# What happens when you run into metal?



## Jdaschel (Mar 21, 2013)

HI, 
I love looking at pictures of people sawmilling up trees. I am wondering what happens when you run into nails and metal pieces and stuff?
Does the blade snap? Or does it just grind off the teeth? Dangerous? Etc. 
If you would have a picture of a wrecked sawblade that would be cool too.


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## jimmyjames (Mar 21, 2013)

heres what it looks like when you saw through a pair of bullets....

http://i178.Rule #2/albums/w249/jimmyjames1981/2013-03-21_12-14-57_515_zps264ac808.jpg

When you hit steel with a chainsaw youll feel it and then your chain is toast until it gets resharpened.


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## gridlockd (Mar 22, 2013)

jimmyjames said:


> When you hit steel with a chainsaw youll feel it and then your chain is toast until it gets resharpened.


+1 on what jimmy said. I hit a screw with a newly sharpened chainsaw blade and it was almost immediately evident in the cutting. kinda ticks you off, but from what I understand, it's nothing compared to hitting metal with a band saw blade. pretty much ruins the blades i think. one of the sawmill guys will chime in on that I'm sure.


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## Mike1950 (Mar 22, 2013)

Nothing good- especially if it is steel. In the 70's when the tree huggers were driving railroad spikes into trees- guys running those giant headrigs-died or got hurt bad. Those blades were huge 6"-1 foot wide and the operator road in the carriage next to it. With my saw -bandsaw I have run into copper-lead and steel- the first 2 do the blade no good at all and the steel. Time for a new blade.............:dash2::dash2::dash2:


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## gvwp (Mar 22, 2013)

Yeah its never pretty when you hear that sound of a sawblade going through metal. Its even worse when you hit bigger items such as horseshoes, swing chains, or as I found one day an ancient electrical insulator which was completely buried inside the log out of site. Brought my 51hp diesel to its knees. I still have the insulator as a reminder what can be found in logs.


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## HomeBody (Mar 23, 2013)

A ceramic insulator is way harder than steel. I'll bet that blade was toast...and the insulator is probably still useable. Gary


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## Ancient Arborist (Mar 23, 2013)

Cuss.....resharpen....search thesaurus, cuss more finish cut.


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## gvwp (Mar 23, 2013)

Yes, completely destroyed the blade and barely scratched the insulator. Very scarey too as it instantly brought the mill to a dead stop from a full speed cut. Most pieces of metal you will glide through and keep cutting but not the insulator.


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 23, 2013)

Jdaschel said:


> HI,
> what happens when you run into nails and metal pieces and stuff?



Bad things!


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## gvwp (Mar 24, 2013)

Joe Rebuild said:


> gvwp said:
> 
> 
> > Yes, completely destroyed the blade and barely scratched the insulator. Very scarey too as it instantly brought the mill to a dead stop from a full speed cut. Most pieces of metal you will glide through and keep cutting but not the insulator.
> ...



I've heard of cannon balls in really old trees don't do a blade good either.


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## Kevin (Mar 24, 2013)

I was contacted by some of my distant Irish relatives in Detroit a couple of years ago, and they said they had a very large oak tree that had been removed from The Red Fox restaurant on July 31, 1975 and stored at an undisclosed location for decades. It all sounded real mysterious to me. Especially since I hadn't heard from my Irish Kin folk since childhood. My Uncle "Chuckie" O'Brien barked a few obligatory greetings such as the standard _"How ya doin?_ and before I could reply he said -_"I'm seding a tree down to you .... burn it down to less than nothing."_ It wasn't a question. 

I asked my Uncle Chuckie why they couldn't burn the tree up there, and he just snapped back _"It's a special tree. Needs to be burned down south. Covered with plenty of magnesium."_ We had always heard that the O'Brien clan of our family up in Dee-troit had strong ties with the mob, and in fact were probably actual mobsters themselves. So maybe you can imagine my apprehension to refuse Uncle Chuckie's "offer". Before I could agree I heard the nearly imperceptible "tick" when a cell phone call is ended. 

Sure enough, 2 days later a teamster knocks on my door and when I open it he says he has a _"Special delivery. Sign here."_ and shoves a clipboard into my gut. I started to ask why I had to sign, but when I looked up at his eyes I couldn't bring myself to move my jaws. It was like they were frozen. As I glanced past him I saw his rig out on my county road blocking it, as though he didn't care if no one could pass. A huge crate was boomed to the bed. After signing for the cargo he pulls into my log yard and I unload the crate with my forklift, but before I can say anything he walks over to me and snaps _"Burn it. Now."_ Before I can say _"okay"_, the teamster, a very imposing Italian man and at least 6'7" and 280 pounds with no fat anywhere to be seen, locks his steely ice-cold eyes with mine and instantly a shiver runs through my spine so powerful it rattles the earwax out my canals. Red ants instantly converge on the wax and it makes me think of death, decomposition, and eerie things that make me shiver worse, I can hardly breathe and I clearly see my life pass before my eyes. I gulp. He stuffs a thick envelope into my gut and it almost knocks me down. He says _"Take it!"_ I instinctively, and instantly, grab it. He spins, and like the Teamster version of Zorro he mounts his shiny Mack steed so fast he essentially disappears before my eyes. The next thing I'm aware of are the sounds of gears grinding their way out of my yard, starting the journey back to the great white north.

