White Oak Timbers

[Greg Cook]

I have a friend who is preparing his new home site, and there is a single White Oak to be cut, about 18" DBH.  He wants some 6x6's from it, but I am concerned because we can't box the heart. Would it help to saw the 6x's as far from the heart as possible while staying away from sapwood?  Or maybe take them from the 3 o'clock, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock positions (when looking at the end of the log), as opposed to sawing down to a 12x12 cant then quartering it. This isn't as clear in words as it is my head!

Let me know what you think!

[beenthere]

How long are the 6x6's to be? and what is the inside bark diameter of the tree at that length?

Seems you would be needing more diameter to do what you want to do....

[ironstumper]

Greg, I remember reading about this same thing over in Timber framing I think??? Maybe you could run a search on it. I believe Jim posted a picture that shows what to expect during drying from various parts of the log....Hope this helps Doug

[ironstumper]

Greg, It was here I just bumped it up for ya...

[Greg Cook]

I see Jim's experiment covered what I was thinking of as one method.  The 6x6's need to be only 9' long, so maybe they won't  be trying to move too much anyway.
Thanks!

[solidwoods]

It's a trade off.
Boxed heart will crack and non pith cuts like you describe are prone to side bend.
(I make products out of the tree center)

Maybe make the white oak into flooring, take the $ saved and get w/o logs to box or other woods to box to a square.
jim