Help on loading big white oak log

[kcurbanloggers]

Hey guys,
So a year ago a big white oak fell on my moms property in Connecticut. She grew up with the tree and it was very special to her, so I’ve decided to haul the log home (to Kansas) to have it milled and make her a dining table out of it. Here’s the problem: it is about 10 ft long and 25in in diameter, and it still has wood from the root ball left on it making it extremely heavy. I know my truck can carry it home, but I have no idea how I could begin to load it. I have to tow a car home too, so putting it on a trailer isn’t an option. I just need to figure out how to lift it high enough to get it in the bed. Any cleaver ideas? I have plenty of winches, high lifts, and log peavys at my disposal. Thanks in advance.


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[kcurbanloggers]

Hey guys,
So a year ago a big white oak fell on my moms property in Connecticut. She grew up with the tree and it was very special to her, so I’ve decided to haul the log home (to Kansas) to have it milled and make her a dining table out of it. Here’s the problem: it is about 10 ft long and 25in in diameter, and it still has wood from the root ball left on it making it extremely heavy. I know my truck can carry it home, but I have no idea how I could begin to load it. I have to tow a car home too, so putting it on a trailer isn’t an option. I just need to figure out how to lift it high enough to get it in the bed. Any cleaver ideas? I have plenty of winches, high lifts, and log peavys at my disposal. Thanks in advance.


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Here’s a photo of it. It’s not quite as long as it looks in the photo.



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[M.R.]

Six of One & a half dozen different ways...
Slip over to the ‘Milling & Saw Mill’
side of the site... https://www.arboristsite.com/community/forums/milling-saw-mills.62/
Read through the sticky at the top, likely get the wheels
a turning... you could get it down into more manageable
sizes & save your back, then Mom would be a smiling
with anticipation.

 

[northmanlogging]

Hi lift jack, and a come along, takes forever and is a lot of work can be done.

Probay a good idea to have some cribbing blocks handy

 

[CUCV]

Get a chainsaw mill and mill it onsite or find someone on AS or craigslist to mill it onsite for you.

I've lifted many things with pipe staging, some 2x12's and a come-along. Put a hot tub on the 2nd floor of a friends house this way.

 

[hseII]

Chainsaw mill it on site & haul it home as lumber.

 

[Canyon Angler]

How big is your truck? That log's gotta weigh close to 200#/ft...

 

[kcurbanloggers]

How big is your truck? That log's gotta weigh close to 200#/ft...

It weighs around 2,000lbs I have an 2001 f250 diesel. I know that I’ll be a touch over weight, but it has carried more and done well.


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[Canyon Angler]

Heh, cool. I have the same truck, same year. 7.3 baby! Not sure I'd want to haul a ton in the bed of mine while towing a car from CT to KS, though. In an accident, they'd be all over you...

 

[KYLogger]

White Oaks in Connecticut must look different than in Kentucky Honestly, it's going to be a bear, what about the possibility of ripping it with a powersaw first? Still gonna be heavy, and I guess if you can load half than you can probably load it all...... Half day rental on a skid steer, and some straps.

-Tom

 

[kcurbanloggers]

I think I fingered it out. I called a tow truck company with a crane that’ll come the day before I leave. They can pick the whole thing up high enough for me to back up under it.


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[KYLogger]

Nailed it!

 

[Canyon Angler]

White Oaks in Connecticut must look different than in Kentucky

That's what I was thinking. My best guess would have been maple.

 

[kcurbanloggers]

That's what I was thinking. My best guess would have been maple.

I remember being pretty sure it was a white oak last year when I cut most of it up. But now that I Im hearing you guys I’m second guessing myself... it is definitely an oak, but how can I verify it’s a white oak?


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[chipper1]

Looks like red oak to me.
Nice looking place.

 

[Canyon Angler]

Shave off some end grain with a razor or something and look at it with a magnifier. With white oak all or most of the "tubes" will be filled. With red oak most of them will be hollow, like straws. Look for images online...

Also, white oak often smells like bourbon, or vice-versa, because bourbon is stored in white oak barrels. Some white oaks (live oak, maybe?) smell like vomit. But no live oak in CT, I don't think.

 

[kcurbanloggers]

Shave off some end grain with a razor or something and look at it with a magnifier. With white oak all or most of the "tubes" will be filled. With red oak most of them will be hollow, like straws. Look for images online...

Also, white oak often smells like bourbon, or vice-versa, because bourbon is stored in white oak barrels.

Welll red it is then. Oh well, it’ll still make a nice table


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[Canyon Angler]

Red oak makes beautiful furniture. I'm sitting at a desk my dad made from RO.

 

[chipper1]

I still like the idea of finding someone to mill you some nice slabs like that @hseII guy said.
I would think you could make a thread in the milling section asking for help and probably get someone from the area to help out, you could even give them some of the wood and some of the cash you were going to give the towing company.
Edit:I see you already got the same advice on milling it on site.
Try a new thread in there asking for members in the area.

 

[kcurbanloggers]

I still like the idea of finding someone to mill you some nice slabs like that @hseII guy said.
I would think you could make a thread in the milling section asking for help and probably get someone from the area to help out, you could even give them some of the wood and some of the cash you were going to give the towing company.
Edit:I see you already got the same advice on milling it on site.
Try a new thread in there asking for members in the area.

I’ve looked some. There’s someone here who would lend me his Alaskan mill, but I’ve never run a chainsaw mill before and I’m not sure I trust myself to be able to turn out nice slabs. I have someone in Kansas that will do just what you suggested. He mills it on his bandsaw mill in exchange for a few slabs. I figure I have to take it home either way, so milling it here doesn’t make it any easier for the truck. I’ll ask around while I’m here to see if there’s an easy alternative, but as of now, milling it here doesn’t seem all that much easier that taking it home in one piece.


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