Still somewhat stunned, I shake the cobwebs out of my spirit and quickly come back to reality. I have to see inside this huge box. I grab a crowbar and after no small measure of effort and skinned knuckles I rip off one of the sides of the huge container and there in front of me is the largest butt log from a northern white oak tree I've ever seen. The first thing I noticed besides it's massive girth, was that it had some old scars all over it in one area about the size of a small door, and the bark had grown back over it so that it was barely perceptible. The scars were so faint that the causal observer wouldn't have noticed it, and if they had they'd probably just think that it was some anomaly or a localized disease the tree had survived. But it made me curious so I inspected further. 

What I saw in the grain was so gnarly and twisted I instantly knew the grain had to be spectacular. No way could I burn this tree, I had to mill it. Who would know? Sal "thumbscrews" Bonanno had already headed north, and if Uncle Chuckie made a follow up call I'd just tell him _"The tree is now in floating around in the atmosphere."_ No sweat. I can handle that, after all Uncle O' will still be way up there and won't see my body language when I lie and that's good, because I'm the worlds worst liar. 

I grab Helga, my big 95cc Husky and hang the six foot bar on her, and after knocking down the other side and two ends of the crate, I commence to quarter this monster right there on the crate floor. Everything is going well, but about half way through I hit something which brought my big Swedish Woman Wood Warrior to a sudden stop. And it's at this point in the story where the question of this thread . . . _"What happens when you run into metal?"_ prevents me from finishing this fantastic tale. 

Further elaboration is impossible because what I hit wasn't metal. If the thread had been entitled _"What's The Strangest Thing You've Ever Hit Milling a Tree?"_ I could have given the full sordid and incredibly shocking details of what I hit, and what I discovered upon further exploration. But since that wasn't the question, any further elaboration would be off topic and it's against my policy to make off topic posts.


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## Mike1950 (Mar 24, 2013)

Kevin said:


> I was contacted by some of my distant Irish relatives in Detroit a couple of years ago, and they said they had a very large oak tree that had been removed from The Red Fox restaurant on July 31, 1975 and stored at an undisclosed location for decades. It all sounded real mysterious to me. Especially since I hadn't heard from my Irish Kin folk since childhood. My Uncle "Chuckie" O'Brien barked a few obligatory greetings such as the standard _"How ya doin?_ and before I could reply he said -_"I'm seding a tree down to you .... burn it down to less than nothing."_ It wasn't a question.
> 
> I asked my Uncle Chuckie why they couldn't burn the tree up there, and he just snapped back _"It's a special tree. Needs to be burned down south. Covered with plenty of magnesium."_ We had always heard that the O'Brien clan of our family up in Dee-troit had strong ties with the mob, and in fact were probably actual mobsters themselves. So maybe you can imagine my apprehension to refuse Uncle Chuckie's "offer". Before I could agree I heard the nearly imperceptible "tick" when a cell phone call is ended.
> 
> ...



Let me guess- Jimmy Hoffa's Cadillac????????????


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## jimmyjames (Mar 24, 2013)

Dang Kevin...... I want to hear the rest of that story!!!


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## Kevin (Mar 24, 2013)

jimmyjames said:


> Dang Kevin...... I want to hear the rest of that story!!!



That's all I made up.  You can put your own ending to it. If you do let me know how it ends.


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## EricJS (Mar 24, 2013)

Kevin said:


> jimmyjames said:
> 
> 
> > Dang Kevin...... I want to hear the rest of that story!!!
> ...



Kevin, you have a natural gift of creative writing. I don't know of many talented writers who could touch that. 

So - if your day job doesn't work out..... Seriously, great writing!


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## jimmyjames (Mar 24, 2013)

EricJS said:


> Kevin said:
> 
> 
> > jimmyjames said:
> ...



x2!


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 24, 2013)

EricJS said:


> Kevin said:
> 
> 
> > jimmyjames said:
> ...


I have been telling him that for a very long time. Seems that he's missed his calling. Kevin you really should start a fiction book, that way when you become famous I can say, hey I know that guy.


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## oregonburls (Mar 29, 2013)

I have run into rocks, bullets, nails, spikes and ceramic insulators:dash2:. All I can say is $$$$ out of my pocket. But it is the cost of doing business.

I have 5 carbide teeth on my mill blade and as soon as it hits something they all come off. Fortunately I dont have to buy new blades, just $30 to re-tooth them.
I have about 300 bandsaw blands that are all dull at $25 a pop and sometimes they last me 5 min. :dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2: But I would not trade working with wood for the world. To see how God design figure and colors is incredible! I am often mesmerized by the wood that comes through my saws. Love what I do!:irishjig:


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## oregonburls (Mar 29, 2013)

gvwp said:


> Joe Rebuild said:
> 
> 
> > gvwp said:
> ...


Yep I have hit 3 insulators 6" apart 8-10 deep in the wood. :dash2::dash2::dash2: I have a Lucas mill with 20" blades. re-toothing them and the time down can be frustrating.


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