Swamp Oak

[AHill]

Your sawyer who milled your tree was either being dishonest with you or he's ignorant of the difference between willow oak and swamp oak.  Swamp oak has very different leaves, with multiple points vs. the ones you've posted.  Nice stack of wood there.

Isn't it insane how much people charge to cut down a tree these days?  My father paid $1500 to have a live oak taken down in his back yard.

[Duane N]

Well, did not know that there were so many 'oaks', so this 'willow variety' piqued my interest - some description quoted below (Source) along w/ a few pics - one of the green leaves and another from the quoted source which has a LOT more information.  Dave

Thank you for posting this....very informative.

Your sawyer who milled your tree was either being dishonest with you or he's ignorant of the difference between willow oak and swamp oak.  Swamp oak has very different leaves, with multiple points vs. the ones you've posted.  Nice stack of wood there.

Isn't it insane how much people charge to cut down a tree these days?  My father paid $1500 to have a live oak taken down in his back yard.

I think he doesn't know the difference in the species.  I remember him saying it was a fast growing oak which he associated with swamp oaks.

If you see in one of the pictures they had to use a crane for my tree and my neighbors 2 trees he had removed.  We got a better price doing everything at once.  I was quoted $4,000 by one company, $3,500 by another without stump grinding.  The company that got the job included grinding the oak stump, an old pine tree stump I was trying to burn out and a smaller tree I removed for them to get their equipment into my yard....for $2200.  It took them two 1/2 days (afternoon after they finished my neighbors trees) and the next morning up until lunch.  I felt for what they did and how good they were the $2,200 was worth it.

[jasfrank]

Not a bad price at all.
Makes me think of my SIL. Lifetime .gov employee and pretty high up in the "G" scale. Retired now, but a few years ago she asked me if I could come by her house and take a couple trees down, as they sustained bad damage in a wind storm. She was complaining that the tree services were wanting 2,000 per tree and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why. 
I stopped by with my saws and cables, and there was no way I was going to climb those. Right in the elctric lines and all.
I told her that maybe she should cough a bit up. After all, that tree service had to buy their own vehicles, their own gas, pay their own help, and even pay their own insurance.
You know, I still am not sure if she understands all that, but then I've never met a gov't employee yet who does.

[jstraw]

My property was full of those oaks years ago. A tornado associated with hurricane Isabell took most of them out. We have always called them willow oaks. Worked a deal with a sawyer to have some of it milled up. I provide the needed labor, he provide the portable saw mill, and we would split the wood 50/50.

I ended up with a pile of lumber about the size of yours. It has been great to build with. Good consistent color and has been proven to be very stable after air drying. Congrats on your inventory.

If you plan to air dry it, put lots of weight on top to help it during the drying process. Whether kiln dried or air dried, if stored outside, when ready to use plane and joint all 4 sides (big leave it a little long and thick for final milling after acclimation) and bring it indoors for at least 2 weeks before use. Milling all the sides helps it acclimate evenly and helps prevent cupping and bowing.

Looking at your pic, I do not see anything on the ends of the boards. If not, sealing the ends will help prevent checking during the drying process. You can end up losing a foot to two feet off each end of the board if not sealed. There are commercial products available, but an inexpensive latex paint, applied heavy on the ends of the boards really helps. Another option is to buy a box of canning wax from the grocery store and melt it over heat in a container you don’t mind tossing. I use a coffee can. Once melted, quickly brush it on the ends with a cheap brush. You will have to reheat often, but it melts again quickly, i’ve Found that the wax works much better than paint on unmilled logs you plan to mill later.

I like what you’ve done for storage so far. Nice elevation. DIY termite spray around the base of that elevated platform will provide some added insurance. If you don’t have a building to store it once dried, a portable car port help protect it. I used a CostCo version with the tarp fabric tops and sides for years to store mine. The tarps eventually wear out and have to be replaced.

If you have any unmilled logs remaining try this summer to build a green wood project while you wait for the rest t dry. Peter Follansbee works exclusively with green wood for his 17th century furniture reproductions. His methods are available on the internet and he has a couple of books out. Green wood is not only for chairs and not much is more satisfying to go from log to finished piece, all by your own hands.

Final comment. Watch out, you can easily become a wood hoarder. The relationship with that sawyer resulted in other opportunities for sweat equity free wood. I now have a building with a lumber rack that is 12ft high, 8ft deep, and 16ft long. It’s full with walnut, cherry, oak, cedar, and sassafras. It can become addicting.

