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Cut or burn? Knotty oak, felled 10y ago.

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  • 11-01-2021 11:48pm
    #1
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users Posts: 6,695 ✭✭✭


    Would I be wasting my time asking a mobile sawmill to cut these knotty trunks into planks? Amongst a set of twenty hefty pieces of oak that have been sitting outside in the damp grass for about ten years, waiting for me to do something with them, are half a dozen such as these:

    IMG-20210111-171919.jpgIMG-20210111-171930.jpg

    If I trim the stubby side-branches off, to leave a reasonably neat trunk, and then have them sliced lengthways, can I expect to harvest a decent number of planks with a lovely, interesting grain, or will I end up with a huge amount of totally unworkable wood on account of knots that warp and split and have me wondering in ten years time why I didn't just burn the fekkers in 2021? :D

    The intention was/still is to cut a selection of sizes suitable for use as floorboards/parquet, shelving (bookcases), window or door frames, miscellaneous small furniture projects, and one ginormous dining table (8x2.5m)

    I have a dozen decent quality pieces that should be fine for the work that needs a nice, straight grain; and of the few pieces of oak I've turned in the past, those with a bit of a knotty grain have always been the most attractive. But these knots?


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    #2
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,052 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Lust! No such thing as too many knots and knobbly bits in a nice slice of wood!


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    #3
    tabby aspreme
    Registered Users Posts: 3,850 ✭✭✭tabby aspreme


    Google, Cats Paw Oak, and Burr Oak to get an idea what may be inside those rough looking logs


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    #4
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users Posts: 6,695 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    Right, so it is "a thing" (following tabby aspreme's suggestion, even came across an American site raving over a French tree that looked like it has been "tidied up" as I hope to do with these) and might be worth the cost and effort.

    Next question, then: the sawmill website says they can take a trunk of up to 9m. My longest is just short of 8m, but if I'm not planning to use them as wooden lintels or roof beams, does it make sense to leave them full length for milling, or would I be better off cutting them into two (or more) shorter pieces? I like the idea of making a long table with grain lines running uninterrupted from one end to the other, but I'm not sure that would be very practical in real life, neither in the construction nor in the eventual use.

    Also (you can just about see it in the photos) because of the way these trees were pruned/harvested in the past, the first 2-ish metres are significantly thicker than the rest. For most of them, there's a fairly abrupt change from 70-80cm diameter to 40-50cm.


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    #5
    timfromtang
    Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭timfromtang


    CelticRambler wrote: »
    Right, so it is "a thing" (following tabby aspreme's suggestion, even came across an American site raving over a French tree that looked like it has been "tidied up" as I hope to do with these) and might be worth the cost and effort.

    Next question, then: the sawmill website says they can take a trunk of up to 9m. My longest is just short of 8m, but if I'm not planning to use them as wooden lintels or roof beams, does it make sense to leave them full length for milling, or would I be better off cutting them into two (or more) shorter pieces? I like the idea of making a long table with grain lines running uninterrupted from one end to the other, but I'm not sure that would be very practical in real life, neither in the construction nor in the eventual use.

    Also (you can just about see it in the photos) because of the way these trees were pruned/harvested in the past, the first 2-ish metres are significantly thicker than the rest. For most of them, there's a fairly abrupt change from 70-80cm diameter to 40-50cm.

    HI there,
    You will get the best yield from the logs in shorter lengths, the more taper there is the more waste there will be.
    tim

    www.youtube.com/c/timfromtang

    Fuinseog abú



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    #6
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,330 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    have you any idea of how sound the wood in the centre is?


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    #7
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users Posts: 6,695 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    For the most part (based on a couple of logs I cut up because I needed the firewood) it's very good. Out of one 1.5m x 0.7m diam that looked badly cracked on the surface, so I cut it into thirds for further splitting, I've kept most of the middle third because I just couldn't bring myself to burn it! :pac:

    There's a bit of surface damage on the undersides of all of them, where they'd sunk into the mud over the last decade, and I'd be surprised if there weren't at least a few holes and cavities, given the number of woodpeckers, owls, bats and bees we have around. But they stood up to all the abuse I threw at them over the weekend while moving them to more convenient resting places.


