What’s the Strangest Thing You Found in Wood?

[Wilsoncb]

I was cutting a 2x4 yesterday and cut right through the middle of it bullet. What are the chances? When you think about it, often times you probably only cut a very low percentage of any piece of wood, or tree. My guess is that bullets, screws, nails and wire would be the most common things found. Let me know what you have found.

 

[FredP]

While working with my grandfather at the sawmill we found a musket one time. Hair raising experience for sure. Glass insulators were found a few times. Once we found the bones of a small animal, possibly a squirrel. All of these things can ruin a circular saw blade or at least knock out a few teeth. These things Always made him angry.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Resawed a piece of Cherry once and found a few shotgun pellets. Left an interesting pattern.

 

[Wilsoncb]

While working with my grandfather at the sawmill we found a musket one time.

That’s amazing, now I’m sitting here thinking about the various ways that could have happened…now where did I leave that musket?

 

[cfield60]

Was having a maple stump ground and an axe head popped out this past spring.

 

[HITCH-]

I found this in the fireplace ashes last year.
Must have been imbedded in a log or I would have come across it splitting and stacking.

 

[pop-pop]

I found this in the fireplace ashes last year.
Must have been imbedded in a log or I would have come across it splitting and stacking.

Looks like barbed wire. The tree served as a fence post.

 

[HITCH-]

Yes, and I belive that it was hand formed rather than machine made.

 

[drw]

These "finds" make owners of SawStops very unhappy!

 

[Oka]

Found in a tree a piece of a 1929's car light housing. Totally trashed the chainsaw blade

 

[Echd]

These "finds" make owners of SawStops very unhappy!

I dont think it should be a problem unless there is contact with a ground of some sort. I could be mistaken. Now if it touches the table or something conductive I'm sure that would do the trick...

 

[kelLOGg]

In 2002 a big white oak (207 years old) fell on our property. When sawing it on my mill I hit 2 lead balls. I think they were civils war era musket balls.

 

[drw]

I dont think it should be a problem unless there is contact with a ground of some sort. I could be mistaken. Now if it touches the table or something conductive I'm sure that would do the trick...

While I have never run into any wood embedded metal, it is my understanding that it would trigger the SawStop's breaking mechanism. That said, I have triggered the break on a couple of occasions, but inattentiveness was the problem.

 

[Echd]

While I have never run into any wood embedded metal, it is my understanding that it would trigger the SawStop breaking mechanism. That said, I have triggered the break on a couple of occasions, but inattentiveness was the problem.

Here is Sawstop's FAQ entry:

What happens if the blade comes in contact with a nail or staple in the wood?
Generally, the safety system will not activate when a nail or staple is cut. Although conductive, these objects are not large enough to cause the safety system to activate unless they are grounded to the table or operator when they contact the blade.

Personally I'd rather not chance it, but I guess you never know until you cut it.

 

[kserdar]

I found a thin (1/8") piece of aluminum, maybe 1" x 2", in a sheet of plywood.

 

[creasman]

I found this creature inside while slicing some veneer. Squid, cuttlefish, elephant? What do you see?

 

[Gotcha6]

50+ years ago it wasn't uncommon to find bullets in framing lumber. We/dad had a supplier in Star, NC that would cut timber off the Fort Bragg military base, so.......

 

[cfield60]

These "finds" make owners of SawStops very unhappy!

I would say that it would make any brand of saw owner very unhappy should they cut into a piece of metal hidden within a piece of wood.

 

[Matt Furjanic]

Zoom in at the center of this round and you will see 3 naturally occurring stars. This is sooo cool. Has anyone else seen this?