Below are a couple of pics of the monster red oak we recently milled into 1×6’s, 1×3’s and slabs. The tree was one of six that my granddad planted around the house back in the 1930’s. The trees are reaching the end of their lifetimes and this is the 3rd one I’ve had to remove. I’m hoping to convert the tree into some interesting wood projects for the house and shop. We also cut 3 large slabs and will try to make some interesting table tops with them.
The Lucas sawmill did a great job producing both dimensional lumber and the slabs and we never had to move the tree from where it fell. This was an issue since the log you see in the picture weighed close to 8,000 lbs (80lbs per cubic foot)! You’ll notice that the base (at right of picture below) was trimmed down to 60″ or 5 feet which is the maximum width that the mill will cut. The base was over 6′ wide before trimming. We also had to block up the mill as the top of the log was higher than the mill would reach. After considerable engineering, we started cutting.
After the sawing, the next step was getting the lumber carefully sorted and stacked for drying. I’ve planed some of the boards into finished lumber. Learning about and experiencing the process of taking wood from the “tree” form to finished lumber and to finished work piece has been really rewarding.
http://barrackfarms.com/wordpress/red-oak-tables/
Click the above link to see where a lot of this wood went!
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- Grand dads monster Red Oak
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- Cutting 1×3’s with Lucas Mill – 54″ Red Oak
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- Oak Slab 3″ x 54″ x 12 ft. long
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- The large slabs (over 900 lbs. ea.) from the tree were stored outside
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- Kendall shows oak lumber stored in the drying shed.
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- Kendall shows off an oak board as it comes off the planer – finished and ready to build a table!
