High Cutting Pine Stumps

From an On30 group I belong to...

Scott & group
Longleaf pines were often cut high off the ground also. The reason was that if they had been hacked for turpentine. The dried pine sap would form a hard surface where it was hacked and it would damge the sawblade. I own land in the sandhills of NC I have 6 longleaf pine stumps still standing that have the hacked area on them. I asked my grandfather about it when he was still living and he told that is what they did. He worked the turpentine stills as a boy and later operated several sawmill in the sand hills as well as in the swamps of eastern NC. He also told me of a practice of girdling the tree in late fall so the sap would not rise in the spring then they would cut the trees in late spring making the trees lighter in weight he said they did this to pine,cypress and eastern white cedar.

Alan Ashworth

Thanks, Alan! Yes, they did girdle the cypress trees. The tree would float in the water when they cut them.