Red oak log with unusual hole.

Bibbyman · August 30, 2008, 04:47:40 PM

A couple of weeks ago we were sawing oak hard and heavy. We had an order for some 14' 6x8 beams to fill. I loaded a nice red oak log on the deck. It looked sound in every way except for some swell on the bark about 4' up from the big end. We sawed into it and opened up a hole. We sawed four faces down to where the cant would still hold together and pushed it off the end of the mill so we could keep going. The next day I butted the hole end off to make an 8' cant and put that back on the mill.

I don't think I've ever seen a red oak with such a big hole in it where it didn't cause it to be rotten at least for feet above and below the hole. The hole was so large, I don't know how the tree kept from breaking off in a storm.

The butt end showed no sign of what wasn't inside.

As you see from where I cut it off less than a foot above the hole, it was sound to the pith again.

Jeff · August 30, 2008, 05:18:28 PM

Bib, I've seen that many many times in red oak over my years of sawing. Many times they are full of very stinky water. I don't know the cause but its not uncommon up here.

Left Coast Chris · August 30, 2008, 05:57:17 PM

It almost looks like the tree went from central leader to branching out back to central leader when first growing. That would allow the inside to be protected with bark allowing no rot?

Tom · August 30, 2008, 06:08:39 PM

That is common here as well, especially with water oak and laurel oak. Usually it is full of water and sometimes it is full of roots. I don't know were they come from unless the tree is eating itself. When I find situations like that I look for a vine that might have been growing on the trunk. Sometimes I can't find one.

Bibbyman · August 30, 2008, 08:29:42 PM

We have most every red oak subspecies known to man and maybe a few unknown to man. As I remember, this was a true northern red. For sure, it wasn't a water oak.

The cant you see is just squared out of the log. Thus the "outer ring" was only a couple of inches thick. Normally I'd expect to find a den hole or a large exposed scar. Normally there would be rot at least a couple of feet below and above the hole and around it. The area around the hole is discolored a couple of inches deep. Inside the hole was black, composted almost dirt. No water. 'Corse, there was, as always in a red oak, a bit of a frost crack in the heart (pith) so it could well have drained out when it was cut.

Yes, I remember helping Dad log when he'd stick the bar into a tree and water would gush out. Often, he'd just walk off and go to the next tree – if the cut he made didn't pose a danger. Often we worked in areas that had been badly fire burned and a lot of threes were scared at the base.

No big deal, I've seen the insides of thousands upon thousands of logs and don't recall seeing one with such a clean, healed over hole.

Ron Wenrich · August 31, 2008, 12:43:13 AM

I'm sawing a batch of red oak right now, and have run across several that look very similar to your cant. The ones I'm running into aren't butt logs, but second cut logs. They are usually filled with some sort of black crud that is probably composted wood.

I don't really know the cause, but any log that has a swell in it will probably be hollow. If its the type of hollow that you have, the rot will not run. An area with punky rot will run.

Bibbyman · August 31, 2008, 04:02:21 AM

Do you think maybe the hole, in the condition it's in, may have been a beehive? And once the bees died out, the entrance hole healed over? I didn't see any evidence of a honeycomb or dead bees, but maybe that would explain why the area didn't rot – the honey would retard the bacteria growth?

Just a wild, uneducated guess. ???

Jeff · August 31, 2008, 08:29:57 AM

Test: My post count is at Posts: 23283 before posting

Jeff · August 31, 2008, 08:30:46 AM

My post count is now Posts: 23284 once I post this it should then be Posts: 23285

thecfarm, things seem fine to me...

thecfarm · August 31, 2008, 08:35:34 AM

Yes,it is.Everything is fine on my end now too. SORRY. I better get to church before something else happens. Thank-You again.

Bibbyman · August 31, 2008, 08:49:15 AM

Quote from: Jeff on August 31, 2008, 08:30:46 AM
My post count is now Posts: 23284 once I post this it should then be Posts: 23285

thecfarm, things seem fine to me...

You guys playing "postoffice". :D

sawmilllawyer · September 01, 2008, 11:34:11 PM

Yes, Bibbyman and looks like they delivered it to the wrong address. Ha Ha.

ladylake · September 03, 2008, 06:03:04 AM

I thought all logs looked like that, the ones I get anyway. Steve

Meadows Miller · September 03, 2008, 09:45:11 AM

Gday Bibby

Id put it down as a freak of nature :D It Beats Me Ive seen some intresting stuff from trees have addapted to there surrounds but usualy there is some evidence left behind. Happy sawing Mate

Reguards Chris McMahon

Dodgy Loner · September 03, 2008, 04:30:09 PM

That's pretty unusual. Not the rot, but the fact that it was so clean inside. I think there's a good chance there was something living in there (bees or otherwise) before the tree healed itself.

mike_van · September 04, 2008, 05:41:08 PM

I like the bee theory, something sure stopped the rest of it from going bad - An artistic person could make something really nice out of that cant -

Bibbyman · September 04, 2008, 05:48:27 PM

Quote from: mike_van on September 04, 2008, 05:41:08 PM
I like the bee theory, something sure stopped the rest of it from going bad - An artistic person could make something really nice out of that cant -

It's about 20' from the Blockbuster so I figures someone will make some artistic heat out of it.