The Forestry Forum

I have never sawed limbs into lumber and don't plan on it. But I have a customer who has a large oak tree that he wants me to come saw.  he has two pretty large limbs (24in diam) that fork out of the main section of the tree.  I told him about the problems with limb wood.  He wants to take the lumber from the limbs straight from the mill and use it as barn siding and in his words "nail the sh*t out of it."  Would anyone have any thoughts on this working for siding if he does this method after I saw it?

Saw hourly rate with a minimum charge and guarantee nothing.

Maybe that word will describe his boards. 

I do exactly like MM describes on all my jobs and it's in the sawing agreement .

I'd probably say let's see how they do when  I saw them. 

And I'd probably ask him if he knows  that red oak has little rot resistance, the ends of the boards near the ground might rot if they can't dry out quickly.

And if I were cutting them wide like 12" I'd probably also ask if he knows he probably ought to nail them maybe twice in in the middle and keep the ends down with battens rather than nailing them like he describes.

If the limbs grew almost vertical, he might be OK.  Sometimes oak will split into two main limbs (trunks?) that grow almost straight.