Red Oak for Horse Stalls

[firefighter ontheside]

Thanks Rhodemont.

[firefighter ontheside]

I have no experience with water oak.  Is it suitable for the use at hand, horse stalls?  I may have found a bunch of logs.

[Rhodemont]

I am not familiar with water oak since we do not have it here.  But, being in the red oak family i would think it will be fine.

[Magicman]

As long is it is not exposed to the elements (under a shed) it will be OK, same as any other Red Oak.

[firefighter ontheside]

I've found somebody selling 13 big water oak logs that look like they'd make good lumber.  Also found some other sources for oak logs.  Just gotta get the guy to commit and tell me how many and what sizes he wants for lumber.

When sawing by yourself, would you ever leave boards on the can't and keep cutting til the stack became too high.  Seems like it would save me time instead of pulling each board.

[Magicman]

The pith area is very susceptible to bacteria damage on large Water Oaks.

There is no problem with leaving the lumber on the cant as you saw.  That is unless there is stress and you need to flip the cant 180°.  Many times I can outsaw the tailgunner so there could be several at any given time.

[rjwoelk]

When I was reading up on uses of cottonwood lumber more than once I came across people saying it was a preferred wood for horse stalls because horses won't crib (eat) it.

Alan

Dont use cotton wood or spruce or pine or plywood or osb. They will disappear.  We have had up to 20 horses on our place. Treated or untreated posts looks like a beaver was at it. But i have read in one of the timber frame books that they will not chew hemlock.  I need to make a couple of shelters and will be doing them in hemlock. Time will tell. 

[firefighter ontheside]

Ok, my guy wants 70   2x6x8
                           30   2x6x10
                           Plus any 1x6 I can make from side lumber 

He said to lean toward red oak.  I'm thinking to charge $2/bf.  If I can buy logs at about .20/bf based on Doyle scale a 20"x8' log will cost me about $50.  I should get between 12 and 14 2x6 out of that log.  That makes the log worth $224.  You guys think that's a good profit margin?  I have to go load the logs and bring them home.  I feel like maybe it's not.

[woodmills1]

I mix red and white for all of my horse and trailer deck jobs.  I save the nicest white for my barrel maker.  Never will I assume how many pieces I will get from any one log, as there are almost always hidden issues like pockets, ants and ring shake.  I would say get more than you think yo need and go for other customers for the jacket boards.

[woodmills1]

If you can't make money selling oak at 2 bucks and buying it at 20 cents you need to quit.  I don't pay for logs but do have considerable equipment and over head to pick them up.  I charge a buck and a half and oak makes me most of my money.

[firefighter ontheside]

This is new for me.  I'm having difficulty guessing how much time I'll have in it altogether.   Don't want to charge too little or too much.  This guy could be a good returning customer if I can keep getting logs.

[Don P]

Just catching up on this thread. A beekeeper told me that the reason carpenter bees avoid hemlock is that it is bitter, can't say as I've ever tried it and not sure if it pertains to the not cribbing on it comment.

Raw linseed oil, in old barns if you run into a black, gummy, molding, full of dirt and dust mess on the wood, that is raw linseed oil. It doesn't dry and supports mold growth.

 Boiled linseed oil will polymerize, this can be achieved by boiling raw linseed oil or the addition of chemicals, mainly heavy metals that help the oil kick. The latter, more commonly available BLO, wouldn't be good to ingest.

I can't say one way or the other but we decided not to use any glycols with the borate where livestock is involved.

[barbender]

Just my opinion, if your paying .20bf for logs and getting $2bf for lumber, especially on standard length 6" width lumber, you should be cutting a fat hog. You should be able to saw a decent quality log into 2x6 with little waste or side lumber.

[Lawg Dawg]

I think you'll come out just FINE! I'd start SAWING!

[Brad_bb]

I wouldn't quote him a price until you KNOW what you will pay for the logs.  You could end up having to pay .40 or more.   Or quote your price contingent on your log cost.  What I'm saying is, don't shoot yourself in the foot.  On another note, as far as selling for $2/BF...whether that is good or not is dependent on your costs and what you think is proper for a margin for your work.  It is also important to know what others would charge.  If everybody else the area would charge $2.75, you're undercharging by 38%.  

[firefighter ontheside]

Thanks guys for the comments.  I'm picking up some logs next week.  I'm not sure if they're all red or not.  It 11 logs from 12 to 20 feet long and from 8" to 20".  They look very good.  Already down and straight.  I'm giving 175 for these, which I'm sure is less than .20.  I'll see how far they get me and get more if needed.  Told the guy $2/bf and he was fine with that.  Looks like I'll be putting my log A frame to good use next week.

[Magicman]

I'm giving 175 for these, which I'm sure is less than .20.

That sounds like you did not scale the logs.  

[firefighter ontheside]

You're right.....I didn't.  Had to gamble on these.  I'll scale them after I get them and see how I did.  I'll let ya know.

[thecfarm]

@rjwoelk,who wrote that book. :D  My horses did not read it. I even put used motor oil on the hemlock and still had one that would eat it. Not much,but enough to make it look bad. He would start to chew and I would put the oil to it. Only slowed him down a little. YUCK. The only thing he did not try to eat was the treated post.

[barbender]

I don't like guessing by a picture, but those logs look real nice. If there's a thousand there you did well, and even if there was only 500 feet I think you still have plenty of room to profit. Quality oak sawtimber brings $400-$500mbf here.

[firefighter ontheside]

I hope you're right.

[rjwoelk]

Thecfarm. I will check when i get back home next week and see which author mentioned it. He said that the horse barns were the only place he used hemlock. The 3 loads of hemlock i got were clear of shake.

[thecfarm]

Don't matter to me. Just saying my horses chewed on hemlock. No matter what is said,someone always says not so. That was me this time.  ;D 
I just don't want you to build with hemlock,than tell everyone and find out your horses did not read that book either.

[firefighter ontheside]

What would you guys have bet as to how many of those logs would be white?  Anybody bet all would be?  Well they are.  Hope I can convince the guy to use white oak.  Probably not.  I think he feels red is better for the horses.

[firefighter ontheside]

If I had scaled the logs like Lynn asked about, I would have known they were white instead of red.