Salvaged Trees

[Dave Tarheels]

I've been in rescue tree mode for the past few days . I got a call from my cousin asking me if I wanted some firewood after talking for a bit I saw a opportunity to maybe get a 8 foot section of a tree that had been cut down . I told them not to cut anymore till I got there . I get there and this 14 foot solid Water Oak tree 80" round is the only thing left , they let the city come by and pick up the rest of it to be ground up into mulch . Then as I was coming home I see a guy down the road pruning dome old Cedar trees and burning the limbs he cuts down . The following morning I see he has cut the trees down so as soon as I et home with the Oak I ride over there and ask him what he was going to do with the cedar . He said he was going to use them to fill in a swamp near his house ,HUHHH!!!! I said .  I asked him did mind if I came and picked them up , no problem he said . These are 50 plus year old cedar trees one is 70" circumference . It's crazy what people will throw away . https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=114241#top_display_media

[kelLOGg]

Nice find!. I do pretty much the same thing in Durham. Where are you located?
Bob

[sigidi]

Nice find Dave!!!!

Not to steal ya post but I did much the similar thing a cpl weeks back. Was working a weekend, which I'm trying not to do - have decided now my 9 yo daughter lives with me, weekends are time for my daughter. But I got stuck 'coz the digger being used on site got drowned!!!!!


So I was workin anyway, and on my way back to the house, decided to give another site a look see if they had some logs.....long story short - see the pics  ;D :D 8)

  Paint can for scale 

first load about to get tied down, 2 x 5m long Ironbarks just on 3 cubic metres  8)

  another load of ironbark  ;D 8)

  you guessed it, more ironbark

  last load, was a bit of a haul for the ute out of this gully, but she did it  ;)

[customsawyer]

Those are both great finds.

[Chuck White]

Great find!  8)

Sometimes we just run into good deals!  ;)

[MotorSeven]

The cedars are a great score! Have you ever milled any Water Oak? I was always curious if the lumber is usable.  In central FL it just get's pushed into piles and burned...even the firewooders don't want it.

[Dave Tarheels]

kelLOGg-I'm located just outside New Bern a few miles . I've never sawed Water Oak before , reading about it it's pretty strong and can be used for lumber . 
sigidi - where did you get that log trailer from .

[kelLOGg]

Have you ever milled any Water Oak? I was always curious if the lumber is usable.  In central FL it just get's pushed into piles and burned...even the firewooders don't want it.

Drop all your water oak off at the PO and send it to me.  ;D I made some benches for my church out of salvaged WO and a local reporter got wind of it and wrote an article about it. She must have read the conventional wisdom about WO and quoted it as being awful for furniture because warps, checks, cracks and is awful to work with.
Bob
See below.

  

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[WDH]

Nice benches!

Water oak is a red oak, and the lumber structurally is indistinguishable from the other red oaks, although, the heartwood tends to be a little browner than say northern red oak, southern red oak, or cherrybark oak.

[samandothers]

Great looking benches!  Nice to save wood from the 'stove'.

[Dave Tarheels]

Water oak is a red oak, and the lumber structurally is indistinguishable from the other red oaks, although, the heartwood tends to be a little browner than say northern red oak, southern red oak, or cherrybark oak.

Nice benches!  I have to admit first reading your response from the news reporter my first thought was the scene in Blazing Saddles  ,  Benches ? , We don't need no stinking Benches .. Is that a natural finish on those benches ?
I'm going to board it up and possibly make a mantel beam out of it .  I made a few passes on the sawmill just to check out the grain and at first it looked like a hybrid cross between a white oak / walnut it had some characteristics of both . But the next day the wood dried out a little more and the reddish tint color started coming thru looking more like red oak . I'm really interested in this species of oak because it is everywhere around my house . Definitely a top 5 tree growing around my county .

[WDH]

Some of the bottomland water oaks are superb trees. 

[shelbycharger400]

sigidi

who built that trailer?

[MotorSeven]

Nice benches!

Water oak is a red oak, and the lumber structurally is indistinguishable from the other red oaks, although, the heartwood tends to be a little browner than say northern red oak, southern red oak, or cherrybark oak.

I have to disagree, at least for what I have been told is Water Oak. I have a bud that lives near Gainsville FL....300 ac farm. 40ac is covered in Live and what he calls Water Oak. These are monster trees all well over 100 years. I helped him cut and split both and the difference is startling. The live oak is like you described, much like our White and Red Oak....but the Water Oak's grain is all over the place, very stringy, hard to split and even when dry smolders when burned. To me it really does not look like it's even in the Oak family and the bark of the two is similar, but you can tell them apart.
That is why I wondered what kind of lumber it would turn out........but maybe what he is calling Water Oak is a different type of Oak altogether.

