In need of milling for 17 foot white oak log with 48" diameter (beautiful)!!

[Sean C Harrington]

I am looking for advice and/or services to cut a white oak log into slabs. The log is 17 feet long and a 48 inch diameter at the base. The circumference is 12.5 ft at base and 11.5 ft at top. It has been dead standing for the last five years. Felled 2 days ago. I would like to explore the options of cutting it length wise with the grain. This would result in at least 4 - 17' X 44"-48" slabs with 4 inch thickness. These giant slabs will definitely present their own obstacles, but will they ever be beautiful. The other option would be to cross cut the log and get roughly 48 round slabs of 44"-48" in diameter (3" thickness). Last option that I am thinking about is to mix up the cross cuts and the long slabs. Maybe I could get a good mix of 12 foot slabs and 48" round slabs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. Looking forward to being part of this forum.

[Tom Hogard]

Sean, it would be very helpful if you were to indicate where the log was located. If you are able to move the log, it would increase your options. A log that size would weigh over 15,000 pounds. If unable to move, you are probably looking for a chainsaw mill (at a minimum) or a swing-blade mill with a slabbing attachment. Finding a sawyer with that equipment will depend on where you are.

[Ted Calver]

Sean, Welcome to the creek. Glad you found us. As Tom said, you're looking at a chainsaw mill for in-place cutting... and not just any chainsaw mill. It will take a big power head or dual power heads and a long bar, plus significant lifting and moving equipment or a hefty log arch to move the slabs. This kind of set up is not common. They can be found, but it depends on your location. You might find a swing blade mill with slabber or one of the specialty large band mills in your area, but it won't be cheap.

The round slabs, or "cookies" stand a good chance of developing cracks as they dry, but having been standing dead wood for such a long time might work in your favor. I would be worth it to add a few into the mix. I'm assuming you intend to sell the majority of what you saw and cookies are popular right now. After five years there might be some significant spalting in the wood that would increase the value, if caught at the right time.

[Sean C Harrington]

Thank you both for the advice. I am located in Southern NH. If either of you were working with a log of this size, what would you do? (It could be the largest white oak in NH). Circumference at the base is 22 feet! I saw online that the largest white oak in NH has a 20 foot circumference. This is such a special tree. I want to do the right thing. Cookies seem so much easier to cut, work with, and transport, however, when I think of a 16 or 17 foot white oak table with a 4 foot diameter, I get pretty excited. I saw a guy offering chainsaw mill services on craigslist. This seems to be a good way to go if I went the way of big slabs. My thoughts are to mill it into 5 inch thick slabs, and then get it planed down to 3 inches or so...which presents its own problems. Thanks again.

[Ted Calver]

Try and put the log on the ground where it can be safely worked on. I would carefully cut the log off at the base of the big rotten? branch on the multi-stem crotch and take a look at the quality of the wood on that end. Any rot may extend into the main part of the log. You are not going to get perfect clear knot free wood from this tree. It will have some character. If you have good wood on both ends then you can cut slabs or cookies as you wish. Just my amateur 2¢

[John K Jordan]

.... Circumference at the base is 22 feet! I saw online that the largest white oak in NH has a 20 foot circumference. ...

BTW, tree diameter is typically expressed as DBH: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diameter_at_breast_height

As mentioned, it would take a pretty big saw to mill it. My woodmizer bandsaw mill has a maximum diameter of 28" and even then it's difficult. If you can whittle the log down some you can make it fit on a bandsaw mill. I've crosscut 48" oak logs with my 24" chainsaw but ripping one down the middle with that size saw would be tricky and take a lot of time. If the grain was straight you could split the log the old way with gunpowder but with all the knots on yours that's not going to work well. Looks like you would have very little clear grain, mostly at the bottom - could possibly cut that off, cut into quarters with a big chainsaw, then cut short but useful quartersawn planks on a sawmill.

One problem is moving loading and moving it. According to a log weight calculator putting in your numbers I get 12,600 lbs. You could probably load it on a trailer by parbuckling but it would take a significant truck and trailer to move it, possibly expensive if you don't have the equipment.

Another issue is as mentioned, what's it like inside? That can be a real joy or a huge disappointment. With all the branches at the top and middle you might get al lot of beautiful crotch figure or you might find rot and cracks. Cutting cookies would be relatively easy but from my experience and as mentioned, there is a good chance of them cracking and splitting as they dry.

Perhaps contact some sawmills in your area and get someone to come look at it. If they can't handle it, maybe they can recommend someone who can. There is a commercial mill here that could certainly handle that size but they don't do custom work.

[Sean C Harrington]

Good observation Ted. At the butt end there is a small section of rot. I don't think there is any rot on the multi-stem crotch. I'll double check tomorrow. I figure, that whether I go with cookies or slabs, I'll fill the rot hole with some type of epoxy resin. Here's a picture of the base of the tree. The rotten log is pretty beautiful too. I've seem some beautiful tables with made with cookies of rotten stumps. These stumps cuts should be about 50-60" in diameter.

[Sean C Harrington]

Thanks John. Great additions to the conversation! Thanks for the clarification on DBH. Interesting... I hadn't really given any thought to the fact that their may be rot in the log (besides the bottom of the stump). I will study it much closer in the morning. I was thinking that due to the many burls on the sides of the log, that it would add some good texture to the live edge. With regard to cutting cookies, is there still significant risk of cracking and splitting since the tree has been dead for a number of years?

[John K Jordan]

Thanks John. Great additions to the conversation! Thanks for the clarification on DBH. Interesting... I hadn't really given any thought to the fact that their may be rot in the log (besides the bottom of the stump). I will study it much closer in the morning. I was thinking that due to the many burls on the sides of the log, that it would add some good texture to the live edge. With regard to cutting cookies, is there still significant risk of cracking and splitting since the tree has been dead for a number of years?

Hard to tell from the photo - are those really burls on the side? A lot of bumps can be where the tree has sealed over where limbs have been cut off or died and broke off, encapsulating the dead end of the limb. Hard to tell without looking at it or cutting into it.

Also, from the photo it looks like it may be a "yard" tree. These are notorious for having metal inside in the form of nails, clothesline hooks, lag screws, files, screwdrivers, barbed wire, etc. I found a railroad spike in one. One tree was hollow inside and peering up inside it looked like an inverted porcupine with 100s of nails visible! (several generations of boys had nailed steps to their treehouses) Some sawmills won't saw a yard tree and others will expect you to pay for a new blade if they hit metal, usually $30+ for a band mill.

The rot and cracks shown on the end at the bottom may extend all the way up the tree or quit in a short distance- impossible to tell until you open the log. If so, getting wide slabs may be difficult. I sometimes have to cut around quite a bit in the middle of the log. