That is disturbing. A few years ago I cut into a big dying white oak. Most of the canopy had died back and leaves were growing out of the trunk -- a bad sign for oaks. It gushed probably 100+ gallons of brown liquid out of what turned out to be a hollow trunk that was apparently collecting rain water. It got the saw wet but I got out of the way in time to let it drain. I was amazed that the inside of the trunk could be completely hollow and rotten, with the sapwood still clinging to life.
What powerhead do you have attached to that big TsuMura bar? Looks like my saw (above), but I have got a skip tooth chain on it right now. That cuts down on sharpening time when cutting dirty wood.
I bet that was some funky water! Trees are endlessly interesting. I’ve run into many trees with large water filled voids. Usually it’s from branch union separation/splitting. Some folks don’t realize that the heartwood of trees isn’t living tissue anyway. While it does provide strength it isn’t completely necessary for the tree to live. The tree does its best to protect this heartwood material with the dead bark, live bark and cambium layer which produces both live bark and new growth sapwood throughout the growing season. But when fungus gets into the heartwood through a wound it usually difficult for a tree to compartmentalize and halt decomposition. This was a perfectly healthy and sound cottonwood though and the sap explosion was likely the result of the release of root pressure. Good eye! It’s one of my favorite saws a Dolmar 7900. Ported by huskihl of course. I have three and hopefully enough parts to keep them running for the rest of my life.