[ianab]

Thing about "tree removal" is that if it involves a crane, assume it's maybe $500 just to show up, then the meter starts running at maybe $200 an hour. Probably $1,000 minimum.  Now you still have to pay the arborist, the ground crew, their truck and chipper, the dump fees etc. Pretty soon you have $2,000 for a "simple" tree removal. 

Or a skilled arborist and crew can take it down manually. But that takes all day at ~$200 + an hour. Same sort of difference. 

Or you can pay "Bubba"  $100 and take your chances.  

[Duane N]

My property was full of those oaks years ago.  A tornado associated with hurricane Isabell took most of them out.  We have always called them willow oaks.  Worked a deal with a sawyer to have some of it milled up.  I provide the needed labor, he provide the portable saw mill, and we would split the wood 50/50.

I ended up with a pile of lumber about the size of yours.  It has been great to build with.  Good consistent color and has been proven to be very stable after air drying.  Congrats on your inventory.

If you plan to air dry it, put lots of weight on top to help it during the drying process.  Whether kiln dried or air dried, if stored outside, when ready to use  plane and joint all 4 sides (big leave it a little long and thick for final milling after acclimation) and bring it indoors for at least 2 weeks before use.  Milling all the sides helps it acclimate evenly and helps prevent cupping and bowing.

Looking at your pic, I do not see anything on the ends of the boards.  If not, sealing the ends will help prevent checking during the drying process.  You can end up losing a foot to two feet off each end of the board if not sealed.  There are commercial products available, but an inexpensive latex paint, applied heavy on the ends of the boards really helps.  Another option is to buy a box of canning wax from the grocery store and melt it over heat in a container you don’t mind tossing.  I use a coffee can.  Once melted, quickly brush it on the ends with a cheap brush.  You will have to reheat often, but it melts again quickly,  i’ve Found that the wax works much better than paint on unmilled logs you plan to mill later.

I like what you’ve done for storage so far.  Nice elevation.  DIY termite spray around the base of that elevated platform will provide some added insurance.  If you don’t have a building to store it once dried, a portable car port help protect it.  I used a CostCo version with the tarp fabric tops and sides for years to store mine.  The tarps eventually wear out and have to be replaced.

If you have any unmilled logs remaining try this summer to build a green wood project while you wait for the rest t dry. Peter Follansbee works exclusively with green wood for his 17th century furniture reproductions.  His methods are available on the internet and he has a couple of books out. Green wood is not only for chairs and not much is more satisfying to go from log to finished piece, all by your own hands.

Final comment.  Watch out, you can easily become a wood hoarder.  The relationship with that sawyer resulted in other opportunities for sweat equity free wood.  I now have a building with a lumber rack that is 12ft high, 8ft deep, and 16ft long.  It’s full with walnut, cherry, oak, cedar, and sassafras.  It can become addicting.

I did seal the ends of the logs with anchor seal then once they were milled up I sealed them again.  Anchor seal dries clear.  A lot of the boards did develop cracks but they didn't go in very far into the boards....the ones I've looked at mind you. 

I really don't have any outside buildings to store the dried wood in so I may try the small carport idea you suggested.  I have a 16 X 20 slab that used to house a detached garage that will become wood storage soon.

Thing about "tree removal" is that if it involves a crane, assume it's maybe $500 just to show up, then the meter starts running at maybe $200 an hour. Probably $1,000 minimum.  Now you still have to pay the arborist, the ground crew, their truck and chipper, the dump fees etc. Pretty soon you have $2,000 for a "simple" tree removal. 

Or a skilled arborist and crew can take it down manually. But that takes all day at ~$200 + an hour. Same sort of difference. 

Or you can pay "Bubba"  $100 and take your chances.  

Overhead power lines....15' distance from my home to the tree Bubba was out of the question with this removal.

[Duane N]

I cleaned up a 5/4 piece of live edge oak this weekend.  It's going to be the top to a sofa table I'm building.  I also cleaned up another 5/4 board that will be the legs and feet of the table and I'm quite pleased with the grain pattern of this oak.  I'm going to let the milled up pieces "rest" for a bit before I continue just in case the wood twists, warps or starts checking. 

   

   

   

[Stwood_]

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