A neighbor removed a couple of Live Oaks from his property. Why he would cut a couple of 100+ year old trees is beyond me. Interesting find though.

Appears to be a 45 cal bullet cut cleanly by the chainsaw. Any guess as to how long it's been in there?

No WAG from me, but that is pretty cool. It's been in there quite a while, that's sure.

Beavertooth. (WAG, mostly joking)

count the rings,looks like about forty years to kill the tree.

Wow - had to be just at the right level; incredible.

Some places trees are a nuisance - here they are considered weeds ...

quote:

Originally posted by 45 Cal:
count the rings,looks like about forty years to kill the tree.

Tried to count the rings and no luck. The tree appeared healthy before meeting the chainsaw. The hollow part just to the right had bullet fragments so someone was using it for target practice. I have found bailing and barbed wire before, but no bullets.

Ever have a life oak in your yard, trees shed leaves in the spring, for weeks, and weeks, then open up nasty pollen pods spewing huge amounts of yellow spores of death. I have one, won't cut it as its too nice but have about 5 around me, they are major PIA.

That bullet find is cool, make a footstool out of it...

Remember that bullet would penetrate several inches of even oak. It is had to say how long ago it was fired into the tree.

Oh, cool. I guess when it was shot the bark was where the obvious change to the rings are, and where the cracks that run perpendicular to the rings stop. Point of entry for the upper wound maybe from the top right corner of the photo, and above the cut?

Looks like wood rot from the outside to half way towards the center. I assume the tree was dead.

That appears to be a .45-70, and not .45ACP, and there is a great disparity in penetration of the two.

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Enlarging the picture, it looks like the bullet has a jacket. If so, that would help to narrow down the age range.

I just had 6 old oak trees cut down. 1 of them smoked the chain on the chainsaw. After we got it down and split the trunk, we discovered that the tree had grown around a rock slightly larger than a baseball.

Check under the ground for truffles..

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Ever have a life oak in your yard, trees shed leaves in the spring, for weeks, and weeks, then open up nasty pollen pods spewing huge amounts of yellow spores of death. I have one, won't cut it as its too nice but have about 5 around me, they are major PIA.

That bullet find is cool, make a footstool out of it...

In this part of the Texas hill country your choice of native trees is Live Oak and Cedars. I have ~55 Live Oaks on my property and you are right about the mess. They make a hell of a mess but it's what we have. I damn sure am not cutting any down.The leaves do make a pretty good mulch for next years garden.

The piece of wood in the OP got loaded up for firewood. I did pull the bullet out when I helped load it. I claimed the lowest cut at the base. Cut nice and square and the wife all ready found a place for it as a plant holder on the back porch.

 
Oak rings are harder to count because of the "rays", which run perpendicular to the rings. These same rays are what make quarter sawn oak boards so beautiful.