Old white oak coming down

[Tom Sherman]

Had to repair a sewer line a couple of years ago, and the line ran along the side of the poor old oak. It seems that the digging upset this big old tree and it has passed on. Since it is soo close to my house it has to come down before I have to find somewhere else to live. My arborist says he estimates the tree at around 120 to 150 years old. I have promised the wood to a young friend for his mom she uses wood to heat her home in the winter. I have lately been thinking it would be nice to have a couple of bowls or something to remember it by. I have been thinking quite bit of the great work done by the master of Oak Chris Hartley and I believe I will take a few pieces to attempt something memorable. This should be interesting considering I havent turned anything in quite a while and the propensity of oak for being tough to turn. Will post some pictures soon.

[John Hart]

Yeah...I'd like to see pictures of the tree. Wow..150 years old. Gotta be some character in there somewhere. Even if most of it is firewood (nice gesture by the way) you oughta be able to capture some cool figure.;)

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have turned some oak bowls Tom. It can be hard to deal with. I found if I rough them out to 1" or so, round the top lip and paint entirely with anchorseal to let them dry it has worked fairly well. Not sure how Chris dries his but hopefully he will chime in. This is one wood that I haven't had good luck with using DNA.

[Bill Bolen]

Get some large trunk blanks and give it a spinTom. I enjoy turning whire oak. Cuts like butter when wet but a bit tougher once it has dried out. It can be a bear to dry a rough out though. I do the same as Bernie and anchor seal the end grain inside and out on the rough out. Put it in a brown paper bag and stick on a shelf for 6+ months. About 3 weeks ago I roughed 3 largish platters from WO and had to change the bags twice so far as they had become wet. Sealed and bagged the wood moves a lot .No sealer it will crack in a heart beat.. Good luck with it...Bill..

[Nathan Hawkes]

White oak is great to turn when its wet! I don't like returning anything, much less hard wood like white oak, but the suggestion is sound; it does like to split on you. I wish I had some around here! I've been wanting to try some ammonia fuming.

[Tom Sherman]

This area of town that I live in is loaded with LARGE oaks some red some white. The man working on my tree was telling me that he cut one down a couple of years ago, and quit counting rings at 320. The man that owned the property had two huge oaks the one in the front fell on his house and demolished it had to rebuild when he did he hired this fella to take the big one down in the back. Most of what has been taken out of my tree so far has been broken limbs some almost 10 inches in dia. Hoping the temps drop some before he gets back in the tree to finish.

[Dennis Ford]

Boiling the roughouts works well with white oak. It will still warp quite a bit but the boiling will reduce cracking and speed up the drying process. I suggest rough turning ASAP, then boiling for 2 or 3 hours, then wrap with brown paper or coat with anchor seal when cooled down.

[charlie knighton]

the day you cut down the tree, cut white oak into blanks, put in cardboard barrels for 6 months or so, turn any blanks that did not check

white oak has a lot less sapwood than red

[Tom Sherman]

It is now on the ground, just a matter of getting it cleaned up. Here are a few pics156871

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[Roger Chandler]

That ought to keep you busy for a while! :D

[David E Keller]

Wow. That was a huge tree, and the wood ought to keep you busy for a while.

[Tom Sherman]

The big piece in the last pic was cut from the stump two of us could not even move it, had to put a rope on it and use the truck to pull it off the stump. That is a one gallon jug of iced tea only thing I had at the time to use for scale.

[Baxter Smith]

White Oak. For the last 30+ years it has been my favorite firewood. I don't look at those beautiful pieces quite the same now.:)

[John Hart]

I think you oughta go get a shovel and dig up that root ball. You haven't done nearly enough yet!!:D

[Jason Roehl]

That's just a baby! My back-yard neighbor has a massive oak on his property that is about 5 ft in diameter! I've heard that our whole neighborhood (30-35 houses about 30-40 years old mostly) was surveyed with that tree as the beginning reference point. I'm hoping it's healthy and stays that way...it's not as far away from my house as its height, though its crown is large enough that it might not get to my house if it does come down.

[Tom Sherman]

I think you oughta go get a shovel and dig up that root ball. You haven't done nearly enough yet!!:D

I thought about that John, I have a history as an equipment operator and can't figure out where the hydraulics are on a shovel.

[Tom Sherman]

[QUOTE=Jason Roehl;1476720]That's just a baby! My back-yard neighbor has a massive oak on his property that is about 5 ft in diameter! I've heard that our whole neighborhood (30-35 houses about 30-40 years old mostly) was surveyed with that tree as the beginning reference point. I'm hoping it's healthy and stays that way...it's not as far away from my house as its height, though its crown is large enough that it might not get to my house if it does come down.[/QUOTE

Jason that was the little one of the bunch I have Three more oaks and a poplar that are bigger than that one.

[Pete Jordan]

That is quite a tree!

I look forward to seeing some great oak pieces from you.

[Mark Hubl]

That was a nice tree. Going to make some nice fire wood, but should make some nice billets as well. Oak can be really beautiful depending on the orientation.

I like to think whenever a tree comes down somewhere a turner get his wings. (I think I saw this in a movie.)