Is Live Oak to tough to cut?

[LeeB]

looks good ole Central Texas Live oak to me. Hard hard stuff. GAry, if you can debark it it will help some with the blade life, although I also used the bark to clean off the sap.

[gharlan]

LeeB  I debarked in the areas where it had any dirt on it. I did notice that an area of bark cleaned up the blade nicely in the cut. Blade life really did not matter though as some were only used after a cant was being cut. I took a 6 gallon fuel jug today and drilled a hole in the bottom, inserted a car valve stem through the hole, attached a sink 3/8 compression angle stop on the stem, and a hose from there to the lube stem on the blade. Works greet in practice today so now I am ready to be able to really run some lube on the blade when I get back to cutting. I hope 6 gallons will make at least a cut or two.

ely  We have a lot of post oak here also. It is mostly what I have found to cut up to now. A great deal of what I cut has been keeping me warm in the shop this winter. Most has been to twisted to even use for stickers which I have found to be a constant need. You would not confuse the live oak for a post if you saw it in person. While the barks look alot the same the leaves are nothing alike. The live oak holds its leaves all year except for early spring when it sheds the old and puts on the new. We rarely get any ice or snow here to amount to anything, but sometimes we will get a spell of ice and the live oaks suffer. All the ice builds up on the leaves  so the weight sometimes rips off huge limbs or splits the tree in two. For that reason I bet they would not due well a lot farther north.

[customsawyer]

Sounds like that stuff is as hard as carbide tip woodpecker lips.

[Slabs]

Me n' Canthook cleaved up a big Live Oak a couple of years ago and I can attest to to the hardness and density.  I saved a couple of the larger scraps to make small items around the shop.  Another surprise I got was it's ability to stain my cast-iron tool tables.  even with regular applications of oil to prevent rust the stains remain after a year or more.  Must got some potent tannin in the wood.

[ellmoe]

  Tpuogh wood to saw. The 4 degree blades made a big difference, almost easy to saw now. We're running 25 hp electric motors though.

Mark

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

All the Live Oak I have sawed I went quartersawn and cut thick.
Somebody also mentioned Post Oak.  I love the tawny brown color it has.
Also, quarter-sawn, it has a unique look - unlike White or Red or Live.

The most beautiful oak rays I have every seen however came from a
lowly Scarlet Oak.  This tree tends to be a stubby trunk.  Several years
ago I sawed one with a chainsaw mill.  The rays ran in long curving pathways
all the way across boards up to 12" wide.   I had made some corrective cuts
to straighten up a quartered log.  These corrective slices were not even 5/8 thick
and over 12" wide.  They dried dead straight and flat.  Amazingly-thin whispy rays!
Not a beautiful red color, but what rays!   The tree must have been about 26" dia. -
pretty big for a Scarlet Oak.


DanG, I need to catch up on my pic loading!

Phil L.

[LeeB]

GAry, you might try deisel through your home drip system. I tried spraying the blades with Pam. It helped but I couldn't afford to keep enough on. I never tried the diesel. Stack and sticker as buick as you cut and dry slowly. You will get some some boards you can use. Quarter sawing helps. It will crook, but stay flatter. I lived in Liberty Hill before moving to Arkansas, so I cut my teeth on the wonderfully fun woods you have a choice of.

[brdmkr]

These corrective slices were not even 5/8 thick and over 12" wide.  They dried dead straight and flat. 

I made some similar corrective cuts on a water oak log when I first got my mill.  They were about 5/8 or so like in your case.  I just stood them on end and leaned them against the wall of the shop.  They are completely straight, with no bow, twist, cup, etc.  After your post, I now think that may be 'normal' and not just luck.  I could see purposely cutting oak that thin for panel doors if cutting thin somehow improves the quality.

[Handy Andy]

  Have you actually determined the name of live oak?  Here in Kansas we have an oak that is native called "burr oak".  Checked with the extension forester, and he tells me it is a white oak species. Doesn't look like white oak to me. But it is hard, and the stuff I sawed last winter, piled it in the barn in a pile about 12' tall to try to keep the stuff straight.  The sawmillers I have asked about the stuff, call it black oak.

[gharlan]

Handy Andy; The live oak We have here in Texas is different  from southern live oak. Ours is Quercus Fusiformis  where southern is Quercus Virginiana according to the info I have found on the net. I think the Texas oak is not quite as large and the acorns are different. We also have burr oaks which are wonderful trees and make good saw logs. The live oaks tend to be very crooked and gnarled. They usually grow in poor conditions and they seem to reflect those conditions.  I sawed a Burr Oak as well as a Post oak about six months ago. Here is a pic of the three woods lined up.
 

The same three with water on them.
  

Sorry for the flash glare. The Quarter sawn Burr Oak is on top, the Live Oak, Post oak on bottom.

LeeB;  thanks for the diesel idea. I tried water, water with pine sol, water with dish soap, and paint thinner mixed with a lot of bar oil. I had my dad spraying the oil mixture from a bottle on the blade as I cut. I thought next i would just flood the blade while cutting with water and soap to reduce the surface tension. A problem though Is that a great many of these cuts are 24 inches wide. I think I am going to quarter saw the next half. If I take a deep cut from the pith and then a deep cut from the bark side maybe the other cuts will not be over 16 inches or so.  I just hope I can get it to dry straight and flat after all this work.

Thank you all for all the help and advice. I can not wait to get the new bands and try again. I think I am excited about these logs just because they are unusual. I have visions of a 12 dinning table. I toyed with the idea of trying to bend some green on forms for chairs. I can tell you it is not very flexible green. Maybe a steam chamber should be in the works!  Thanks again  Gary

[LeeB]

Just leave it dry a little and then get it wet again. It'll bend all by itself. Maybe you'll get the bend you want. I never knew that Texas live oak wasnt Qercus Virgininianus but I always figured it was different. Oaks have a propensity to cross breed. You'll have better luck with narrower cuts and drying. You'll also get a little more blade life and straiter cut.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Here's some typical Florida Live Oak.

  What shape are the boats they use this for

[abatol]

I realize these are some big logs so it may not apply to your situation gharlan .But in general  what about cutting it into 4x6's or 8x8's and waxing or greasing the ends to reduce checking from uneven drying?
I think I would put a nailed spacer between each stick on three cross skids , stacking however high and even weight on top to boot
Has any one tried to cut dense wood with a water and antifreeze mix?

[ely]

WELL, ONCE AGAIN I AM LEARNING STUFF. sorry bout that . i have cut burr oak and white oak and post oak. never cut a live oak and we do have it here, in the rich folks yards where they had them planted while land scaping. not sure about the fancy name on the live oaks here. but in the fall there is a multitude of acorns arounf the doctors offices and stuff in town. i just find it facinating that the live oak that gharlan has is so tough to cut and has pitch build up as well.
the burr oak i cut is in my photo gallery i think it was 44 inches on the small end and 12 feet long. it sawed really well and made even prettier q-sawn boards.

[clousert]

I never heard of "live oak" before either.  How does it compare to hickory?  We saw that on our bandmill, as long as it isn't frozen.

[beenthere]

Hickory is a breeze, compared to live oak.