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Live oak

Started by customsawyer, January 08, 2011, 05:38:20 PM

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customsawyer

I had a great day. A friend had asked about some live oak lumber several months ago and it took me a while to find the right logs and get everything lined up. The short end of the story is he came by today and we cut the live oak up. I had been worried about all the stories I had heard about how hard it is to cut. I might have been real lucky but it all cut up just like a dream there was no wavy cuts or stress in the logs. He did have a question about powder post beetles getting in the live oak and all I could tell him was I didn't know but I had some place I could ask. Is the beetles a problem with live oak?
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

Mooseherder

I haven't heard that down in South Florida,
The Live Oaks are fine here.  We did have Powder Post Beetles in the Pine though.
The beetles got the Pines that were Storm damaged and weakened and the rest are thriving. :)
The biggest story here is White Fly eating Ficus Hedge.
Ours have come back after we trimmed but then the freeze we had gave them some brown tops.
We'll see how this pans out.

ForestMan

What is live oak good for?  I hear it is very hard to dry because it warps.  Can it be used for anything?  Just asking because we have tons of it here.

Thanks.
There is nothing like the natural beauty of wood.

Tom

 It's hard on shop tools, but makes pretty table tops.

I sawed it mostly for low-boy decks that were used for steel tracked vehicles.  Sawed it in 2 1/2 to 3 inch thick planks of varying widths.  It was drilled and attached green.

woodbowl

Trailer beds. The sap will rot, but the heart is going to be there for a long time. Last week I cut some on halves. I cut mine into 3" live edge slabs. They will be no maintenance benches around our yard.
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

carykong

LIve Oak was used for ship building in the 19th and 18th century. Live Oak is strong and water resistant. In fact the federal government controlled thousands of acres of live oak in the south coastal states like SC before the civil war. Holding LIve Oak in reserve for military naval ships was considered a strategic necessity in the day.  The natural curve and stress built into the live oak branches was adapted for the actual ribs of the wooden frigates. The stress was not sawed out of the log but the curve of the branch was adapted to the curve of the hull.

Just a wild guess on my part. But live oak may have a market for anyone into old boat building methods.

customsawyer

So are are we saying that the beetles are not a problem with live oak? ???
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

carykong

Cannot attest to powder post beetle attraction to live oak wood.  I can tell you that powder post beetles have attacked some of my white oak cants while air drying.  I think you can avoid a lot of the powder post beetle problems by keeping your wood dry and out of moist conditions.  I failed to do that and gave the beetles a chance.  I have used "Timbor" which is a boron salt that can be mixed with water and sprayed on the wood to kill beetles. There are other brands that use the boron salt chemical to prevent and kill existing beetles in your wood.

Tom

Jake,

I've not seen a wood that powderpost beetles or termites won't attack.  That includes Southern Red Cedar.  There are some hunks of wood that will survive right in the middle of a stack that is eaten up with insects.  That is always the anomoly that folks refer to when they say "I had some that my Great Granddaddy cut and it's still good".

I had a curved Live Oak log that I used for a bench at the fire pit that lasted over ten years, but it finally succumbed to rot.  Yeah, I know, the heartwood isn't supposed to rot.  This was out in the open, rained on, walked on, etc.  It amazed me that it lasted as long as it did

The problem with powderpost beetle is that the wood is already infested with it when it is put into a house.  The damage goes on inside and the holes are the exit holes.  It's been my experience that it is the sap wood that is damaged first. But it's re-infestation that keeps it going until nothing is left but a shell.  That is why heat treatment is needed to assure that no insects, eggs or larvae survive the drying process, though they could get into it later from another point of infestation.

Generally speaking I'd say that your friend should not have much of a threat if he treats the wood with borax and dries it in a covered shed away from known infestations.  By heat treating it such that the core of the lumber exceeds 130°, he would further be assured of insect-free lumber.

I've seen a lot of it air-dried and put into furniture with no problems, but you can't guarantee it, regardless of the species.  :)


WDH

I too would spray it with a borate salt.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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