I'm having a hard time thinking about the reasons why this timber would be so hard on equipment. Having cut a lot of different types of spalted timber, I haven't ever had dull chainsaw chain(well, there was one time when I cut through a chunk of spalted Pecan and hit a chunk of concrete)....
We use to cut a lot of birch in the New England area for heating with, and I had cut plenty that was spalted.....just sort of weird I guess.
The timber makes for a stunner...that's for sure!!!!
Scott (how much did you cut) B