Sad, Sad day at the Kelly Creek Cattle Co.

[x101airborne]

Well, I went out to the ranch yesterday with my neighbor, only to find one of our 200 year old live oaks fallen over. This is heartbreaking, but I know it happens. This tree on it's side is taller than I am. I mean literally, the trunk is 6 foot across. The limbs are 3 foot plus. This thing really had to be a seedling when Columbus stumbled his dumb posterior to the new world. Question is.... What to do with it now??
I dont want to just burn it. That is a waste. I do have a little reverence for Mother Earth. But at the same time it would take a big ole crane to lift just the trunk, some huge saws to cut it, and I dont know if it would be worth it for anyone to get. I would give it free to anyone who could use it, but I am not paying to have it moved.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Love Life]

I don't have any answers for you, but I feel your pain. An old live oak is a sight to see. We had one on Camp Lejeune that was over 300 years old IIRC. It's limbs were so long some of them went back into the ground and came back out.

When I used to cut firewood for pocket money I never touched the live oaks. The old ones are just majestic and you can sit under their shade and wonder what they saw in their years.

[skeet1]

Oak lumber?

[Jim]

If it's real Live Oak, the grain is very twisty. Not much you can build with it. It can be incredibly difficult to split, too.

[L1A1Rocker]

Not much milling in your area so that's a problem. I would imagine if you do a few inquiries in the Houston area you may find a mill in east Texas somewhere that you can make a deal with. Most of the really old oaks are cut thin to make vinears (sp?) with. There is BIG $$$s in that.

If you can make contact with a mill I'd try to trade out some 2-3 inch cross sections (no voids) for yourself (to make tables or such from) and see if they'll call it even.

Good luck

[geargnasher]

When the infamous Live Oak Blight hit here many years ago, it decimated the population. Many of the "survivors" still only put out a pitiful small percentage of their canopy. We had a huge stand of them on our property, now they're all dead except for the new crop, which are booming and healthy, getting in the 3-6" range and some approaching 20ft tall. The new ones have had a lot of help from us with strategic pruning and cutting back the cedar from them so they can get light and water.

At the time then they were dropping dead, it so happened that the USS Constitution was being restored and there was a massive need for good, seasoned live-oak lumber. We contacted the folks doing the resto and they came out and cut a few of them that were the right shape for "knees" and other odd parts they needed. The rest turned into firewood, but the largest was only about three feet in diameter, three feet off the ground, most of them were about 2 feet or so. A few trunks still stand, dead for 25 years and only now losing the bark. Sawmills here won't touch them because they're hard as iron.

I don't know what I'd do with a tree like that Trey, but maybe a Craigslist ad would turn up some people who would? You might even turn up a few bucks for the feed bill in the process, but I'd also request a thin cross-section near the base to make a nice coffee table top for the front porch of your cabin.

Gear

[Frank46]

I have a couple on my property. Beautiful trees but a pain to pick up after. The longer you leave the wood to dry the harder on your saws it will be to cut. Trust me on this. When hurricane andrew came through here one bit the dust. Literally got so hard that an axe would actually bounce off. Chain saw had to be filed after each cut. Lost a great pecan tree due to a hurricane.
A lot of it was in manageable chunks after the chain saw paid it a visit. I was literally sawing it apart over a period of a couple years. Took a long time every so often to saw and burn the pieces. Frank

[crabo]

Got any pictures?

[Plate plinker]

Loggers up north here like to keep the trunks wet to avoid cracking/splitting. Most of the serious work is done in the winter for that reason. A way cool project is to get a massive slap out of the trunk .....say 3 inches thick and make a table. Legs too. And benches. Amish people here made one from black walnut asking like $6500 for it.

[x101airborne]

Well, I gotta go out there tomorrow to get a spare water heater, Yeah, my AO Smith is lieaking like a seive. But I should be able to snap some pics. I will also TRY to wrap a tape around the trunk for an accurate measurement. And I do mean TRY. This thing is huge. I kinda feel like I lost another third of my liver or donated a kidney or something. If I wind up burning this thing I will cry. No man-pride here.

[x101airborne]

BTW.... I know quater sawn oak is a premium furnature wood. That is mainly what I would like to see this go to.

Ya know....... I could use a new rocker for my back porch......

[runfiverun]

it would make some nice boolit retrieval material at the least.

[dpaultx]

Chainsaw sculptors are always looking for big chunks of timber.



Got to be several of them in the Houston/Galveston area.

Just a thought . . . Doug

[square butte]

There are folks that will pay big money for your butt log or logs depending upon thier diameter, length and soundness (lack of rot). If you call over to the School of Forestry at Stephen F Austin St. Univ. (Nacogdoches) 0r - I think Texas A & M now has a shool of forestry as well. They may have an idea or two for you about finding a buyer. Many times lange diameter logs are more desireable to artisan types (Table top makers etc.) Some folks like to rough hew fire place mantle beams for larger custom home fire places. Often lumber folks do not have head saw rigs large enough to handle you log diameter, But qurter sawn oak always brings a premium - and wide boards are tough to come buy - and valuable. Do something sooner rather than latter. Logs begin to check or crack quickly in hot weather. I have a degree in Forestry (SFASU) and worked as a forester for the USFS. Your gonna find someone who can help you with your project. I remember the hugh live oaks around Columbus, TX. Vert old. Good Luck

[Down South]

The main problem with trying to make lumber out of it is most of the old saw mills that could handle a trunk that size are no longer around. Most saw mills now are geared to cut smaller diameter trees.
I had one of the largest pine trees known around my neck of the woods in the back of my pasture. It came down two years ago from a storm. The trunk was 4 ft in diameter. I could not even give it away. I was told there was a mill somewhere over in Mississippi that could saw it. It was too much trouble to find something to load it with and too far to haul it.

[Blacksmith]

Maybe you could get a slab and have someone turn it into a custom stock for one of your firearms. That way you could have a piece of history to hold.

[flounderman]

if you do get a slab or lumber, seal the ends or edges or they will crack

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I doubt this helps you, but there is a fellow MN that turns large logs, I doubt he could turn a 6' dia log, but it's a interesting video.
http://www.mnoriginal.org/episode/mn...2/virgil-leih/

[TCLouis]

Sell it or convert it to lumber and find uses/sell the lumber.

[akajun]

Most mills cant handle trunks over 24" in diameter. Also , I have never seen a logger go after a live oak, they will take down water oaks, red oaks, white oaks, etc, but I have never seen them go after a live oak. Tells me that the wood is not good. I will say it makes excellent firewood.