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02/10/08, 02:10 AM
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In Remembrance
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 6,844
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Lightening Stuck Tree - Firewood
I had a tree come down in the fence row. Had been struck by lightening several years ago. Called a family I knew who burned wood and they came and cut it up for firewood. As they were leaving they commented they had heard for a long time wood from a lightening struck tree doesn't burn well. Lightening does something to the wood.
New one to me. Anyone else heard anything similar?
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02/10/08, 03:49 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,898
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Never heard of that.
Sounds to me like an over-the-shoulder "thanks, but no thanks".
Not very gracious, imo.
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02/10/08, 04:00 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: West Central Arkansas
Posts: 3,611
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I had an oak that was hit. It was harder to burn for some reason. I do believe it hardens the wood. Old timer's would char treat their fence posts before putting them in the ground to preserve them. That is what I have gotten from the folks I have talked to about that around here. Just my .02
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02/10/08, 07:42 AM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Alabama
Posts: 242
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When I was a kid, a walnut tree was struck by lightening and fell by my grandpa's house. He said that he was always told if you burned lightening struck wood the lightening would come out in the heater and cause a fire. So he wouldn't burn it.
My uncle told me that heat from the lightening could concentrate the sap in part of the wood or something like that. And that could cause the wood to flare up and possibly cause a fire.
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BANNED
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02/10/08, 07:57 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,898
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Two years ago, this coming May, a magnificent lightning strike hit a huge old red oak just 200 yards west of my home. The kids and I were all together, I at the door, eldest son on the porch, the remainder sitting just inside the door at the table. As the bolt hit, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a spark at my woodstove, and heard a loud pop inside the house. My power system and phone were not damaged. My eldest son, standing on the porch, witnessed the tree being hit, and saw a bolt of electricity run from the tree, across the ground surface in front of the porch, and end in the garden, a hundred feet east of the house.
The tree stood the blast, for the most part, but did lose all of the bark from the trunk and larger branches. A limb two feet in diameter was snapped off and fell to the ground. The bark from the trunk was blown up to one hundred feet in all directions.
My eldest son and I cleaned up the large limb a couple months later, and we've been burning it this winter, with typical positive results generally obtained from burning seasoned oak. The rest of the three died, and has been standing all this time. We will be taking it down and burning some of it this coming fall/winter.....as it is too big to go through all of it in a season.
When I get into the trunk, I'll let you all know. The upper branches burn fine.
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02/10/08, 07:59 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: East TN
Posts: 6,977
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I've heard that from many Old Timers, no science to it just folklore.
A neighbor of mine was cutting up a lightening struck tree and we were talking about the people that wouldn't burn them. He asked if I knew what kind of people they were, to which I had no answer. Cold people was his reply.
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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
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02/10/08, 08:01 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,192
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I dunno - I've burned lightning struck wood and didn't see any difference. I didn't burn the "chared" part though.
My neighbor had a huge Cottonwood tree that had been struck by lightning 6 times in the span of 10 years. Each time it would catch on fire and loose some of it's limbs. The third or forth strike finally killed the tree. After each strike, he'd cut off the affected part and use it in his wood furnace. Seemed to burn fine.
Last spring, what is left of the tree was hit by lightning the 7th time. It burnt the top 8' or so off of the top of the trunk. All that is left is about 6'-8' of the trunk. It stands across the road from our house. He keeps meaning to cut it the rest of the way down, but never gets to it.
Last edited by Scrounger; 02/10/08 at 08:03 AM.
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02/10/08, 08:30 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 55
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Beeman
I've heard that from many Old Timers, no science to it just folklore.
A neighbor of mine was cutting up a lightening struck tree and we were talking about the people that wouldn't burn them. He asked if I knew what kind of people they were, to which I had no answer. Cold people was his reply.
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lol, cold people
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02/10/08, 08:48 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 126
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Forerunner
We will be taking it down and burning some of it this coming fall/winter.....as it is too big to go through all of it in a season.
When I get into the trunk, I'll let you all know. The upper branches burn fine.
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I'd like to meet a tree I couldn't use in a season
L
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02/10/08, 08:51 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,898
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Come see me, sometime. I'll likely show you two. :-)
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02/10/08, 09:24 AM
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In Remembrance
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: South Central Kansas
Posts: 11,076
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Scrounger
Last spring, what is left of the tree was hit by lightning the 7th time.
All that is left is about 6'-8' of the trunk. It stands across the road from our house. He keeps meaning to cut it the rest of the way down, but never gets to it.
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Sounds like a fantastic location to install a tall pole with a lightning rod on top to carry the strike into the ground. Once gone the lightning might strike the next highest object, perhaps your house.
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02/10/08, 09:46 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Northern New Mexico
Posts: 1,701
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A few years ago we had a 125 year old white oak tree in our front yard struck by lightening. Quite a story, I took about 200 photographs, an amazing feat of nature. But anyway, we burned the whole dern thing in our wood burning furnace after it seasoned one year. Never noticed any problem. We were told by a forester that the tree truck was in three "cells" and that even though one cell was hit, the whole tree would eventually die. yep, it did. It took us one year to get it together to fell the tree, had to block off the road, big project, lots of firewood.
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02/10/08, 10:33 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,192
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas
Sounds like a fantastic location to install a tall pole with a lightning rod on top to carry the strike into the ground. Once gone the lightning might strike the next highest object, perhaps your house.
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It is about 1500' from our house and was on the side of a taller hill. There are plenty of taller objects around then our house. I think it was a case of God just decided he didn't like that particular tree anymore!
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02/10/08, 04:11 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,106
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Interesting post! Thanks
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02/10/08, 04:44 PM
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winding down
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: NC
Posts: 3,471
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We're burning a lightning struck tree now. It got hit I think September 06. Blew the bark right off of it, and it was a large oak. We let it stand until hubby got back from Afganistan November 07, and then hubby took it down, cut, split and stacked it. It's well seasoned, and it's burning just fine.
Meg
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