Biggest tree you know of......

I know the Sequoia"s are HUGE but other than them what is the largest tree you"ve ever seen and what is the largest you"ve ever cut up?
As of today my neighbor and I are almost done cutting up the largest tree I know of around here, at least that I have seen. It"s a white oak tree that was close to 7 feet in diameter at head height and over 9 feet in diameter at the base of the trunk. It broke apart at the main branch about 10 feet up and fell 4 different directions about 4 weeks ago. The two largest pieces fell one direction into the guys front yard and hung up on the top of the trunk, and and two fell the other way and just missed the guys house by a few feet. Thankfully it is hollow at the base as it will make cutting up the trunk a little easier but many of the limbs, especially at the main branch areas, are still nearly inches in diameter so cutting them with a 20 inch bar has been a challange to say the least. I"ve been picking the chunks onto the trailer with the crane on my service truck after we whittled them down as far as we could and so far the largest one has been around 4500 lbs with many more in the 2500 lb range. Needless to say we"ll both have plenty of firewood for the next few winters..... If I can figure out how to do it again I"ll post a few pics of all the fun we had cutting this big critter up.

we had a cottonwood at the homestead years ago way up in the field. the tree was 29 1/2 feet around at the base, and right about 120 ft tall. it was close to a high tension powerline and the towers were 125 ft tall.

Hi glennster: You measured at the base means just above ground level? I had one near the corner of an empty building site decades ago that I just left alone. It was in good shape so I don't know if it is still there and bigger since last I saw it was maybe 20 years ago. A lot of other trees nearby and all were tall so I'll guess that helps keep them going up to get Sunlight. This one over 25 foot at chest high. It was near North side of Lake Minnetonka MN. ag

yup we ran a tape measure around just about the ground, maybe a foot. it was one huge tree.

I just cut a White Oak that was 42" across at 6' up on tree. Lighting split it right down the middle was starting to open up was about 1' apart about 15 foot up. It was in family cemetery with graves at risk. had to move three stones to keep them from being damaged had family member to move their stones that keep down hard fillings and made tham think thay were helping. As I have wood cut and split for next two years on the back of my lott Some one else can have the whole tree. I just spent today replaceing fence post and top rail. and last Saturday Hauling the rest of tree out of cemetery.

The largest I ever cut up was on my own property, a 18" diameter Hickory, 70 feet tall. I only cut up trees on my own property. My neighbor and one of his friends used to own a tree removal business and they told me that several years ago they cut down one of the largest trees in Michigan. 23' in diameter at the base and they charged $7000 for cut up and removal of the wood and limbs.

i live within 5 miles of a sycamore that's a little over 9 feet in diameter,..once helped cut a white oak that was 84 inches across

I worked with the lumber guys on my brother in laws farm while he was in fl for the winter,They cut a red oak that was between 50 and 55 in. across. We got a picture of the lumber buyer and I with it. The lumber yard called us when they cut it and that was something to see, The guy running the saw was impressed,It had straight grain all the way through and was solid.

I meant to say that that large tree was 23 feet in circumference. More likely 8 feet in diameter.

cut up a weeping willow tre at my dads place a few years back had a couple logger friennds help with it dont know measurments on the base but some of the limbs had to go around with an 18 inch bar so assuming they were 20 plus inch limbs dad has an outdoor wood furnace he burnt that same tree for 3 winters and thats all he used was that one tree of course he let it dry for a couple years before he burnt it

yew tree in the Church yard where i grew up... not very tall, but huge around... and they reckon it 4000 years old...
the linton yew

Ive seen many Cottonwood and Sycamore trees logged in my area(NW Mo) that were 6-9 ft through them

In timber country, the measurement is so many inches DBH- "diameter breast high". At that level, you have gotten away from the natural spreading toward the roots, and it gives a better indication of the actual size. All log scaling is done using the dbh measurement.

We had a huge cottonwood in the neighborhood when I was a kid- 6 or 7 feet in diameter, over 200 feet high. The landowner and a buddy of his were drinking one afternoon, and started figuring how many board feet of lumber were in it, and how rich there were going to be if they sold it. So they somehow cut it down, without killing themselves or flattening his house. Then found out there was no market for cottonwood, and besides, no mill could handle a log that size. He cut some from the upper end for wood, but cottonwood is lousy firewood, so most of it ended up laying around 'til it rotted. Another dream concocted in an alcoholic haze that couldn't withstand sober reflection.

The Wye Oak in Talbot County, MD was 31'-10" in cicumference. That's about 10' DBH.
Wye Oak

I have been around General Sherman Sequoia. Woof is it large. There are trees you can walk through, or drive cars through.
Redwoods are the biggest and most impressive trees other than Sequoias Camping in them in CA.. My sister has a shag bark Hickory at 28" diameter it is impressive. Jim

Hi glennster: Your measurement a foot above ground and my measurement about chest high will likely be a tree about similar in size.. I was glad I did NOT have to cut this one down.. Lot of contractors just bulldoze everything down and burn everything. After the new house is finished, somebody plants a little tree.. Kinda sad in my view to not take into account saving large healthy trees.( maybe not a huge Cottonwood ) Good big trees keep the house from looking like just another "BOX" plunked down on an almost baren building site... ag.