Milled Some White Oak Last Month

[Up A Creek]

How about aroma? Should have a pronounced smell - like bourbon. How about some good close-ups of the end grain?

I don't know about bourbon (I'm more of a whiskey guy; I prefer Barley to corn) but my garage smells absolutely fantastic right now.

It might take me a day or two but I'll get some pictures of the bark on the firewood and the end grain.

 

[Up A Creek]

Found a picture from when I cut the ends off.
The cut is about 5 min old there.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Found a picture from when I cut the ends off.
The cut is about 5 min old there.

That helps, yes, I do see some rays there. I concur - White Oak.

 

[motolife313]

The bark and wood look more like red oak to me. Doesn’t look like white oak bark. Way to thin and smooth

 

[Up A Creek]

From what I've seen red oak bark is slightly thicker and gnarlier.
White oak seems to be a little more flakey, to use a technical term.

The only bark you can really see in those pictures is covered in sawdust and ground down.

Here is bark on the foot of the tree, thickness (about 1"), and on one of the branches.

 

[Up A Creek]

This is a red oak that was just about the same size. Cut right across the street.
Bark is about an inch and a half thick.

 

[motolife313]

That yellowish tan end grain is starting to look more like white oak now. The white oak around here has some pretty aggressive looking bark and the red little smoother. I like how you’re posting a good amount of pics btw, got the oak from CL and the owner let me use his tractor while on a business trip if u can believe that!! Thing has 130 hours on it and it was my first time meeting him this bottom pic is from a different red oak tree

 

[Up A Creek]

Well then, here's a live update. Hopefully finishing the last slab today.

 

[Jim K]

Found a picture from when I cut the ends off.
The cut is about 5 min old there.

Looks like white oak. White oak has very tight end grain pours while red oak looks very porous. You said it smells great. In my opinion based on my experience cutting red oak, fresh cut it smells like cat urine.

 

[Up A Creek]

Some really wet rot and ant damage I had to clean out.

 

[Up A Creek]

What a mess

 

[Up A Creek]

Cut pretty clean considering the chain was getting dull and gummed up with bark.
You can't really see it here but part of the bottom of the log was almost flat so I ended up cutting horizontally into the bark. Was a huge pain.

 

[TheLaundryMan]

Some really wet rot and ant damage I had to clean out.

The first picture in this one something about the scale of the photo makes those ants look like they’re 3-4 inches long!

Depending on what you’re intentions are with the wood I think some rot can add character

 

[Up A Creek]

Definitely added some character. Originally I was going to use this for flooring, but it's looking more like table material.

A couple of pictures of the wood stacked inside. The smaller stuff is from the main trunk splitting in half. Kept the half sections together.
Talk about heavy for 1 person....

 

[Up A Creek]

Also cut up one of the smaller pieces. I picked up a beam saw attachment from Harbor Freight so I tried it out on the top half round to mill the thinner edge off. Worked pretty good, kept the distance to less than a 16th difference on each end. Noisier than the circular blade though, and lots of vibration. The chain is just 3/8 LP so I may swap on some ripping chain at some point. I did sharpen it before I used it.
Tilting one side up so the weight of the saw was pushing against the straight edge helped to keep it cutting straight.

 

[pniterdr]

I don't see any rays in what looks to be the quarter-sawn cuts. Are you sure it's White Oak?

I just finished Milling what I thought was a white oak log. Tree was in the river for who knows how long. No branches, no leaves and no clues. Has the oak smell when cut but it's a lighter color and when dry (relatively) it's very light. A buddy stopped by last night as I was finishing and one end of slab was almost purple. After much discussion he is thinking it's a swamp oak. One of the red species but not a standout for color.

 

[pniterdr]

Sorry, took a second to find upload button.

 

[pniterdr]

I don't see any rays in what looks to be the quarter-sawn cuts. Are you sure it's White Oak?

I just finished Milling what I thought was a whi

Pretty smooth cut.
The mill did move a little on the 2nd cut so I had to reestablish flat.

Looks great. I've recently taken to using rails or ladder for all cuts. Keeps them nice and straight and hanging the rug is a bonus. Also just installed a winch. Taking some getting used to but overall much more consistent cut.

 

[Up A Creek]

Looks great. I've recently taken to using rails or ladder for all cuts. Keeps them nice and straight and hanging the rug is a bonus. Also just installed a winch. Taking some getting used to but overall much more consistent cut.

The mill itself was moving for some reason. Granberg mill, I've been a mechanic for 20+ years so I know how to tighten nuts.
No clue why. I ended up using small C clamps to hold the mill steady.

 

[Up A Creek]

I had some slabs that were unevenly cut because my mill kept slipping. I picked up a true track slab flattening mill (mainly because they come with a threaded rod which I really like) and a 3" chinese carbide bit to flatten them before I store them to dry.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well the bit cut. I didn't take a picture of it but it has 4 replaceable carbide inserts.
It did bog now and then if I pushed the router to fast. It cut a LOT of semi dry white oak on the first side of the insert.