What should I do?

[No_Bivy]

Finished taking the crown out of a 4.5' dia White Oak. Log is larger at the flare and the branch divisions. Is it worth trying to salvage it? I could prob get a crane right beside and make the lift.....15k maybe

the second log on the trailer weighs 7.5 k, different job. Probably sell that one.

Are there folks out there who want really big chunks like these?

 

[SkwerI]

Looks like there was metal in the stump cut of the log on the trailer. See the blue spot?

Log selling is pretty much based entirely on your local market. If you have somebody willing to buy it then go for it. But if you have no buyer than it really doesn't matter what it looks like.

We chunk up much better logs than that all the time around here. We used to have a place that paid for pine logs but they shut down 10 years ago. I've only known two mill owners in 20 years that were looking for hardwoods, and both of them were small, part time owner/operator types.

 

[No_Bivy]

I will probably mill myself.......working around that metal aint hard. Lotta good wood in there.

 

[MasterBlaster]

That poor trailer!

 

[woodworkingboy]

From a furniture maker's perspective, there is definitely usable, if not valuable wood in the log, up to the limb intersections. There could be some very interesting grain in there, the way the wood twists and bulges. I see a great coffee table inside there.

Love to see what the end grain looks like at the bottom, if you can post a pic after it has been cut.

 

[No_Bivy]

I was thinking slabs.....maybe 12/4?

paid 75 bucks for the trailer......so I don't mind torturing it a little

 

[woodworkingboy]

Three inch is a good thickness, a little conservative on the thick side, but it will give someone extra material to work with if it twists while drying.

Low thick coffee tables can be beautiful, if there is a good place to have one. Thick benches are nice too.

 

[PCTREE]

IMO its not worth paying for a crane to get the log. Round here (central VA) you cannt give those logs away which is why Ive got a bunch sitting around my lot.

What mill do you have that could handle that log??I was looking at a Peterson swing blade but it wont do slabs.....

 

[blewgrass]

white oak has traditionally been a boatbuilding wood. know alot of people up here that would give their starboard testicle for logs like that.

 

[woodworkingboy]

If you didn't want to go to the expense of a crane, maybe there is someone around with a big enough Alaskan mill, that you could hire to mill it on the spot. That might be the cheapest way to go if you also consider your own time added to mill it yourself at another location.

 

[Al Smith]

That log is typical of a tree grown without being in compition for sunlight . Interesting grain patterns for certain but not what we in these parts would consider a good lumber log . You don't need a crane to load a big log if you have some imagination .

 

[woodworkingboy]

A lot of times, some of the logs that aren't much considered as good lumber logs, have great wood for woodwork. Brokers see wood as a commodity in an equation, woodworkers understand it more to be a possible treasure, given the right growing circumstances, and careful attention to how it's sawn and worked....how the grain might suit a particular design in mind, that kind of thing. I've found some incredible logs at the pulp mill, that were destined to be wood chips sludge.

 

[Al Smith]

Very true indeed just like those knobs called burls .More times that not around here they end up in the wood stove from just a lack of knowledge of their usage . Every log with it's grain patterns etc could find usages in niche markets ,like wind brown grains in the bottom log of a black walnut for gun stocks .

I wish I had just half of the good logs I had cut up for firewood in days gone by .I could retire in style .

 

[Treeslayer]

IMO its not worth paying for a crane to get the log. Round here (central VA) you cannt give those logs away which is why Ive got a bunch sitting around my lot.

You ever been to the mills in West Point? (VA) I sell em logs all the time. price is down, but you can always get $$$. Caruso's is one, I forget the name of the other one, it's in the town limits.
found a link.
www.caruso-inc.com

 

[Treeslayer]

. You don't need a crane to load a big log if you have some imagination .

I've picked em up with a tow truck, and backed my dump truck under the logs.
BIG logs, 4 - 5 ' white oaks 10 -12 ' long. Tow Trucks are real useful, for several tasks. and relatively cheap, a $100 bill will get my guy started quick.

 

[Stumper]

Around here the word for that would be......Firewood. Like wise the Black Walnut I cut. No matter the POTENTIAL value of a finished product, without a market for the raw material it remains of pretty limited value.

 

[squisher]

It's all about networking. Get to know some people who will want the wood. My puny Black Walnut is gonna sell but I ain't gonna jinx it by saying how much 'til the money's in my hands.

 

[sawinredneck]

You could just buy an Alaskan mill, they sell cheap enough at Baileys and such.Get a big one and a couple ripping chains and have at it.

 

[Al Smith]

Around here the word for that would be......Firewood. Like wise the Black Walnut I cut. No matter the POTENTIAL value of a finished product, without a market for the raw material it remains of pretty limited value.

Sad but true .The few mills around here have their pick of the liter ,so to speak .Never have paid much for logs and never will.

Now of course the shoe is on the other foot when you go to purchase semi finished lumber from those mills .Like it or lump it ,that's the way they make money ,just business I guess .

 

[Al Smith]

You could just buy an Alaskan mill, they sell cheap enough at Baileys and such.Get a big one and a couple ripping chains and have at it.

Well that is an option .You have to work your butt off though to get the lumber .On the other hand though I have no idea how to slab that big oak log without chainsawing it .

A big circle mill is out of the question because of the obvious tramp metal in the log .No mill would touch it nor would a big bandmill head saw .

Very few portable bandmills will go over 3 feet so ,what's left ,a chainsaw .

 

[stehansen]

Being in my situation I won't spend any extra money or go through any extra work, to save the log. If it has metal in it, then it is worthless IMO. Big logs are more trouble than they are worth for firewood also IMO.

 

[Stumper]

Steve, Good point but my firewood guy has a Monster Splitter. He can bust 8' sections down to where they'll go through his fire wood processor.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Petersen makes a slabber attachment, the best, but not the cheapest way to slab.

Berkshire Products buys stuff like that. I saw a trailer load of w/o this summer headed there that makes those logs look like veneer.

If it were me, with the tools I have available, I'd bust it down with a chainsaw, not being terribly particular, and then quarter saw it on the Mizer.

 

[stehansen]

Steve, Good point but my firewood guy has a Monster Splitter. He can bust 8' sections down to where they'll go through his fire wood processor.

Wow. He's fixed up way better than the average bear in the firewood biz, at least around here. The vast majority of firewood made here is in almond orchard removal and the wood is pretty small. Plus there aren't any long, straight pieces that would make a processor be efficient. Also at the job site I like being able to just put whatever into the dump trailer or the truck, mixture of chips, wood, debris, and get rid of it. I gave a bid for a large oak removal at a cemetary a while back and the specs called for the wood to be cut into firewood length and left on-site. The largest firewood guy around here only has delivery equipment, he hires the wood cut by these big crews of guys whom he pays by the cord and hauls it to his yard where it seasons for a year or two then he sells and delivers it. He says he does 5k cords/year.

 

[Cobleskill]

I am suprised burning wood isn't illegal in Cal. Don't they ban it in some places out there?