Live Oak: Trash or Keep?

[Steve H Graham]

Sorry to post so much.

I have a lot of live oak on hand. It's the result of some tree-trimming. It's in short lengths, maybe 15"-20". It's still pretty wet. It was cut a few months back.

The grain is really nice to look at. Lots of sine waves and color changes.

Simple question: should I keep it or throw it all out? I have read some highly disturbing things about the way it cracks and warps.

Second question: if it's useless for projects to keep, is it still worth using for practice?

[Steve Schlumpf]

It's wood - turn some of it and find out if it works for you! Everyone's experience differs depending on where they live and how much turning time they bring to the table. Have fun with it and be sure to post your results!

[Brian Kent]

I hope to try "California Live Oak" sometime. I assume it's similar. I love playing with different kinds of wood. Even the stuff that is supposed to be too twisty or cracky.

[robert baccus]

It turns great green--not so when dry. I would take normal precautions when drying any oak. The book lists it as the hardest wood in the US.

[Wes Ramsey]

I tried to get some live oak when I was in Savannah over the summer, but couldn't find any the week I was there.

[Steve H Graham]

Wes, given that I pay nothing for this stuff, and given that almost no useful tree varieties grow here, I am only too willing to part with it. We also get a lot of mahogany down here. Someone a few blocks away has a huge pile of seagrape wood in their trash, and I am planning to sneak over there and grab some bits, depending on my nerve. Supposedly it turns well. I have read that it's naturally red when it dries, which may or may not be a good thing.

This is a pretty sad area when it comes to wood that is useful, but we do have a few things. There is a woodturning group that grabs what it can, but it's a big county! They can't get everything.

I am not a woodturner yet, so I don't really know what I'm looking for, but I can see what's out there and do what I can. The stuff from my own tree isn't a big stash. I would say it would fill up one passenger car. But live oak is always available here because no one wants it. I have another tree I would personally like to kill for dropping leaves in the pool.

I sliced up some of the live oak for banjo parts, and I don't really understand it. When I cut the sides off a branch to make it more or less square, the exposed wood on the branch opened up pretty quickly as it dried. On the other hand, tonight while I was using the table saw, I cut off a strip less than 1/16" thick, and it curled up severely in a few minutes but didn't crack. I am thinking this stuff might be good for use as veneer. It looks really nice. I always think of oak as ugly, but this doesn't look like red or white oak.

I don't know if it can be considered green. It's not seasoned, but it has been lying in the sun over the summer.

I don't understand why it doesn't check at the ends.

I am trying to think of other exotic stuff I might run across. We have a lot of Australian pine (casuarina) here, and a short Google suggests that it's good for turning. It's considered a trash tree.

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[Alan Trout]

I use a lot of live oak in my turnings. Dry it is absolutely the most miserable wood on this earth to turn. I turn most of it dry. It is an interlocking fiber that in many instances does not really follow any direction. It can have some of the most amazing grain patterns of any wood that I have ever seen and can be worth experimenting with it. But be prepared for some tough turning and unpredictable warping cracking etc.

Good Luck

Alan

[mark kosse]

I don't bat an eye at turning it and love the way it looks when done. I do have to resharpen my tools, sometimes more than once while turning it. To me the results are worth the effort.

here's something I turned the other day. Sorry I can't make it upright.

[Robert Engel]

I live in NE FL and my experience with the live oak up here is its pretty useless as dimensional lumber (evident by the way it grows in curves).
I've never tried turning it, but I also have never heard of anyone using it for turning, either.

There is a guy in Gainesville who has a tree service and a sawmill who apparently is cutting some of it.

I know the firewood guys don't want anything to do with it because you can't split it.

If it were me, I'd get rid of it.

[Steve H Graham]

Certainly getting a variety of opinions.

[Steve H Graham]

I was not able to scrounge sea grape wood today. When I arrived at the house with the trash pile, there were people working there. I do not speak Spanish, so I left.

I saw some fresh mahogany, but the logs were 3 feet long and a foot thick, and I did not feel like lifting them.

On the up side, I retrieved some weird-looking pieces of oak from my own pile. Again, I do not understand why it's not checking worse. I shaved some discolored wood off to get a look at what's underneath.

One piece appears to be spalted from one end to the other. A couple of others have a lot of rot, plus spalting and sound wood. I do not know if this stuff has potential, since I don't have a turner's eye for wood, but it looks a lot like the crazy burls and crotches I've seen on Youtube.

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[Dennis Ford]

Live oak is my favorite of the oaks for turning. Trying to make it straight is asking for trouble but working with the warping instead of against it can produce some interesting work.

[Clark Miles]

I have five acres of Live Oaks. I haven't turned any from my property yet, only an OLD piece. Everyone I've spoken with locally won't touch it once dry: it destroys blades, and it's still going to move.

I'll be trying some of mine soon as I've got some trees to trim (and some burls :) )

[Tom Megow]

The Park Rangers from Cumberland Island National Park (coastal Ga) said "ole Ironsides" made from Live Oak

[Robert Henrickson]

The Park Rangers from Cumberland Island National Park (coastal Ga) said "ole Ironsides" made from Live Oak

At least the frames (ribs) were/are; I believe the planking was/is white oak. The keel is elm. Some of the frames and the keel presently in Old Ironsides are assumed to be original to the construction in 1796/7.

[Steve H Graham]

This stuff is surprising me. It's cooperating much better than I expected. Seems like it's too pretty for the project I'm building.

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[Steve Peterson]

On the up side, I retrieved some weird-looking pieces of oak from my own pile. Again, I do not understand why it's not checking worse. I shaved some discolored wood off to get a look at what's underneath.

One piece appears to be spalted from one end to the other. A couple of others have a lot of rot, plus spalting and sound wood. I do not know if this stuff has potential, since I don't have a turner's eye for wood, but it looks a lot like the crazy burls and crotches I've seen on Youtube.

The rotten section allows the rest of the wood to expand and shrink without cracking. It appears quite often in live oak around my house, sometimes leaving 3-4" thick solid sections.

I like turning live oak. It usually has a really pretty grain pattern. And as others have posted, it is as hard as a rock once it dries.

Steve

[Wes Ramsey]

That looks a LOT like the post oak I've worked with some here. 3 years ago we cut 24 trees out of our yard to give my boys more room to play - cedar, red oak, post oak, elm and hickory. We hauled what we could to our mill and the rest went to firewood. My father-in-law said that one of the post oaks was the hardest wood he'd ever sawed. Really bogged down that big circular blade! The wood has some really nice figure though, and it moves every time you work it. I'll message you about a wood swap. Thanks!

[Steve H Graham]

I have not had any problems sawing this stuff. My band saw is 2 HP and my table saw is 5 HP. I don't know if it would work well with smaller motors. I had an interesting experience when I tried to plane it on a shooting board. It felt like the blade was hitting a rock. I had to use the table saw.

[Mark Greenbaum]

Look for Norfolk Island Pines when you're scouting for free wood in Florida. It turns beautifully as urns, etc. Usually a decorative, but I am sure when they're matured they get cut down.

[Steve H Graham]

My dad had one 40 feet tall. Until Andrew!

[Mark Greenbaum]

I think I've read somewhere that live oak was used extensively for the framework of the hulls of wooden ships. Because of its naturally occurring arches it lent itself well for those functions; as well as being extremely strong. And, yes, Old Ironsides was names that because the structure withstood cannonade.

[robert baccus]

Live oak was once the property of the British crown and navy. Super hard and weird shapes for ribs and planks. Most was worked by adzes and bow saws.

[Steve H Graham]

A few pieces I cut today.

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