One Big Gnarly Sassafras

From yesterdays score and so cool it deserved its own thread. One of the biggest ive ever seen at 36" DBH. Thats my folding rule extended to 4' leaning against the trunk. Being taken down by Asplundh. The wildest limbs ive ever seen.
There was a neighboring sassy that grew around a cedar tree. Yes thats a cedar limb growing diagonally through it in the last pic. I bucked that section out to cut some cookies. Usually seen nice and straight growing in the woods. Rare IME to see one growing in the open like this.
The two limbs i took to mill (if possible)

 

A tortured tree. It's now been put out of its misery.

Creative splitting may be in order.

 

Actually splits easily even the gnarly stuff. I saved that limb and another for milling plus a couple "rounds" for cookies.

I only took the nice straight stuff yesterday and am leaving the rest behind.

You ever score any Mike?

 

That's a biggin! Wonder if that curved cut was intentional.

 

I’d check to see what size your state champion Sass is. That’s gigantic for Sassafras!

 

Calling Eric Wanderweg He would know.

I have seen about the same size.

 

The two limb chunks i took to mill (if possible) I couldnt leave them behind or turn them into firewood.

 

Unfortunately there's no picture to accompany the stats, but it is a large one.

 

WOW that's impressive! If I saw that driving down the road in winter, I'd be hard pressed to recognize it right away as sassafras. Sassafras has quickly become my favorite low BTU firewood as of recently. I like processing it, the fast dry time, rot resistance, and it burns great without leaving charcoal behind like tulip poplar or cherry does.

 

Kind caught me off guard too. Wasnt expecting to see a sassy like that.

I love hand splitting it and sniffing it of course. Doesnt dry as fast as tulip, cottonwood, or box elder IME. Catalpa is comparable IME

I do like silver maple but dont come across it that often.

 

Yessah. At my SIL's. Maybe 12" DBH. Tall and straight.

 

I’ve never seen a sassafras tree that large around here, well not anywhere to be honest! Great find

 

Huge! The trunk looks odd, like it started with several small trunks that sort of melded into one. Could be an interesting one to split. Definitely want splitting pics! Nice score!

 

Wow! Nice score Brad! Thanks for the pics! That’s quite a tree.

 

Most of my sass's all die at about 10-12 dbh for some reason. Never seen one that big.

 

I have no experience burning sassafras. How does it do?

 

That crushes the biggest sass I’ve ever seen or dealt with. I think 26”-28” is my record. Very impressive.

 

Shoulder season wood. Splits easily, dries pretty fast, spits a lot when burned, and smells great.
Try some if you get a chance.

 

The spar is still there. Not sure when they'll be back. I honestly dont want any of the trunk wood, but some of it looks like it'll produce some nice splits. I cut another load there today and have a load plus left.
Maybe ill call the boss since i have his number and find out. Coldest weather of the Winter this week so ill be doing lots of firewood making.

 

I copy/pasted this from google maps to show how gnarly this tree was before they took it down

Google Maps