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    #8
    whelzer
    Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭whelzer


    I have no connection to these guys other than I know someone that used them a few years. Mobile Saw Mill. I never knew mobile milling was a thing...

    https://www.our.ie/county-westmeath/killucan/agriculture-industry-forestry-and-fishing/mobile-sawmill-westmeath-gerry-dowdall-gd-services/sawmillwestmeath/


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    #9
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,330 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i think the OP lives outside ireland.

    CelticRambler, how about a totem pole? a friend grew up with one in the garden (his dad's a sculptor so was able to make a very good job of it)


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    #10
    whelzer
    Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭whelzer


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    i think the OP lives outside ireland.

    CelticRambler, how about a totem pole? a friend grew up with one in the garden (his dad's a sculptor so was able to make a very good job of it)

    Travel expenses could rack up so!:eek:


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    #11
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users Posts: 6,695 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    whelzer wrote: »
    I have no connection to these guys other than I know someone that used them a few years. Mobile Saw Mill. I never knew mobile milling was a thing...

    I am indeed a long long way from Tipperary ... and Westmeath. :pac: There's a mobile sawmilling service in my locality that I've tried and failed to get a response from on an off over the years, but they're French so answering texts and e-mails is unlikely to be high on their priorities! :p

    As getting it done wasn't really a priority for me either, I wasn't that bothered - but the job has finally made it onto the "To Do" list, so I decided it'd be more efficient to ask you guys about the basic concepts and practicalities and limitations before phoning the fellow with the machine.


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    #12
    recipio
    Registered Users Posts: 2,804 ✭✭✭recipio


    CelticRambler wrote: »
    I am indeed a long long way from Tipperary ... and Westmeath. :pac: There's a mobile sawmilling service in my locality that I've tried and failed to get a response from on an off over the years, but they're French so answering texts and e-mails is unlikely to be high on their priorities! :p

    As getting it done wasn't really a priority for me either, I wasn't that bothered - but the job has finally made it onto the "To Do" list, so I decided it'd be more efficient to ask you guys about the basic concepts and practicalities and limitations before phoning the fellow with the machine.

    Its all a lottery. The centre may be rotten or you may find glorious figured wood.Actually cutting the log is straightforward although I believe sawmillers are wary of finding metal and some insist on on a blade repair charge.
    Actually handling the logs is another big problem - have you a tractor ?
    If you have the means then I'd go for it !;)


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    #13
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users Posts: 6,695 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    Yeah, at this stage I'm well used to the "hidden treasure" vs. "all for nothing" aspect of working with (supposedl) living wood. Best surprise so far was discovering the entire core of a tree I was felling was completely black - had obviously been struck by lightning decades ago but refused to die. My concern was more that the oldest most gnarled pieces would be unusable, but I see now from further searching that they are considered quite desirable in some quarters! :cool:

    Have just finished totting up what's out there: 15m³ or thereabouts, so well over the minimum order and probably more than I can use in the next fifty years (and not a bad reward for a bit of back-scratching!) :D

    I have a mini-digger for brute-force shifting (successfully lifted/carried some of the smaller pieces at the weekend). If the photos can be trusted, the mobile mill does its own lifting, so I'd just need to be able to push them into position which is doable.


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    #14
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,330 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i still say totem pole.


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    #15
    tabby aspreme
    Registered Users Posts: 3,850 ✭✭✭tabby aspreme


    tabby aspreme wrote: »
    Google, Cats Paw Oak, and Burr Oak to get an idea what may be inside those rough looking logs

    Some Elm with Cats Paw figuring, I planed yesterday.


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    #16
    dathi
    Registered Users Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭dathi


    tabby aspreme wrote: »
    Some Elm with Cats Paw figuring, I planed yesterday.

    nice pieces of elm tabs


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