Sawing live oak

[brdmkr]

I have access to a pretty decent looking live oak log.  It is actually pretty straight for about 8 feet or so.  It is around 36 inches on the small end.  I know this stuff is hard, but would it be worth cutting?  I would like to have different species represented in our home when we build.  Could this be cut thin enough to use for flooring or cabinets without warping when drying?  How would it dry if left in a beam (say 4 x 6 or 6 x 6).  If nothing else, I suppose I could use it for log decks or bunks.

[Radar67]

It should be no harder to saw than hickory. For flooring, you want to quarter saw, not less than 3/4 inch or it will bow and warp. You can always plane it after drying.

[Tom]

I've found Live Oak to be beautiful.  It's heartwood is gray colored and the medullary rays are significant.  It is dense (heavy) and super hard.   Use a very sharp blade, look to change it often and pour the lubricant to it.  It's much  harder to cut than Hickory, though hickory is awful tough.

Cut it at least 5/4 (where you would usually cut 4/4) because you will need the extra room when you work the dried wood in the shop.   Expect some 'waves' or crowning as your blade dulls.  If the waves become excessive, do something right then to stop it (like changing blades) and trim the waves off with the sawmill.  Once dry the wood is death on a planer, even with carbide blades.

I would suggest that you make something out of it that will require minimum machining.  A table top or coffee table would be a good choice.  Paneling in doors would look good but you will have to have the patience of Job when you are building them.

The wood is pretty flat-sawed.  Having a twisting and seemingly interlocking grain allows the flat sawn board to have a lot of figure that you don't see in other Oaks.

Quarter-sawed produces some of the most exciting figure I've ever seen.  Areas around crotches, limbs and twists in the trunk will almost guarantee "Tiger" stripes.

I cut a lot of this for my customers but usually only one time per customer.

Dry it under cover (pole barn).  The sun is death on it and produces a lot of checking.

[brdmkr]

Thanks for the advice.  I'll be sure to sharpen often and pour the water to it.  However, it sounds like I will be sharpening the planer a good bit when the machining gets going. 

[DonE911]

There is thread here somewhere about an old war ship I think its the Constitution (maybe not)that is constructed with 6" Live Oak planking...... cuz canon balls would bounce off of the stuff.  The military keeps a grove of live oak for restoration if I remember correctly.

If I was still in south FL I'd be cutting lots of the stuff....  Live Oaks hundreds of years old are getting dozed so developers can build a cheap house and sell it for five times what its worth.

It's very heavy and will eat up a chainsaw chain in a hurry....  set that lucas right over top of it if it's a big one.... easier than trying to move it.