White oak tree! Worth the trouble?

My brother-in-law lives has a small creek running through his farm. There are A LOT of white oak trees that line the creek. Early this fall they had a lot of rain and the creek flooded. Some of the bank washed out and a fairly large white oak tree tipped over, roots and all, across the creek. The tree really needs to be removed or if it rains a lot again, and debris washes down the creek it will cause a serious log jamb.

The trunk is about 24" in diameter at the base and about 20" in diameter at the first major fork. This section of trunk is about 18 feet long and VERY straight.

Should we go to the trouble of pulling it out of the creek, loading it on my trailer and get it milled? Its about a 2 1/2 hour drive for me. I figure there is close to 300 bf in this log. A guy with a saw mill near me will slab it for $65/hour. He thinks it will take him less than 3 hours.

Should I go for it? Or is it more trouble than its worth?

Any advice?

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Originally Posted by Royce Meritt

My brother-in-law lives has a small creek running through his farm. There are A LOT of white oak trees that line the creek. Early this fall they had a lot of rain and the creek flooded. Some of the bank washed out and a fairly large white oak tree tipped over, roots and all, across the creek. The tree really needs to be removed or if it rains a lot again, and debris washes down the creek it will cause a serious log jamb.

The trunk is about 24" in diameter at the base and about 20" in diameter at the first major fork. This section of trunk is about 18 feet long and VERY straight.

Should we go to the trouble of pulling it out of the creek, loading it on my trailer and get it milled? Its about a 2 1/2 hour drive for me. I figure there is close to 300 bf in this log. A guy with a saw mill near me will slab it for $65/hour. He thinks it will take him less than 3 hours.

Should I go for it? Or is it more trouble than its worth?

Any advice?

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If you need to pull it out of the creek anyway, it's probably worth it. Is there a sawyer near your bro-in-laws? It may be easier to tranport the cut boards, than the whole log. but maybe not - you know your trailer.

If you've never had a log milled, it's worth it for the experience alone. It's amazing to watch the purty boards fall out of the log.

If you're sure there is no metal buried in it - go for it. Have the sawyer quartersaw it. You'll have some 10"-11" quartersawn boards out of that tree and that's wide for quartered white oak.

can you get someone with a portable band saw mill to come to your BIL's?

I agree with Rob. If you're going to remove it anyway. Have it milled onto Qsawn lumber.
I would try to have it milled as close to onsite as possible. That's going to be one heavy log.

I cold not agree more with the guys who said "quartersaw it"!!! I built my first peice out of QSWO and am stuck on it... Searching for the cheapest, nearest guy I can find.... I need MORE!!!! Trust me, you'll love it. Good Luck. Ken

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=65710

Ditto to what the rest said. I harvested one about that size last year off of my FIL (3-8' Logs of that diameter), had it QS...wound up selling 2/3 of the boards to fellow creekers, and am keeping the rest...IMO it was worth the trouble and expense.

I guess it depends on the sawmill operator, but I would think it should take no more than 1 - 1 1/2 hours max...to workup your logs. The day I had mine done I had the WO and about 15 other logs of maple and poplar sawed and finished in an 8 hour day.

Robert

What are you going to do with it in two years when it's dried enough to bring into the shop? What thickness will you cut?

From a guy who's been there and done that, it's a lot of fun and some hard work. It's worth the entertainment value alone, not to mention in the end, you just might get some usable lumber out of it.

If you're not sure what you are going to do with it, you could always have larger pieces cut (think "cant" size). Less to move and stack, but heavier each one.

Todd