Burr Oak... anyone have any experience??

[RichlandSawyer]

Howdy again folks!!!!  Been away for awhile working on that new mill and she lookin' pretty i'll get somemore pics up soon. But first i have a question for all you seasoned veterans. I've got enough burr oak to build a bridge from here to the english fellars house. is it worth planking or should i heat the shop for the next 106 years?

[Bibbyman]

If I'm not mistaken, burr oak is of the white oak side of the family and should work well for bridges.

Yes, for sure saw the best and better logs.  I wouldn't got nuts over junky ones though.

[Faron]

I bet you could also sell burr oak lowboy trailer floors .

[RichlandSawyer]

Hi Mary !!!! you to Bibbyman,, :D :D,

I have used everytype of oak available in my wood shop but have never had any burr so i dont know how  brittle it is. seems i read or someone told me that burr oak has a problem with splitting while drying and when used in furniture. I cant remember were this bit of wisdom come from so i dont know if its true. I do know that if left dead on the stump that burr will split radial DanG near all the way to the pith.  

[Jeff]

Burr oak is a white oak and we have a few up here. Some have went for veneer. I think I have a story on here some where of how I thoguth a landowner was ripped off on one because of what he got versus what my boss got. I'll see if I can find it.

[Jeff]

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=4110.0

[farmerdoug]

Bur oak grows nice in a crowded woods but if you cut around it and leave it standing it has a nasty habit of sprouting small branches up the whole trunk.  I discovered this as a kid when my dad cut the maples out of an area for firewood.

Farmerdoug

[RichlandSawyer]

Thanks for the link doug very helpful.  and farmerdoug you are correct sir !!! I have logs that look like they have the mumps from  the dirt all the way to the top. there is not one sqaure inch that doesnt have a burl the size of a baseball. Here in central iowa you cant swing a dead cat without hitting a burr oak and i was standing on a ridge today looking at about 2000 trees trying to decide if i wanted to harvest any. I told the guy i'd get back to him. Several weeks ago someone asked me if i woould intersted in some burr oak trunks, they were 12 feet up to the first branch and 6 foot diameter. gonna need to build a swinger for those.

[Larry]

Burr oak has nice fat rays...my favorite to quartersaw as it has outstanding fleck.

[Norm]

Me too Larry. For some reason folks think burr oak is a junk tree, most of it here goes into pallets, the big ones are a hassle to cut but 1/4 sawn burr oak is almost indentical to white oak, both are in the white oak family.

That wisdom you were given on burr oak is not true RS, it makes fine furniture if sawn and dried correctly. All white oaks are tough to dry properly though.

[Daren]

Anyone have any pics of the lumber 1/4 sawn? I have one laying right now 66" + bdh and 14? long. It is a freebie to move, it's only 3 miles, but the hard part is the first few feet onto a trailer. It has been there for 3 months, I have not got to excited about it yet.

[Larry]

Just happen to already have couple of pic's in my gallery.  Not exactly what ya want, probably.

This one was taken to show the relationship between the rays and the fleck figure.  Most of the time the thicker the ray the better the figure but sometimes I get fooled.  Splashed a little mineral spirits on it to show the figure.




I took this one for my web site.  Used photo software to quarter match the wood...somehow I destroyed the original. 




Called the pic's wo in my gallery but they are actually burr oak.  It out sells everything I have except when I get good cherry.

[Daren]

From the looks of the rays ends on the plank end, it does look like with some carefull sawing you could get monster fleck. Jeez, now I gotta go out and have a look at that log again laying out in the middle of a muddy pasture. I have been waiting for a good freeze to even get out with the stuff to move it. It's going to be 50 in Jan. in Illinois today (and I ain't complaining).