Oak logs looked good, but

[sawwood]

 My tree service guy gave me some big Oak logs that looked
 good, but when we cut them they had lots of knots . We
 tryed to cut them so the knots would be on the outside edge
 but didn't make it. Now i have dryed White Oak that has lots
 of knots and most of the lumber i would say is #3 in grade.
 Do most of the logs that come from the city have this trouble
 and how would one know befor cutting you would have low
 grade lumber? I now have about $500 in 1000BF of Oak that
 i may not be able to sell. The wife is not to happy so need
 some advice on how i might avoid this next time. Any one
 need some #3 White Oak? Will sell real low.

 Sawwood

[ohsoloco]

The only time I ran into something like this was with pin oak, which is a red.  The butt log looked really nice, and at 26" in diameter, I thought I'd get a lot of nice lumber out of it...wrong.  Fortunately, I was also cutting pallet cants, so I just cut the whole log into 5.5x6's.  I don't run into this problem with white oak too often, grade drop is pretty predictable.  

That's too bad you put that much money into low grade lumber.  White oak is good outdoors...maybe you could build something decorative for around the house for the wife so you don't hear about this incident every time you want to get lumber milled  ;)

[Ron Wenrich]

I wonder why you bothered to dry it if it was so full of knots.  You should have been able to see them before spending time and money to dry low grade.  Part of the learning curve.

Yard trees usually don't prune as well as woods grown trees.  They won't normally give as much yield in the upper grades.  

You may also be getting something other than your normal white oak.  There is also a swamp white oak, bur oak, overcup oak, post oak and chinkapin oak.  These all may look similar to white oak bark.  Their sawing characteristics might be different.  I've never sawed any.

We get into pin oak as well.  Cuts poor quality material.  The lumber is often brownish in color, but it is sold as a red oak.  

[Bro. Noble]

Our experience with chinkipin is about like pin oak-------looks good on the outside but run into degrade real fast.  Post oak is almost as bad.  If I were buying logs,  I'd want to be able to identify these for sure.  The black oaks in our area would also give you problems unless you checked the cut ends of the logs well.  Due to oak wilt and borers,  a good looking butt log might be full of holes and stain,  but it will show up on the cut ends.

[HORSELOGGER]

Sawwood,  I looked up your profile, and see you are in a fairly populated area. If it was me,.... I would find a moulding shop in the area that will do custom work, and have the oak run into flooring. If it really is all 3 com, you will lose about 50% in the process, but run an ad for it at 2.75 or so, and come out with your money, and maybe keep momma happy ;D Its alot easier to move flooring than low grade lumber.

[ohsoloco]

Heck, call it RUSTIC flooring and charge 3.50  :D

[beenthere]

Sawwood
Look closely at the bark characteristics on your logs before you saw, as the bark will indicate where and how old the over-grown knots (limbs) are, after you get some experience. I used to know people who could predict the depth below the surface that the clear wood grown over the knot would go, but there was a learning curve based on experience. Size of the indicator on the bark surface also will help what you might use to speculate on the interior quality. Rot doesn't have an effect on the bark, so the bark doesn't provide the clues that overgrown knots provide. Rot can be predicted if open knot holes protrude to the surface.
Some oaks may "clean up" faster than others, but likely still have a bark pattern that cannot change much with age. The scar still shows a bit.

[sawwood]

 The logs looked ok, no rot so will have to learn to read the
 bark and may be in time will git a handle on what lies under
 it. I think i will sort the lumber and pick the best and try to
 sell to flooring co and the rest i will cut into smaller pices
 to sell for craft wood.There are a lot of craft people in town
 so may be able to sell all of it and not loose to much. I may
 also take some of the small one and make segmented bowls
 to sell. I have had this happen befor with oak so i may just
 stay with walnut, no trouble with it.

  ??? ??? :P >:(

 Sawwood :-/

[woodmills1]

This probably wont help you now, but sound red/white oak is used for trailer decking and truck body sides up here.  As long as the stuff is not rotted or cracked I get between 80 cents and a dollar twenty five for it.  By the way I am lucky if I can get any oak delivered for  $500/1000.

[Jason_WI]

It will take experience to read a log to tell what's under the bark. Usually a bump on the face of the log is the sign of a knot. Sometimes there's no bump but there is a pattern in the bark that can lead to the defect below.  Sometimes once the log is opened up patterns in the grain can lead to defects on the next cut or two.

You learn real fast when you buy logs and hand the logger a check.....

Cabinet makers can use short narrow pieces for rail and stile parts on raised panel doors. You would need to find someone that uses white oak in cabinets. Flooring is another good idea. Rustic planter boxes is another possibility.


Jason