Live oak

[sixteenacrewood]

Hi everyone
Thanks for all the photos and info all of you put on here. When I'm smart enough, or think I am, I'll do the same. In the mean time...

Have any of you ever milled live oak? I think it quercus virginianus, spelling may be off, South Carolina trees.
I plan to mill and dry in a solar kiln.

Also have any of you used live oak in furniture?

I know it is tough hard wood and dificult to dry, but I would really like some feedback.

 

[gr8scott72]

Hi everyone
Thanks for all the photos and info all of you put on here. When I'm smart enough, or think I am, I'll do the same. In the mean time...

Have any of you ever milled live oak? I think it quercus virginianus, spelling may be off, South Carolina trees.
I plan to mill and dry in a solar kiln.

Also have any of you used live oak in furniture?

I know it is tough hard wood and dificult to dry, but I would really like some feedback.

Haven't got past the drying stage so I can't answer your questions but here's the last one I did: (24"x9')

 

[sixteenacrewood]

Thanks Scott
very nice looking grain, when did you mill it?
The logs I will be dealing with are about the same size

 

[gr8scott72]

Thanks Scott
very nice looking grain, when did you mill it?
The logs I will be dealing with are about the same size

I guess it was just a few weeks ago, maybe a month or so.

I've got 5 more similar in size waiting to go. I just pulled the next one out today and set it up on an incline ready to go!

Here's a few of them in this photo and the other two you can sort of see in the second picture in my post above.

 

[sixteenacrewood]

Very nice! How would you rat it in difficulty to mill. harder and more difficult than other oaks, or about the same?

 

[gr8scott72]

Very nice! How would you rat it in difficulty to mill. harder and more difficult than other oaks, or about the same?

Really the only other I have any experience with is red oak (I do have some white oak waiting but haven't got to it yet) and it's about the same I guess. Red oak sure is pretty.

 

[TraditionalTool]

The live oak is quite different than red oak, and out west it grows plentiful. Mostly it's turners that are interested in the wood as it is difficult to dry without splitting/checking.

Scott, you would be good to put some anchorseal on the ends of those slaps, they are already started to split quite a bit.But it seems you could cut the split-ends off and anchorseal them and be left with better quality slabs. ..food for thought....

EDIT: there was a sawyer out west that had cut some live oak into slabs and was trying to do what Scott is doing, and he listed them very cheap on craigslist due to the splitting. I don't know if this pertains to this specific case only or not, but from what I have heard of live oak, I think not. Most say it's only good for firewood.

That said, there's a woodworker up in Redwood City that built a bedroom set using live oak and it looked wonderful. Not sure how he dried it (i.e., kiln or air).

 

[820wards]

The live oak is quite different than red oak, and out west it grows plentiful. Mostly it's turners that are interested in the wood as it is difficult to dry without splitting/checking.

Scott, you would be good to put some anchorseal on the ends of those slaps, they are already started to split quite a bit.But it seems you could cut the split-ends off and anchorseal them and be left with better quality slabs. ..food for thought....

EDIT: there was a sawyer out west that had cut some live oak into slabs and was trying to do what Scott is doing, and he listed them very cheap on craigslist due to the splitting. I don't know if this pertains to this specific case only or not, but from what I have heard of live oak, I think not. Most say it's only good for firewood.

That said, there's a woodworker up in Redwood City that built a bedroom set using live oak and it looked wonderful. Not sure how he dried it (i.e., kiln or air).

I milled a Coastal Live Oak I got in Berkley and it checked and cracked pretty bad. I did get some pieces outside of the pith that stayed pretty straight. I have them standing on end vs stickering them.

jerry-

 

[sixteenacrewood]

Jerry, did you anchorseal the ends? kiln dry or air dry?
I need to preserve as much of the wood as possible even if I have to monitor it daily.
my plan is to air dry under fans to 25% the move to the solar kiln

 

[TraditionalTool]

I milled a Coastal Live Oak I got in Berkley and it checked and cracked pretty bad. I did get some pieces outside of the pith that stayed pretty straight. I have them standing on end vs stickering them.

jerry-

The wood can be very nice, if you can keep it straight and prevent it from splitting too much. I do have some on my property that I will experiment with, but I have a bunch of pines and eucalytus to keep me busy before I get to them. Oh, I do have some doug fir also...need to figure out if I need more or not, I have to cut my rafters still (6x10x21').

 

[820wards]

Jerry, did you anchorseal the ends? kiln dry or air dry?
I need to preserve as much of the wood as possible even if I have to monitor it daily.
my plan is to air dry under fans to 25% the move to the solar kiln

I don't use anchorseal per say, but I do use exterior oil based paint with an elasticizer added to the paint and it seems to work very well here. I live in a town east of the bay area where it is very hot and dry during the summer months. The Coastal Live Oak I milled came from Berkley CA where the tree fell over due to saturated ground. Other people I have talked to who have milled this type of tree have had the same experience and I'm sure some have not. I have some usable wood and I'm OK with that, the rest will be used as this coming winters firewood.

jerry-

 

[discounthunter]

straight pieces cut like any oak.most live oak tend to bend,this ,in my terms,stresses the grain making it prone to twist warp split you name it. ive noticed it especially slow on a mill around knots.ive actually had pieces twist as i was sizing them down on a table saw!

 

[mikeb1079]

my plan is to air dry under fans to 25% the move to the solar kiln

be careful with fans. from what i've seen drying oak is very slow. some of my red and burr oak has split just air drying. if it dries to quickly you may get major splitting/cracking especially around knots/pith/ends of boards.

 

[GeeVee]

I had two Live Oak blown down in a Hurricane, along with two white and two Pignut Hickory. The Red dried slow and wanted to cup and twist worst. If I had known, I would have milled it first and made it the bottom of the stickered lumber.

My trees are usually Waaay taller and straight, due to competition in the Hammock, comapred to Live Oak that grows in a more urban or suburban setting, that have the classic short fat trunk and multiple large horizontal limbs.

See my webshots album for photos of the band mill just wailing through them.... And my buddy Pedro (Rc-30), and his older big brother Carlos (Posi Track 4810) and cousin Celeste.(Takeuchi TB-135) I air dried the lumber for two years under the Woodsmoke Lounge, and never unstacked-restacked.

Granted, you might be wanting big slabs, but you might consider milling it down to really large cants, and then re-sawing after 8 months to a year and then drying that resawn for another 8 to 1 year.

 

[sixteenacrewood]

Thanks guys, I will mostly need 4 inch live edge slabs for benches, and some 2 inch stock for tables.
Do you think I can get away with with milling drying 4 inch stock? Maybe air dry 4 months, solar kiln with doors open 4 months, then close the doors for 4 months?
just a thought