40' red oak trunk worth any $ to loggers

[sachsmo]

That is a prime candidate for a chainsaw mill.

Some nice straight planks in that log, and it gives you an excuse to get a really big saw.

Careful though, once you catch the bug the way you start looking at trees changes dramatically.




Trees, there not just for firewood anymore.

 

[tex]

Wedges are your friends. If you don't have any, buy a few. On something like that, I wedge every cut. A pinched bar in a log that size could eat up an afternoon getting out.

 

[flashhole]

+1 on the wedges. If you buy them, use them. No reason to have a pinched bar if you have a couple 3 wedges.

 

[TJ-Bill]

I get my wood dropped in the yard. And every year I find myself cutting into a piece of wood think " Man this is a nice log, seems like a waste!"

 

[Preston]

One thing a log like that can be use for is roof shingles. Yep, folks still cut and split red oak for shingles. It's works but it makes a fantastic roof. And the folks that used those had nothing under the shingles but the lathing. They work great. If you willing to do the work and split um up, bundle it up and sell red oak shakes.

 

[REJ2]

Ive seen plenty of cedar shakes but never even heard of red oak shakes, huh, i learn sumtin everyday.

 

[Preston]

Here in the South that's what the greatest majority was made from. Many more oaks that cedar.

 

[sachsmo]

It's already flipped the rootball with it when if fell. Here is a video of it. On the side of the video it has a branch about 3/4 the way up holding some tension and then has a large crotch where the brances started that are on the far fenceline. I put a large round under the crotch area and also under the area a few feet back from the crotch. I'm going to cut between them, then cut off the rootball a few feet up from it. I'm hoping that if the rootball falls it will be back where it came from. Weight of the tree should prevent it from falling forward into the trunk, worse case scenario might pinch the bar. There's also a round under the trunk about 10' up from the rootball to keep the trunk off the ground for bucking and not getting into the dirt and rocks.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/522tLwCoZq4?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Did I mention that there's a leaning cherry tree and another dead oak or two he told me I could cut since he has enough firewood for years and there's more down he could care less if I take.:msp_w00t::chainsawguy:

Man that thing is sitting so pretty.

Wish you were closer, I would bring my rig over and slab that dude up (for half the planks)

 

[Naked Arborist]

Ive seen plenty of cedar shakes but never even heard of red oak shakes, huh, i learn sumtin everyday.

+1 on that.

 

[BigDaddyR]

One thing a log like that can be use for is roof shingles. Yep, folks still cut and split red oak for shingles. It's works but it makes a fantastic roof. And the folks that used those had nothing under the shingles but the lathing. They work great. If you willing to do the work and split um up, bundle it up and sell red oak shakes.

Question is how much can they be sold for and how many per bundle etc. I like the idea and can't help but to think there has to be a better purpose for wood this nice.

If I had a friend with a portable mill I'd use it to make the wood flooring the wife wants for the kitchen, dining room and downstairs hallway. Floor is concrete though so looks like it will be manufactured flooring as it will be easier to lay and no plywood required.

It's one of those things, not a ton of time so if the $$'s there I could figure it out but if not then bucked into rounds, quartered with the saw and split for firewood. I figure about 4 cords of prime red oak there waiting to be seasoned for next fall.

 

[BigDaddyR]

Man that thing is sitting so pretty.

Wish you were closer, I would bring my rig over and slab that dude up (for half the planks)

I would love to have the planks. I could do my living room with them and the wife would be ecstatic.

 

[flashhole]

If it's 40 feet long that tree would have to be just over 48" diameter the entire length to get 4 cords of wood from it. 3' diameter will yield 2.2 cords.

 

[tld400]

That mama jamma barley has a taper to it. You could cut some big rough beams for decoration in high ceiling houses

 

[BigDaddyR]

If it's 40 feet long that tree would have to be just over 48" diameter the entire length to get 4 cords of wood from it. 3' diameter will yield 2.2 cords.

I was using 48" as a guestimate. Having done some reading now though I'm thinking closer to 7.5 cords. 40&bull;4&bull;4=640

640/85= 7.53 cords

I would divide by 85 not 128 because a stacked cord has airspace even stacked tightly. Found the numbers 80 to 85 to divide by in an old thread here. Kind of makes sense.

Any input or corrections to thought processes here are appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone using My Fingers

 

[Steve NW WI]

Pi "R" your friend. 3.14*4*40/85=5.9 cords.

Edit for clarity: the 4 given above, is actually 2 squared, which just happens to be 4.

 

[haveawoody]

If it was 10 trees it might be worth the equiptment rental to get them to the mill.
1 tree unless it made of gold nuggets it's firewood.

 

[flashhole]

I was using 48" as a guestimate. Having done some reading now though I'm thinking closer to 7.5 cords. 40&bull;4&bull;4=640

640/85= 7.53 cords

I would divide by 85 not 128 because a stacked cord has airspace even stacked tightly. Found the numbers 80 to 85 to divide by in an old thread here. Kind of makes sense.

Good luck with the harvest. Pi r[SUP]2[/SUP] l is the formula for the volume of a cylinder. r and l need to be in the same units (feet). No way you can divide by 80-85 and expect to be near accurate. Folks tend to over estimate the amount of wood in a tree. Once it's cut and stacked the actual yield is a real eye opener to most.

 

[Preston]

Can someone tell me what the 85 is, or where does it come from?

 

[BigDaddyR]

Pi "R" your friend. 3.14*4*40/85=5.9 cords.

Edit for clarity: the 4 given above, is actually 2 squared, which just happens to be 4.

Okay, I didn't understand but now I do. I thought it was just length times width time height. I found this for a search to see what you were doing here.

How to Calculate the Cubic Feet of a Log | eHow.com

I stand corrected. Thanks for showing that, made me search further. 5.9 cords is still better than 4 LOL.

 

[BigDaddyR]

Good luck with the harvest. Pi r[SUP]2[/SUP] l is the formula for the volume of a cylinder. r and l need to be in the same units (feet). No way you can divide by 80-85 and expect to be near accurate. Folks tend to over estimate the amount of wood in a tree. Once it's cut and stacked the actual yield is a real eye opener to most.

Good info, just found it before I read your post. What would you divide by then an why? Yust trying to be somewhat accurate and appreciate the input.

Can someone tell me what the 85 is, or where does it come from?

85% is a number I found here and a few other places. It means that if you take a cord of stacked wood some folks are saying that there is only about 80-85% solid wood in the cord due to air space from stacking etc. So you take your final number for cubic feet in the cylinder/tree and divide it by 85 to see how many approximate cords of wood are there. This would mean there is approximately 10-15% airspace which kind of makes sense.

This doesn't take saw kerf or any other kind of waste that does not get added to the final stack into consideration. I'm just looking to be able to estimate that this looks like to be able to figure in the woods how much wood I'm cutting and how much space it will take up at home or storing somewhere else until used or sold.