Large Oak

[Backwoods]

The wind blew. A limb fell. I got a call.
This first tree is 60" at chest high, and has a 50' straight section which tapers down to about 36". Age estimate of 350 yrs. Over the last 10 years, it has started a steady lean towards the 150-year-old farm house. I called in back up for this one. An old faller friend has one of those rail saws that you see here. He will bust them into quarters. To close to the house to pop it apart with powder.

This much smaller trees roots tipped up and it leaned into the next tree. Both are coming down in the morning when the tree service arrives. I will be there with the mill.

 

[dustytools]

SWEET!! Dont forget the camera.

 

[Trigger-Time]

What kind of Oak is that?

 

[Backwoods]

California black oak (Quercus Kelloggii) It is in the red Oak group of species.
Out here we just call it black oak.

I broke my camera this last week, But my youngest boy loaned me his "as long as I take real good care of it"

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:

 

[Backwoods]

The tree is down. The firewood bucked and moved. The logs have been bucked to length, Limbs and knots trimmed, the over sized logs have been quartered, the ends sealed, and the logs decked. The boys camera glitched and I lost all of the pictures of the tree coming down and the rest are not very good.

End of log sealed

Half log

84 with a 42" bar
Left the 90 at home

15' log split in half.

When the tree started coming down the owner got sentimental and decided to leave a 30’ stump in hopes that the tree will bush out. So the largest log we got was 15’ long, 42” on the small end 48” on the large end. We found one insulator, and 2 rotten limbs that went about 4’ and 6’ deep. We also got two 8’ logs that needed quartered. And seven others that are between 8’ and 12’. I will get away with only setting the mill up in three locations to get all of the logs milled.

I will keep you up to date.
In the mean time opcorn:

 

[woodshop]

Looks like you will have some premium lumber from that one, and a LOT of it. Large enough that it will be easy to get some quartersawn without a whole lot of work. Nice haul. We have black oak out this way but it isn't nearly as plentiful as other red oak family species like northern red oak, pin oak and scarlet oak, which make up most of the red oaks out here.

 

[Backwoods]

This is one of those jobs where an edger and a mini excavator would come in handy. All we have on site fore this Oak is a 20 hp Kubota tractor. It is good for moving the small stuff, but can’t even budge the larger logs.

 

[woodshop]

... All we have on site fore this Oak is a 20 hp Kubota tractor. It is good for moving the small stuff, but can’t even budge the larger logs.

...like sending a boy to do a man's job...

 

[big daddio]

what a tree..........glad to see it going to good use. know it's a lot of effort but looks like you'll be well rewarded. let us know how much footage you get.

 

[Backwoods]

Now we are making progress. I am getting a lot of high quality true quarter-sawn 5/4 lumber. 14’ long 12”-16” wide that are clear or with only one knot that can be cut out. I am not seeing much figure, but the percentage of quarter-sawn lumber is high.
I will be working on more logs tomorrow.


Lumber from first 2 logs

Half of a 14' log 40"-45" tall

Other side of same log. The saw line is 1" below max hight of the head.

Stack of 14" wide true quartersawn 5/4

Sprlitting the other half of the same log

 

[Backwoods]

This is the lumber from one log. The camera cut off the forth stack.
The stack on the right is 14" and 16" wide with a few 10" wide on top. The next stack is 10/4 flat sawn that is 8"-10" wide, it is the only wood out of the log that would not make quarter-sawn.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

 

[Backwoods]

Looks like my grandson when he watches the mill run.

 

[woodshop]

Backwoods you look like you're havin' fun with that huge thing... thanks for posting pics. I too am drooling over the clear lumber from it.

 

[Adkpk]

Impressive thread, Backwoods. Nice slicing.

 

[Backwoods]

Today we did not cut a whole lot of quarter-sawn lumber.
It was mostly slabs and figured wood that was milled as we
are getting up into the top of the tree. It rained most of the
day making for slow progress. I have this one big log left for
tomorrow. It looks like some of it will be partly figured as well.
Today there was lots of "OH THAT IS A NICE PIECE"
and "WOW LOOK AT THAT".
Not a bad day at all.

 

[Backwoods]

I finished the last log today. It had a nice section of figured wood. However, the wood was decayed to the point that all 11 of what would have been premium 12” boards went straight to the firewood pile, the rest of the log was clear as a bell, nice wood.

All the milling is done, the three mill sites have been cleaned up, the mill is back home, the homeowner has all the firewood cut and stacked, the brush piled, all that is left is hauling off all that wood so the lawn can be mowed again. A rough estimate is 2,800 bft. I will have a better idea as to how much is there after it is in the barn and stickered.
I looked at the sticker stack today and I will defiantly have to cut at least two D-fir logs up real soon.

Total investment is less then $0.40 bft including fuel, blades, time milling and estimating hauling and stacking time.

Time for some of grandpa’s apple pie.

 

[aquan8tor]

Nice wood there, Backwoods! Love the figure in that last pic. Is that 0.40 including paying yourself for the work? Just curious. Wanna come cut me some stickers? I need a few myself. Nice work. Looking forward to more milling pics.

 

[Backwoods]

aquan8tor
Nice wood there, Backwoods! Love the figure in that last pic. Is that 0.40 including paying yourself for the work? Just curious. Wanna come cut me some stickers? I need a few myself. Nice work. Looking forward to more milling pics.

Yes I figure all hardwood by the hours that I have involved at my normal rate, mileage, gas, ect. all cost involved in the log. Log price to if I were to by the log. Then set a profit margin and pass the savings on to the customer who buy's the wood. Therefore my lumber prices can fluctuate and I still have the same profit margin.






I got all the wood loaded on the trailer in organized stacks. There is a set of scales at a gravel yard just down the road that I use on a regular basis, and this load was pushing max capacity. But it weighed in under. I had a choice take the freeway route at 38 miles or the back way at 42 miles. either way there are mountains. I opted for the slower back way and crawled this load home. Got the trailer unloaded, washed, and stickered the big log. 1,300 bft of mostly quarter sawn wood out of a single 14' log and just a couple wheel barrel loads of fine sawdust.
I have got to mill stickers tomorrow, Bottom stickers and layer stickers. so that I can get all this wood on stickers quickly. The damp weather is in my favor. And I have list of pine and fir milling jobs that keep popping up everyday.



This stack is from one log.

This trailer load was 145lb under 7 tons with 4 stacks of wood,
1 stack 14'+, one 12'+, 10'+, and one 8'+ all stacked 24" high

This is the other three stacks.

I ran out of stickers stacking the big log. stickers are every 16"

I will place this unit on a solid foundation to air dry.