Quartering a Big Southern Red Oak Log

isawlogs · January 26, 2012, 08:31:39 AM

SD, here the HP for no tax is 60HP on the tractors .

That is a nice pile of oak Danny even if there was some rot, there will be some nice projects coming out of that pile soon enough !

WDH · March 21, 2012, 09:54:14 PM

Well, to add to this thread, unfortunately, I had another nice Southern Red Oak that succumbed to the drought. My wife noticed that it was not budding out with the rest of the trees this Spring. I was able to get it cut before a lot of degrade had set in. This tree was in the woods a little bit below my house, about 150 yards away. I hated to see it go as it turned out to be right at 100 years old. I had to Bibby the butt to get it to fit the LT15.

Cut some really nice 4/4 boards. These are 15" wide.

I had a guy call about a 4" thick 12" wide piece of cypress for a mantel, but I don't have any cypress. I decided to cut some thick stock out of this tree for potential future mantel stock. The widest here is 16", the narrowest is 12.5" wide. The beam on the left is perfectly clear. Cutting them challenged my manual hydraulics

.

All in all, this was a grand old tree, and I am glad to have reincarnated it before the bugs got it. There is a nice big hole in the canopy now, so there is room now for a new little oak. That is the way of things. Like they said in the Lion King, it is all one big circle.

Nomad · March 21, 2012, 10:08:47 PM

Nice looking wood! And as you said; it's all a circle.

Magicman · March 21, 2012, 10:56:51 PM

Very nice lumber. How many logs will you get out of that stem? Looking at the bark, Southern (falcata) and Cherrybark (pagoda) Oak must be very closely related.

WDH · March 22, 2012, 12:08:01 AM

Actually, when I learned trees decades ago, cherrybark oak was a variety of southern red oak, and the name was Quercus falcata variety pagodafolia.

The leaves are very similar, both bicolor with a deep green on top and a tawny brown on the bottom. However, the leaf bases are different. Southern red has a bell shaped rounded base, but cherrybark has an unrounded, acute base.

Since my time in school, the splitter botanists have decided to divide them into two separate species. Even so, they are kissing cousins. Cherrybark oak is our best red oak in the Southern Coastal Plain. The heartwood is a deep red/pink color, very similar to Northern Red Oak, the king of the red oaks.

SwampDonkey · March 22, 2012, 05:17:21 AM

Marcel my memory might be a little foggy, could be 60 HP here to. We usually do what Quebec does in such matters.

Yes, that's nice lumber there Danny boy. ;D

customsawyer · March 22, 2012, 05:40:02 AM

That is a nice looking log. How did your log deck hold up to that one?

thecfarm · March 22, 2012, 08:00:20 AM

Looks good. I take it that southern Red Oak don't mind coming in contact with metal? Here in Maine the Red oak will stain with contact to metal. Sorry to hear of the tree but you will find a good use for it.

WDH · March 22, 2012, 08:19:07 AM

Ray,

If you look at the last pic of the mantle beams, you will see the metal stains from the sawmill bed on the two right-most pieces. It will stain just from sitting on the forks of the tractor.

I got four 8' logs, but the last two have some big knots/limbs. I will just cut it 6/4 or 8/4 for people that need a trailer floor board.

My log deck groaned and complained, but it held up well. I thought that you were supposed to cut smaller logs with the manual mill? I will need to go back and re-read the owner's manual to see what i am doing wrong

.

Jemclimber · March 22, 2012, 08:31:40 AM

Very nice pictures.

isawlogs · March 22, 2012, 08:51:38 AM

Thanks for sharring Danny, losing such a nice tree is a shame, worst would of been to let it rot there. Resurrection of trees too planks/boards and or mantels is by far the better way to go. ( I know the bugs need to eat, they can munch on the weed trees if they want to survive)

I will know from the pics to never mess with those manual hydraulics that you mention ;D :D

Magicman · March 22, 2012, 09:02:58 AM

Quote from: isawlogs on March 22, 2012, 08:51:38 AM
I will know from the pics to never mess with those manual hydraulics that you mention ;D :D

Ya better not ever mess with the owners. They got big arms.

WDH · March 22, 2012, 09:38:25 PM

I switch arms when cranking up the head to keep them both the same size :D.

My LT15 was made in 2001, so it takes 6 turns to move move the head 1". The new versions do it with one :-\. At least I get more exercise

.

customsawyer · March 22, 2012, 09:58:10 PM

Danny you are just warming up.

thecfarm · March 22, 2012, 10:34:37 PM

So it does act the same way with metal.

WDH · March 22, 2012, 11:05:25 PM

Oh yes.

cutterboy · March 23, 2012, 06:47:24 PM

Wow WDH, 15 inch oak boards. And nice ones at that. The LT15 must have been huffing and puffing and you must have eased the blade through slowly. Anyway, nice job. And remember, all trees want to be turned into lumber when they mature, so don't feel bad about cutting it down.

WDH · March 23, 2012, 09:29:30 PM

Cutter,

Yeah, you have to go slow with those big logs. Those wide cuts really challenge the 15 HP. If I got another LT15, I would surely go for the 25 HP engine. To me, that would be the perfect manual mill. Still, the mill did its job.

The really big logs are a lot more work than the middling size logs. This log had almost not sapwood, and the lumber was a nice dark pink. Southern red oak is like that. That 8' log yielded 150 BF. The next 8' log yielded 132 BF.

Water oak usually has more of a tan/brown heartwood. I cut a water oak log today that was mineral streaked. Really pretty figure, in fact. Some green, red, brown, and black. The boards will look really nice when they are dried.

paul case · March 23, 2012, 09:38:24 PM

Quote from: nomad on March 21, 2012, 10:08:47 PM
Nice looking wood! And as you said; it's all a circle.

Whats up with that? Danny's getting a circle mill? ;D

Good save. Nice Logs. Awesome lumber. Pat yourself on the back from me if yoiu can still stretch to reach it.

PC

Woodchuck53 · March 23, 2012, 09:42:49 PM

Nice job guys. I'm afraid I have one that is not budding out this year. I also lost a 16" pine in the front yard. So goes the circle of life. I have replanted at least 10 to 1 all my life to replace the stock. Fine Red Oak mantles.

WDH · March 23, 2012, 09:57:13 PM

Hopefully, the mantles will not crack and split too bad. I stickered them with a layer under them and a layer over them to slow down the drying. I used to just stand them up on the side of the barn under the shed, but that was a bad plan.

Too much air and too fast of drying = split and cracked oak beams.

Paul, I could not reach my back to pat it for some reason. I am a little dinged up

.

customsawyer · March 23, 2012, 10:05:45 PM

Great work and great lumber.

paul case · March 24, 2012, 10:05:23 AM

Quote from: WDH on March 23, 2012, 09:57:13 PM

Paul, I could not reach my back to pat it for some reason. I am a little dinged up .

Thats the same trouble I had before I got HYDRAULICS ! PC

Magicman · March 24, 2012, 09:31:21 PM

No pictures, but I sawed a very straight 30" Cherrybark Oak today. That stuff is so pretty it will almost make you cry. :'(

paul case · March 24, 2012, 10:46:13 PM

Na.
Offloading Danny's mantels or full 2''x 12''-16' like I have been cutting all day will almost make you cry, especially if you try to lift your arm above your head the next day. PC