Red Oak Standing Dead

[BrianS]

I have recently purchased 40 acres in central illinois and the land is loaded with Black or Red Oak.  I have a number of fallen trees and standing dead on the property that I have been collecting.  I want to hire someone to mill this into lumber and slabs but how long can I wait before the wood isn't worth saving.  Some of this has been laying for many years.  Any advice, the sizes range from 12 inch to 40 inches.  Thanks for any insight into how to proceed.

[barbender]

The bigger the diameter, the more likely you will be able to salvage some lumber. The dead standing ones should be in better shape than the ones that were laying on the ground. I once brought a load of red oak that had stood dead for 4-5 years home for firewood, I ended up milling a fair bit of it and it is now flooring in our house 👍

[Brad_bb]

I mean, you should be able to take an axe and a knife to it to see how it looks.  If it's punky, don't waste your time with it.  If it's good solid wood, well there you go.  The outside sapwood of the log may be punky, but how is the heartwood?  I hope you're cutting any rotten ends off with a chainsaw until you get to good wood?  You must have some white oak in there, no?  White oak will stay good the longest.

[kelLOGg]

I milled a water oak that had been on the ground 2 years. The sap wood was very nicely spalted. I don't recall any unusual amount of waste. It made very nice benches for indoor use.

[47sawdust]

The jacket boards might be punky but the rest will be sound (down trees).The standing dead should be good alway through.

I have found this to be true with red oak I sawed 3 years ago and hemlock that I am sawing now that has been down for 5 years.The hemlock does not seem to have degraded much at all except for the outer 2''and the end 3''.

[Ron Wenrich]

We had mountains of it when the gypsy moth came through back in the '70s.  If the trees get shoestring rot under the bark, the bark will pop off and the wood should be okay.  But, the sapwood will have blue stain and that will make it a shade of gray.  If the bark stays on, usually the sapwood gets punky and rots.  Sometimes it also will give a streak of rot in the heartwood.  You also might have some borers that will put some holes in the wood.  Depending on usage, it might not hurt it too much.  I also noticed that the sapwood boards may be a bit brashy.  

The ones on the ground will be more prone to rot, unless they are blowdown with the root ball still in tact.  The bigger ones might have some good wood in the heart.

[moodnacreek]

The bigger, rounder straighter, standing the better. Take a good sharp chain saw and cut a slab off [a sawmill slab not a misnamed plank.] do this to several and see.

[Magicman]

I have sawn some mighty dead and rotten Oak logs and recovered good lumber.
 

 

 

Be careful felling standing dead trees.  Widow makers will make yours one.    :-\

[Southside]

I have sawn a few large red oak logs that have been down for the better part of a decade, the sapwood is gone, but the heartwood is absolutely gorgeous.  I have found that the color will be richer than fresh cut oak and very much resembles the reclaimed lumber that is so hot these days. 

[moodnacreek]

M.M. sawing a log like the one you show in an indoor sawmill makes an awful mess and all those heavy rotten slabs don't make firewood.  And if anyone sees me doing this they bring more dead wood. I suppose sawing out doors on customers property is different.     Also we have so much red oak around it makes me fussy. You must be a patient man.

[Magicman]

I was sawing that customer's log under the customer's shed.  I didn't realize that I had patience, my job is to saw.  ;D

[BrianS]

I really appreciate the help and advice from everyone, great insight.  If I could ask one more question, what would be the smallest diameter logs you would saw?

Really grateful for the comments. 

[tacks Y]

I had some standing red oak cut and it was wormy. I used it for cabinets worm holes and all.

[Magicman]

A 6" top end log should make 4" lumber with little or no wane.

[Ron Wenrich]

Depends on usage.  You can go down to a 6" small end diameter, but the lumber will probably come out knotty.  When I was sawing for grade, the small inside material was sent out for pallets.  In hardwoods, grade lumber is dependent on the amount of clear face material.  I always wanted at least a 10" log, preferably larger.  

If you're using it for construction material, then you might want to go smaller material.  If you know your cut list, then its easier to know what size of log.  Small logs take a lot of time to make into lumber, compared to a larger log.  At some point, you're investing too much time for too little output.  I sawed black locust at 6" into 4x4 posts.  You'll have to be aware of bad heart checks in the center of dead oak, especially the ones on the ground.

From a timber scaling aspect, we marked 12" diameter trees as a sawtimber tree.  That would be at a point 4½' above the ground.  Anything smaller was considered pulp or firewood.  From a log scaling aspect, you'll want to measure just the heartwood in a dead tree.  

[burtle]

Welcome,

I sent you a message.

[Peter Drouin]

The way I look at it if you're looking for a board or two to make a bench or something small and the color thing ok. 

Most times if you start with a rotten log you'll have rotten lumber.

[terrifictimbersllc]

I charge hourly and saw whatever the customer puts on the mill.  Not that I wouldn't make a comment where needed. 

Once a customer's friend backed up his SUV to the mill with some small cedars in it.  some were probably 2" at the small end. "What do you want me to do with these?"  "Just make one cut give me a flat side".  The customer put a stop to that after one or two of them.