Red Oak, White Oak

[Yellowbeard]

Cut down a white oak today that I intend to mill. Also there's a big red oak on the same property, though it's been sitting out in a field for a while, so I am not sure what kind of shape it will be in.

Undershot my back cut just a tad, but the tree ended up going where I wanted (and, importantly, not on top of me).

White Oak - This one is 15-20 feet long - never milled anything that long before. Probably 28 inches in diameter.


Red Oak - there's some rot in there, but I am going to cut it open and see what's inside anyway. It's 11 feet long and 36 inches or so.

 

[Yellowbeard]

The guy who got me into milling is timber framing a house and needed a couple of 10X7s for roof beams. I told him I had what he needed so he drove down from Lawrence and we did some milling yesterday. Haven't ever made beams before. It was pretty great. He's used to working with semi-dried fir at this point. I think he was pretty surprised at how heavy oak is.



He runs a 460. I think he was pretty impressed with my little 084.

 

[rarefish383]

Nice, yeah, they really are heavy, Joe.

 

[Mike Van]

Some years back I made a bunch of 16' oak 3x12's for a trailer deck. Guy hauled a D7 on it. I never did lift one, you just slide each end 'till you can get it with a machine.

 

[Timberframed]

Just thinking. Oak might be the only species that comes in red white and blue native to the USA. Maybe Gum?

 

[Mike Van]

The only blue oak I ever saw was because of metal stain -

 

[square1]

Oak might be the only species that comes in red white and blue native to the USA. Maybe Gum?

Ash

 

[Timberframed]

I stand corrected. Green Ash Red Ash I'll take any ash I can get. My stock of White has been depleted.

 

[Jim Timber]

Nice looking wood Yellowbeard.

 

[BigOakAdot]

Is he using those beams as is or does he have them dry for a certain amount of time? That's gonna be fun framing that stuff up green. Hope he has a burly helper lol.

 

[Mike Van]

Timberframing is done green, built upon the necessity of early builders & settlers to make shelter or perish. The beams are worked with hand tools, and much easier to work green than dry. Held together with wood pegs [most preferred black locust] All the drying & shrinking is done after the frame is closed in. Some of ours would crack & pop like an elephant fell on the roof. Scare the crap out of you sometimes. They are heavy for sure. Old pics of barn & house raisings show scores of men raising huge sections called 'bents' that were built flat on the deck, then pulled up into place. Hard work back then.

 

[hautions11]

Great looking wood for sure. I like the 084 sitting on the tree. I am going to miss mine, I packed it up today shipping to Quietfly today. I'm sure he will be posting some pictures pretty soon.

 

[SawmillMan]

Nice, yeah, they really are heavy, Joe.

TIP: I move big beams about on 2" PVC pipes when equipment is not available. Various lengths. Works great with logs as well.

 

[SawmillMan]

Is he using those beams as is or does he have them dry for a certain amount of time? That's gonna be fun framing that stuff up green. Hope he has a burly helper lol.

Make a gin pole with block and tackle affixed stop and a pulley at the bottom. Easy to move and very effective.

 

[Yellowbeard]

TIP: I move big beams about on 2" PVC pipes when equipment is not available. Various lengths. Works great with logs as well.

That's really smart. I'm going to use that.

 

[SawmillMan]

PVC can hold a great amount of weight, but it is not much when it comes to impact. Be careful.

 

[stltreedr]

I had the guy down the street mill a white oak into 2 planks (approx. 5X12X16ft long) that we were going to put across a creek for ATV's and tractors to cross... I showed up to pick them up, and assumed he would load with his forklift, but it was broken down. Me and this 70+ year old man wrestled these damn things onto the trailer, I thought my guts were going to explode... but he didn't act like it was any big deal at all!

 

[SawmillMan]

I had the guy down the street mill a white oak into 2 planks (approx. 5X12X16ft long) that we were going to put across a creek for ATV's and tractors to cross... I showed up to pick them up, and assumed he would load with his forklift, but it was broken down. Me and this 70+ year old man wrestled these damn things onto the trailer, I thought my guts were going to explode... but he didn't act like it was any big deal at all!

You can roll these onto a trailer with PVC pipes up a ramp. Works very well.

 

[SawmillMan]

Cut down a white oak today that I intend to mill. Also there's a big red oak on the same property, though it's been sitting out in a field for a while, so I am not sure what kind of shape it will be in.

Undershot my back cut just a tad, but the tree ended up going where I wanted (and, importantly, not on top of me).

White Oak - This one is 15-20 feet long - never milled anything that long before. Probably 28 inches in diameter.
View attachment 463390 View attachment 463391 View attachment 463393

Red Oak - there's some rot in there, but I am going to cut it open and see what's inside anyway. It's 11 feet long and 36 inches or so.

View attachment 463395 View attachment 463397 View attachment 463399

Nice use of wedges. You can pinpoint the felling location using a couple of these. A friend of mine logs solo and he always uses wedges to ensure his safety and optimum placement.