners figure out pretty quickly that blade life is directly related to wood cleanliness. The easiest approach is install a debarker ahead of the bandsaw blade/. Dirt can get embedded in the bark over the life of the tree so even if it looks clean it may have embedded dirt from past events as the tree grew. Remove the bark and blade life is extended substantially.


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## armanidog (Dec 6, 2017)

It also could have been a nail/staple or piece of wire from an old fence. What is woods now could have been pasture  50-100 years ago. 
I hit a rock one time that had been embedded in the trunk, my theory is that the rock got lodged in a fork when the tree was young and it just grew around the rock. 
This is why I always have my sharpening file with me, you never know what you will run into inside a tree trunk.


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## TheAardvark (Dec 6, 2017)

I posted a picture of a chain that i hit inside an ash tree a few weeks back. It made some big sparks.


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## Tar12 (Dec 6, 2017)

Sand driven by the wind..I was cutting standing timber adjacent to a very sandy field.trees along county roads....Hedge and Hickory have all produced sparks for me.


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## CincyBurner (Dec 6, 2017)

I've noticed sparks when cutting at night (storm work with some lighting). Usually low cuts on the trunk along busy roads are worse.  It's grit that just gets imbedded in bark over time.  If you were to look at it in the daylight you wouldn't notice it.  It gives you get a good appreciation for how much grit is in trunk bark, especially along roads.
If you talk with an arborist he'll confirm that low cuts on trunk will dull your chain.


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## TreePointer (Dec 6, 2017)

There are small sparks all the time when cutting.  We don't see them the vast majority of the time because we don't cut in the dark.


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## Paulywalnut (Dec 7, 2017)

I notice sparks while cutting Osage the most. Very hard dense wood.


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## sportbikerider78 (Dec 7, 2017)

TheAardvark said:


> I posted a picture of a chain that i hit inside an ash tree a few weeks back. It made some big sparks.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That's awesome.  Well for us. 

If found out that I noodled a 308 bullet in half on one of my big rounds.  It was pretty cool!  Glad it was a junk chain.  I should take a pic.


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## Jeffm1 (Dec 8, 2017)

jman66 said:


> Morning All,  Was out later than expected last night scrounging up some wood in the woods and while cutting a log about 14 in in diameter sparks were flying.  I wasn't hitting the ground at all, so I know I wasn't hitting a rock or anything.  Is it common to see sparks while cutting through wood??  What causes this??  Thx in advance...  J


Hard wood and dull chain?


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## TreePointer (Dec 8, 2017)

I've observed that any wood with any chain will spark when it first hits the object being cut.  The friction of metal on metal (chain on bar) will cause a spark.  Even if the chain is well lubricated, I can make a spark if I lower the chain into the wood with enough force.  The key is having low light conditions to make the sparks easily observable.


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## WiscWoody (Dec 10, 2017)

CincyBurner said:


> I've noticed sparks when cutting at night (storm work with some lighting). Usually low cuts on the trunk along busy roads are worse.  It's grit that just gets imbedded in bark over time.  If you were to look at it in the daylight you wouldn't notice it.  It gives you get a good appreciation for how much grit is in trunk bark, especially along roads.
> If you talk with an arborist he'll confirm that low cuts on trunk will dull your chain.


Yeah the hardwood loggers up here don’t cut trunks low, they stop around the 4 foot mark.


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## WiscWoody (Dec 10, 2017)

I’ve never had to sharpen the chain on my powered pole pruner cutting branches up high in the trees. And no sparks in cuts up high either...that I can see from down below anyways.


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## peakbagger (Dec 11, 2017)

WiscWoody said:


> Yeah the hardwood loggers up here don’t cut trunks low, they stop around the 4 foot mark.



That is interesting, if a local logger in my area (northern NH) cut a tree that high up off the ground, they would be off the job after the first cut. Most of the logging jobs are bid based on how much volume a logging firm can get out of a cut, the owner of the logging firm and the forester wants the logs cut right above the root flare. If its a veneer log that couple of feet could be worth several extra hundreds of dollars. Of course not many firms are using manual sawyers, most have gone mechanized but even on the mechanized rigs, the operators are told to cut low.


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## nrford (Dec 11, 2017)

peakbagger said:


> That is interesting, if a local logger in my area (northern NH) cut a tree that high up off the ground, they would be off the job after the first cut. Most of the logging jobs are bid based on how much volume a logging firm can get out of a cut, the owner of the logging firm and the forester wants the logs cut right above the root flare. If its a veneer log that couple of feet could be worth several extra hundreds of dollars. Of course not many firms are using manual sawyers, most have gone mechanized but even on the mechanized rigs, the operators are told to cut low.



Exactly, perhaps he has seen a job with an old fence-row along the road? No logging company owner anywhere would allow this as a practice on the whole job! The old fence-row necessitates a high cut(tramp metal)


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## WiscWoody (Dec 11, 2017)

peakbagger said:


> That is interesting, if a local logger in my area (northern NH) cut a tree that high up off the ground, they would be off the job after the first cut. Most of the logging jobs are bid based on how much volume a logging firm can get out of a cut, the owner of the logging firm and the forester wants the logs cut right above the root flare. If its a veneer log that couple of feet could be worth several extra hundreds of dollars. Of course not many firms are using manual sawyers, most have gone mechanized but even on the mechanized rigs, the operators are told to cut low.


I should have said it’s from what I’ve seen but I talk to loggers often up here as half of the guys in town are loggers. I’ll ask one of them if it’s a common practice not to cut low.... stay tuned for more...


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## peakbagger (Dec 11, 2017)

Its PITA for the loggers up north as the snow can get several feet deep so they have to dig down in the snow to make the cut. 

I do have to cut firewood trees high for my brother if he is removing the stump with his bulldozer. The extra length make  big difference for leverage.


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## D8Chumley (Dec 11, 2017)

peakbagger said:


> I do have to cut firewood trees high for my brother if he is removing the stump with his bulldozer. The extra length make  big difference for leverage.


True story


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## Bmore (Dec 14, 2017)

I normally see sparks when cutting into the bark of a dead/dry black Locust. First time had me worried there was some old wire in the tree, but it was happened several more times. Dulls the chain too, but worth it. Love the Locust.


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## ValleyCottageSplitter (Dec 14, 2017)

Even stranger is that I've noticed sparks while splitting too.  Very subtle but I've noticed it several times.  It doesn't look like debris stuck in the bark; plenty of them occur splitting heartwood pieces.


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## heavy hammer (Dec 16, 2017)

I have seen sparks when cutting locust many times.  Some trees the grain is very tight look at the abuse your wedhe takes from splitting.  Metal sledge or maul and metal wedges but they still mushroom, from the force.


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## royrizzle (Dec 16, 2017)

Perhaps Ironwood...that's been known to throw sparks & hard to cut with a chainsaw


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## FTG-05 (Dec 17, 2017)

peakbagger said:


> Yes especially if the wood is muddy. Many home sawmill owners figure out pretty quickly that blade life is directly related to wood cleanliness. The easiest approach is install a debarker ahead of the bandsaw blade/. Dirt can get embedded in the bark over the life of the tree so even if it looks clean it may have embedded dirt from past events as the tree grew. Remove the bark and blade life is extended substantially.



Another great advantage to using a grapple to take logs out of the woods:  I'm not dragging them 1/4-1/2 mile through the dirt, getting the bark all dirty!

Pick it up (without getting out of the tractor), take it to my wood processing area and drop right where I want it, (again without getting out of the tractor).  The log is clean and free of dirt, mud and rocks.  So much easier and cleaner than using the Logrite tongs and my box blade to take logs out of the woods!


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