picked up some White Oak Logs

[burtle]

I built a little 8x8x8 storage shed for my lawn care equipment and other small items. I'm going to have these white oak logs milled into 1/2" boards and use them as siding. I had 3 eastern pine logs milled into 2x4's and 2x6's about 4-5 weeks ago. That's what I built the shed with. It turned out great!

Do you guys suggest using nails or screws for the boards? I'm hoping there's enough here to do the whole shed. I'm still new to all of this and learning as much as I can. We are milling the two smaller logs first. If there's enough to do the shed with those two we will quarter saw the bigger log and I'd love to make a kitchen table out of it when the boards dry of course and give it to my dad for a surprise. There's 3 other logs as well, which aren't pictured. They were only 4' long and about 18" in diameter. I could make some good table legs out of those..along with cutting boards, shelves etc..




It was pouring down rain when we were loading them. That's why they are wet.

I'm just hoping the logs aren't full of worms.

 

[Marine5068]

I built a little 8x8x8 storage shed for my lawn care equipment and other small items. I'm going to have these white oak logs milled into 1/2" boards and use them as siding. I had 3 eastern pine logs milled into 2x4's and 2x6's about 4-5 weeks ago. That's what I built the shed with. It turned out great!

Do you guys suggest using nails or screws for the boards? I'm hoping there's enough here to do the whole shed. I'm still new to all of this and learning as much as I can. We are milling the two smaller logs first. If there's enough to do the shed with those two we will quarter saw the bigger log and I'd love to make a kitchen table out of it when the boards dry of course and give it to my dad for a surprise. There's 3 other logs as well, which aren't pictured. They were only 4' long and about 18" in diameter. I could make some good table legs out of those..along with cutting boards, shelves etc..




It was pouring down rain when we were loading them. That's why they are wet.

I'm just hoping the logs aren't full of worms.

White Oak is pretty hard, heavy wood. I would use it as flooring or framing and a top for a work bench but not siding.
If you do decide to use it as (1" thick) siding, then you'd more than likely be pre-drilling all the holes for your screws or nails or it could split and that would be no fun at all.
Pine, Spruce and Fir are much better siding woods and take stain easy too.
They're also not to expensive and can be tooled easy.
You'll find Oak is very hard working it that's why it holds up as table tops, flooring, etc.
Post some pics of the shed and your finished work.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I didn't get what kind of siding you are going to make?

Horizontal? Vertical barn style board/batton?? tapered??

SR

 

[old guy]

I have very little experience with white oak lumber, but trying to drive nails in it was an effort in futility.

 

[burtle]

White Oak is pretty hard, heavy wood. I would use it as flooring or framing and a top for a work bench but not siding.
If you do decide to use it as (1" thick) siding, then you'd more than likely be pre-drilling all the holes for your screws or nails or it could split and that would be no fun at all.
Pine, Spruce and Fir are much better siding woods and take stain easy too.
They're also not to expensive and can be tooled easy.
You'll find Oak is very hard working it that's why it holds up as table tops, flooring, etc.
Post some pics of the shed and your finished work.

Thanks for the reply! yeah, the reason I want to use the oak as siding is because I grew up in a log cabin. When I was a little kid I watched my dad build the cabin. It was so cool. I just love oak and I just want oak siding on this little shed. I know it may not be the smartest thing to use it for, but its a tiny shed I figure why not

I'll definitely drill holes to avoid the wood from cracking.

I didn't get what kind of siding you are going to make?

Horizontal? Vertical barn style board/batton?? tapered??

SR

Sorry for the confusion. Tapered siding is the route I'm wanting to go.

I have very little experience with white oak lumber, but trying to drive nails in it was an effort in futility.

I'll have to drill holes from the screws or nails.

I will post some pictures when finished !

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Tapered siding is a lot more time consuming than just "half inch boards"...

There are jigs to make tapered siding from cants, or you can make your own jig, but probably the best way is to saw "thicker" boards from a cant, and then re-saw the boards into tapered boards...

Read: "time consuming"... but it makes nice siding...

SR

 

[andy]

Coming from the pnw I would not use any hardwood for siding.
We get too damn wet here, hardwoods like oak and maple are Much more suspect to rot than cedar or fir.
In my soil biz, I consider oak, maple, and other dicidous hardwoods as “compost wood”.
Not that it’s trash but simply that it breaks down into beautiful compost quickly. Unlike Most conifers.
I save those trees for interior/furniture use and compost the scraps/chips.
That’s the pnw view (my). I imaginge other parts of the country do thjngs differently.

 

[Bmac]

White Oak is different, pretty decay/rot resistant.

http://www.wood-database.com/white-oak/

Was used in ship building, very appropriate for outdoor use.

 

[Marine5068]

Just for a comparison of costs to buy finished wood boards from lumber store here in Canadian funds.
These are dressed all sides.
I compared all like board sizes of 1" x 6" x 8'

Eastern White Pine - 1" x 6" x 8' =$12.00
Poplar ---------------- 1" x 6" x 8' = $28.00
Red Oak ------------- 1" x 6" x 8' = $48.00
Hard Maple --------- 1" x 6" x 8' = $58.00

 

[Franny K]

There is an oak called a shingle oak which I suspect falls in the white oak class. White oak makes acorns every year while red oak every other year. I plan on making some clab board siding from oak at some time. It makes nice tapered shingles. cut the block then use a shim like 3/8 inch, put it under one end of the blocks and cut them, then put it under the other end of the blocks drop the head a repeatable amount and cut again. Can do as many blocks as have hold downs for. There are battery powered finish nailers now that can be used with 15 gauge stainless steel nails. Green white oak, as in not seasoned nails better than expected often holding the nail in the middle with pliars helps a lot. If you are going to screw it might want a hole with a countersink. Hardwoods in general seem to expand when wet more than lumber store stuff, I tried making some concrete forms and strange things happened.

Oak seems to rot from the outside in, your logs are likely ok once you get in but if it is kind of questionable chances are you will waste a bunch of effort and decide later to discard. That seems more often for rot in the standing tree than rot from a year or more of sitting in a log.