Just brought down a huge old Poplar on my property, which had reportedly been struck by lightning many years ago. It healed partially, by wrapping itself around the damaged area. It's bucked into pieces, but the pieces won't split with any maul or ax I've tried. The wood seems twisted and springy, and even small pieces won't split.
There's a pic attached. You can see the tree in cross-section is almost heart-shaped, with the inside being punky and somewhat rotten.
So I tried cutting the bucked pieces with the chainsaw, the long-way, parallel to the trunk, though it's slow going, and the chain goes dull after about 5 minutes of cutting, I assume from the punky middle.
Any advice? I might be inclined to let it all rot, but I've got nowhere on my property where I could dump all that wood. On the other hand, there's a lot of good wood there.
All help appreciated.
There's a pic attached. You can see the tree in cross-section is almost heart-shaped, with the inside being punky and somewhat rotten.
So I tried cutting the bucked pieces with the chainsaw, the long-way, parallel to the trunk, though it's slow going, and the chain goes dull after about 5 minutes of cutting, I assume from the punky middle.
Any advice? I might be inclined to let it all rot, but I've got nowhere on my property where I could dump all that wood. On the other hand, there's a lot of good wood there.
All help appreciated.