Old red oak died this summer - help salvaging

[Renee Brayley]

Hi everyone,

Looking for some suggestions at using the wood from a beautiful red oak that died this summer: I have been told it is about 80 years old and is about 3.5 feet in diameter, very straight trunk which is about 30 to 40 feet high. It is much taller than this with the upper level branches of course.

I really don't want to turn it into firewood. Last year we tried to make the oak a focal point to our backyard, but by removing a lot of spindly tall maples that grew wild around it, I think we caused it to die :(

A few years ago, one of our neighbors harvested a tree from their vacant lot and turned it into boards right on site, but I haven't been able to get a hold of them. Does anyone know someone with a portable saw mill who could do this job for us, or are there any suggestions for other methods to salvage wood from this tree?

We live in Ross Township, near Pittsburgh, PA.

Thanks for your consideration and ideas.
Renee

[Jim Becker]

If you go to the Woodmizer site you can usually locate a local sawyer that can turn your tree into lumber on-site. But you'll need to take the tree down first...

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Hi Renee,

If you go to the Woodweb site and look in the left hand column there is a link for a sawing and drying directory. There's a bunch of sawyers listed for Pennsylvania and you can probably find one reasonably close or at least find someone who can refer you to a mill. Hope this helps.

Richard

[Bob Glenn]

Windsor chair makers would love to have this. We need nice straight oak for spindles and bent chair parts. Go to WWW.Windsorchairresources (http://www.Windsorchairresources) to find a chair maker in your area. There are lots of chair makers in your area.

[Dick Strauss]

Renee,
Here are some resources for ya:

Scroll down to find sawyers in PA and you might be in business...
http://www.woodweb.com/Resources/RSSDGsawyers.html

Here's another one Harvesting Urban Timber (HUT)...
http://www.harvestingurbantimber.com/classifieds/mills.html
You can also post an add on HUT and see if a sawyer calls...

You can contact your local PA sales rep for Woodmizer to find out who to contact in your area...
http://www.woodmizer.com/us/support/reps/index.aspx

[julie Graf]

hi!

I'm in pittsburgh - just ran into a guy who could help you.

e-mail me if you want more info.

julie at solidio . com