Contributor
I am with Andrew concerning an opinion of live oaks. I like working with the wood. It has a rich warm brown color to the wood. It is hard and durable. I do hobby and craft woodworking with a fair amount of turning. I especially like live oak for turning bowls. Crotch wood live oak is even better with its swirling, twisting and feathering grain pattern.
Quercus virginiana, a live oak, age is often measured in centuries. So not all of them are susceptible to tipping over.
Bob in Tampa Bay area.
Contributor
After Irma, this area was full of huge live oak logs from fallen trees. Some were six feet thick, indicating they had been around a while. As far as I recall, all of them were rotten in the middle. Even if they had a couple of feet of solid wood on the outside, they had hollow places farther in.
Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of bench.
I was socially distant before it was cool.
A little authority corrupts a lot.
Contributor
I find it easier to pick out Live Oaks by the bark. Laurel Oak/Water Oak typically have a relatively smooth bark with a grayish color. Live Oak by comparison has a much more rough bark and lacks the gray tint, similar to Cottonwood bark. The Dade City/San Antonio/St Leo area has a lot of Laurel Oaks that can get quite large... 4'+ in diameter, but they grow quickly and have a lifespan of only about 90 years before they rot out and fall. They also tend to have longer/straighter trunks than Live Oak.
If I had to guess without seeing a picture I would bet that the hollow stuff is Laurel Oak. If it is milled into slabs or lumber you can figure on loosing about 50% once dry.
Member
You don’t find a lot of live oak lumber because 1) it tends to warp and distort a lot during the drying process, and 2) the tree trunks tend to be short and gnarly, which limits the availability of high quality saw logs.
Contributor
Do laurel oaks get to be six feet thick? If so, the many rotten logs I've seen could have been laurel oaks.Originally Posted by Andrew Gibson
Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of bench.
I was socially distant before it was cool.
A little authority corrupts a lot.
Contributor
At the ground yes they could get to 6' . trunk at shoulder height would typically get out to around 4' we had several on the property I used to live on is San Antonio FL. that were easily 4' at shoulder height, and they are known to go hollow.
Check out this link from University of Florida. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st549#FIGURE%201%20ST549
Contributor
That is my experience also. The rough sawed live oak I get is usually a chore to get it flat on the first face. Shorter boards also while getting a nice flat piece. Last I bought was from a tree trimmer that had fallen and could no longer do much and was selling off his personal stash. All air dried and he had a bunch of Florida cherry and a trailer full of live oak all for $2.00 a bf. Up around Lecanto, do not remember exactly where. Some of the live oak boards he had were over twenty inches wide. All were in the 10' long range. I bought 100 bf of the live oak and wish I had taken it all. Beautiful brown color and hard as concrete. I think I still have one, maybe two shorter boards out in the little barn. All his live oak was rough cut at 1 1/8". If he had cut the logs at 1 1/4" ~ 1 3/8" it would have been easier to mill longer wider boards flat.
I do hobby and craft work and made a bunch of different things out of that live oak.
Andrew, do you know anyone selling dry live oak around us ?
Bob
Contributor
You might Try Craftsman Supply, they just moved to Ybor, they get some local stuff in from a good supplier (VL). There are a couple other places selling local salvaged lumber in the area but I can't speak to quality or availability. Usually the Live oak stuff is not that popular because of how hard it is. your more likely to find it in "slab" for rather than lumber. The guys at Craftsman Supply are where I would try first.
Member
That makes sense, and explains how "Old Ironsides" could have been clad with live oak, causing cannonballs to bounce off, while other live oak definitely does not behave that way.
Contributor
My understanding is that Old Ironsides has ribs of live oak from Virginia, and the planking is white oak. The live oak from the southeast coast is famous for a growth habit that produces branches naturally shaped like ship ribs. White oak is famous for toughness, and it is more rot-resistant than many other wood species.
Contributor
Is this Laurel oak really laurel? IE: bay leaves for cooking come from it? the California laurel, Umbellularia californica, is the sole species in the Umbellularia genus so i guess it is not related to anything else. They do smell nice and peppery when cut or burned. called myrtle wood in Oregon. They sell little trinkets carved from it there.
Bil lD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbellularia
Contributor
Our Laurel oak in Florida is Quercus laurifolia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_laurifolia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_virginiana
See the paragraph titled "Uses". They say Old Ironsides frame came from Georgia. Can't say for sure, I was not there when it happened.
Bob
Contributor
I did not know Craftsman Supply moved to Ybor. Last time I went there when on Busch I got a couple sheets of Baltic birch and asked about Live oak lumber. They looked at me like I had two heads, why would you want that ?
One of these weekends I will take a road trip up around Cheifland or Gainsville areas and visit one of the mom and pop sawmills. Surely they will have Live oak.
Bob
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