large oak take down - firewood or milling?

[IllinoisJim]

Have a good sized oak (not really large I suppose...) that has died back and is being taken down. It is on the edge of what was a farm field - now residential with large lots. It's over 3' diameter at the base but has several large forks low. Largest stem is about 12" diameter at 50' and perhaps 15-18" at about 12' up. Largest bottom section is about 10 usable. Planned to make firewood for my own use but handling the very large pieces is a real struggle. Considering options - there are some people with portable bandsaw mills around. Not really interested in the wood with the time needed to store it but have some room to do that. Wondering if that would be worthwhile to do or perhaps work a deal to sell the wood for milling. Of course best would be to call a few which I intend to do...

 

[Mad Professor]

Picture would tell the story. Farm field trees are going to be full of metal to ~6-7' up. Mills won't touch them and will also ruin chains bucking them. How far up is the trunk straight/unbranched above that?

If the tree is branched those parts are going to have a lot of stress in them and will make it hard to get good lumber, but great firewood.

Without pictures it's hard to give good advice

 

[IllinoisJim]

I cut up one large stalk for firewood a couple years ago for fire wood and didn't run into any metal but it was all a bit off the ground - you can see there that was cut near the base. Here's a pic. I estimated 50' to the first side branches near the top of the picture on the main stalk although in looking at it again it might be closer to 40'.

 

[Bill G]

Where in Illinois are you located

 

[IllinoisJim]

North side of Collinsville, just outside St. Louis.

 

[Bill G]

@unclemoustache might be able to provide some assistance.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Let's be honest, there isn't enough millable wood in that tree to justify hauling it off, let alone actually paying for it.

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

Let's be honest, there isn't enough millable wood in that tree to justify hauling it off, let alone actually paying for it.

I’d have to agree. Burn it!

 

[Sidecarflip]

arm field trees are going to be full of metal to ~6-7'

carbide chain time....lol Sounds like a firewood tree to me actually.

 

[Bill G]

Let's be honest, there isn't enough millable wood in that tree to justify hauling it off, let alone actually paying for it.

Of course not but everyone thinks they have a gem. This past spring Red Oak went up enough to make it somewhat worth cutting but it had not been in the past. My brother called and said he needed to fill out a 100,000 bd ft order and wanted to see if I wanted to sell some. I said hell no. This is some logs cut on small tracts. Hardly enough to justify cutting.

 

[IllinoisJim]

I fully realize it isn't viable to sell this. Even if it was black walnut - I have had some come down and cut them for fire wood. More of a hobby project.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

I fully realize it isn't viable to sell this. Even if it was black walnut - I have had some come down and cut them for fire wood. More of a hobby project.

"Wondering if that would be worthwhile to do or perhaps work a deal to sell the wood for milling. Of course best would be to call a few which I intend to do..."

Is this a recent realization?

 

[fields_mj]

Just to put things into perspective... I contacted several local (large) mills about the tree in the picture last year and nobody was interested. Ended up taking a couple sections to a friend of mine who has a mill. He milled some lumber for me to use, and kept the rest for his own which was fine with me. I took 6 cords of firewood out of the limbs. To be fair to the mills, it's pin oak so I kinda get it. Still, I plainly offered to bring the logs to them and nobody was interested.

 

[Mad Professor]

Just to put things into perspective... I contacted several local (large) mills about the tree in the picture last year and nobody was interested. Ended up taking a couple sections to a friend of mine who has a mill. He milled some lumber for me to use, and kept the rest for his own which was fine with me. I took 6 cords of firewood out of the limbs. To be fair to the mills, it's pin oak so I kinda get it. Still, I plainly offered to bring the logs to them and nobody was interested.

Couple of nice trunk logs on that one if no metal inside.

 

[fields_mj]

Just to put things into perspective... I contacted several local (large) mills about the tree in the picture last year and nobody was interested. Ended up taking a couple sections to a friend of mine who has a mill. He milled some lumber for me to use, and kept the rest for his own which was fine with me. I took 6 cords of firewood out of the limbs. To be fair to the mills, it's pin oak so I kinda get it. Still, I plainly offered to bring the logs to them and nobody was interested.

Not one piece of metal in it. I'm going to use some of the lumber to make a storage bed for our bedroom, and maybe a kitchen table. The guy who has the mill will probably use the rest for flooring. He said the stack of lumber is about as tall as my camper. The lumber is ready, but I haven't had a chance to go pick any of it up. I'm looking forward to seeing what the boards look like. My wife will probably want the bed to be some shade of grey, but the kitchen table will be a nice place to show off some grain. He milled the bottom 2 sections of log. I gave the 3rd section to a friend for firewood because it looked like it might have some bug damage or potential rot from one of the limbs. I cut it into large rounds for him and delivered it too his place. After cutting it, I regretted not milling it because it was solid through and through. The bug damage that was in the limb, only went into the tree a few inches. Might have produced some pretty boards.

 

[IllinoisJim]

Just to put things into perspective... I contacted several local (large) mills about the tree in the picture last year and nobody was interested. Ended up taking a couple sections to a friend of mine who has a mill. He milled some lumber for me to use, and kept the rest for his own which was fine with me. I took 6 cords of firewood out of the limbs. To be fair to the mills, it's pin oak so I kinda get it. Still, I plainly offered to bring the logs to them and nobody was interested.

My tree is much smaller but had some sort of trade like this in mind. Not planning to get rich. Here is a video I have shared over the years with a few people about "highly valuable" trees.

 

[fields_mj]

I've seen that video and absolutely LOVE it!!!

I had a pair of relatively small walnut trees blow over in a recent storm. I'm taking them to the same guy (he said he could use them). Basically, I'm building up some credit that I can apply towards milling some locust boards to deck my trailer (if I can ever find another black locust that needs cut...). He has 3 small pole buildings set up as make shift solar kilns, plus an actual electric kiln. Doubt that I would bother with trying to dry the locust in the electric kiln for my application, but I did have him do the pin oak just so it would be more stable for what I want to do with it.

 

[Woody912]

I've seen that video and absolutely LOVE it!!!

I had a pair of relatively small walnut trees blow over in a recent storm. I'm taking them to the same guy (he said he could use them). Basically, I'm building up some credit that I can apply towards milling some locust boards to deck my trailer (if I can ever find another black locust that needs cut...). He has 3 small pole buildings set up as make shift solar kilns, plus an actual electric kiln. Doubt that I would bother with trying to dry the locust in the electric kiln for my application, but I did have him do the pin oak just so it would be more stable for what I want to do with it.

man, I just sold a bunch of 2" red elm boards, 12-16' long, 8'12" wide. Better than locust for trailers cause they don't split.

 

[fields_mj]

I hadn't thought about Elm. That would work pretty well. I'll have to keep an eye out for some.