[Dave Tarheels]

The grain is a little different maybe not as distinguished like a red oak , If the rain holds out today I'm cutting it today to show a few friends the sawmill . Kinda nervous this is the biggest tree I've cut and I got a audience .

[kelLOGg]

Is that a natural finish on those benches ?
[/quote]

I wish, but no. They get a lot of use/abuse with food & coffee stains, occasional direct sun and exposure to direct A/C and heat flow so I put 9 coats of polyurethane on the seat. So far (1 year) they have held up.

As far as identifying water oak, I go only by the leaf - very distinctive. Sorta like live oak but with 3 lobes at the tip.

Bob

[Dave Tarheels]

Update from the Water Oak , My Son and I . 

[kelLOGg]

Nice! That is something to smile about. Interesting ramps - how do they work?
Bob

[WDH]

but maybe what he is calling Water Oak is a different type of Oak altogether.

I think so.  Water oak, Quercus nigra, can be a really fine oak.  People screw up common names all the time.  What you describe sounds more like turkey oak, which is a poor grade sand hill oak.

[Dave Tarheels]

Nice! That is something to smile about. Interesting ramps - how do they work?
Bob

Older style woodmizer , the ramps have tension springs on each stop so when you roll the log up they lay down and when the log goes up they swing back up locking to keep the tree from rolling back down .

[MotorSeven]

Turkey Oak??? .........wal I almost went all day without learning something :D

[sigidi]

Sorry fella's, been out milling lol.

My trailer isn't a log trailer, she was made to hold my new (to me) skid steer bobcat, but also help for me to deliver timber. I really wasn't going to put logs on it But in its first 5 months I've had 22 loads of logs on it :D moved Bob the cat to something like a dozen mobile jobs and done 9 deliveries of timber with it just this month. I should take a picture of what I have sitting on it right now ;D  ;D actually I'll give it a go........ back in a sec.......



90 200x50x2.4m (8"x2", 8') hardwood sleepers, 6 3m (10') poles for fencing, 20 3m (10' 4"x1")sticks of decking, 2 (10" dia, 8') round posts and 3 splits for fencing. Rough payload around 2.844 cubic metres of timber at density of 1,100kg per cube this morning I'm rolling with about 3,100 kg

[tyb525]

What kind of truck/ute are you using?

[WDH]

Turkey Oak??? ........

Quercus laevis.

[MotorSeven]

Quercus laevis.

Nope, I looked it up..too small. These things are 40-60" in diameter, and 60-70' tall. If I remember correctly, the bark is deeper and more furrowed then the Live Oak. I'll look for some pic's since we were there at Christmas..........

[Dave Tarheels]

Turkey oak is not a native tree , that might be the problem , Quercus cerris . There is a american turkey oak that is Quercus laevis .  I've seen them sold as hybrids , good tree for a food plot scenario like a sawtooth oak . they produce acorns in less than 10 years .

[Dodgy Loner]

Quercus laevis.

Nope, I looked it up..too small. These things are 40-60" in diameter, and 60-70' tall. If I remember correctly, the bark is deeper and more furrowed then the Live Oak. I'll look for some pic's since we were there at Christmas..........

If the bark is deeper and more furrowed than live oak, then it's definitely not water oak. Water oak has some of the smoothest bark of any oak you will see, especially on larger trees. It splits and looks just like any other red oak. Sometimes it is a bit brown, but I have seen it pink and dark red as well. I don't think you're talking about an oak at all based on your description!

[customsawyer]

All I can say is when you get WDH and Dodgy both going in the same direction I would recommend you go with them. Them men know trees. ;)

[caveman]

MotorSeven, is it possible that you friend in Gainesville has his live oak (Quercus virginiana) and water oak (Quercus nigra) confused?  The live oaks live for centuries sometimes while the water oaks generally begin to rot and die much sooner--most around here aren't healthy after reaching their 40's.  Also, the live oak logs are tough to split with an axe--I usually cut them short and the water oaks split easily if there are not knots in the log.  The bark on the water oak is very simular to a laurel oak (Quercus laurafolia) and the leaves are about the same color and texture as those of the laurel oak but are shaped more like a tear drop or paddle while the laurel oak's leaves are shaped like a cuban cigar or lancate.  The live oak's leaves are thicker and leathery, dark green on top and grayish green or brownish green underneath.  You may be able to use Virginia Tech's dendrology site to help you confirm the identity of the trees.  Caveman

[5quarter]

WDH...Not to be confused with the Chicken Oak (Quercus KayeFCeus). Of course, given the poor quality, he could also have the all-to-common Quercus Crappolus, I'm just saying... ;) :D

[WDH]

 :D :D

[MotorSeven]

Cave, it's possible he is confused(but then again so am I most of the time :D). Next time I am down there I'll shoot some pic's and let the experts here sort it all out.