Milling a Water Oak

[Marmaduck]

Quick question before I tell the story and post the pix (forgot the memory card today):
With QS water oak, or most any oak, how much of the pith am I supposed to cut away to help prevent the serious warping like I'm getting on the black oak I milled last spring??? IIRC, I cut the black oak on the center of the pith and that's where that edge is bending sharply, so much that it's tilting the whole stack on top of it…both 5/4 and 8/4 thicknesses. So far, I'm cutting 3 in. of the pith away on this water oak…too much?? Not enough??

Thanks in advance,
Michael

 

[woodshop]

Quick question before I tell the story and post the pix (forgot the memory card today):
With QS water oak, or most any oak, how much of the pith am I supposed to cut away to help prevent the serious warping like I'm getting on the black oak I milled last spring??? IIRC, I cut the black oak on the center of the pith and that's where that edge is bending sharply, so much that it's tilting the whole stack on top of it…both 5/4 and 8/4 thicknesses. So far, I'm cutting 3 in. of the pith away on this water oak…too much?? Not enough??

Thanks in advance,
Michael

Never milled water oak, so not sure about that particular species, but of all the red and white oak I've ever milled over the years I never cut out any pith area at all, just saw through it. Yes that center board is often not the best of the stack. And true, many sawyers "box" out the center of the log when milling, but that's more because of all the crappy wood with knots etc the center of the tree usually has. If you're having a stack that's leaning because of an unusually cupped or warped board, that often has more to do with twisted grain or a board that just will not dry properly for several reasons. Again, most of the boards I get from the center of the oak log are often not the clearest knot-free boards, but they usually don't twist or cup so much that the whole stack is affected.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Never milled water oak, so not sure about that particular species, but of all the red and white oak I've ever milled over the years I never cut out any pith area at all, just saw through it. Yes that center board is often not the best of the stack. And true, many sawyers "box" out the center of the log when milling, but that's more because of all the crappy wood with knots etc the center of the tree usually has. If you're having a stack that's leaning because of an unusually cupped or warped board, that often has more to do with twisted grain or a board that just will not dry properly for several reasons. Again, most of the boards I get from the center of the oak log are often not the clearest knot-free boards, but they usually don't twist or cup so much that the whole stack is affected.

Woodshop,

That's exactly my experience too. I only saw out the heart when sawing for grade, not when i'm Q. sawing, as the pith can be sawed away later as needed... I havn't noticed any problems because of this.

Rob