Douglas Fir Tops

[Firebass]

I recently got the pleasure to cut a large diameter Douglas fir.  The bottom of the tree was 36"and it is nearly 100' tall and totally dead.  I'm getting near the top of the tree where most the limbs are and they are fairly numerous.  My question is how to get the best yeild and what is the best lumber to cut from such a log.  The piece I'm talking about in particular is 16' x 22" diameter at the small end.
I hate to just make firewood out of it.
If you hang on a few I'll go take a photo.  We've got some fairly good thunder and lightning happening now. So I'm dodg'n the rain.

Firebass

[Firebass]

 

[logwalker]

If it was mine, and I do have a few like it, I would make a skookum post. Say about a 14"x14" and start it drying in the shade. After you get the jacket slabs off you will see better what you have. Later you may cut it again after you find a specific use for it. Joe

[Brucer]

95% of my work is for a timber framer, and he uses D-Fir almost exclusively. When I get a top like that, I do what logwalker suggests and make a square timber out of it.

You can usually get away with larger knots in a post (vertical member) than in a beam (horizontal member). When possible, I try to get the biggest knots in the center of a face.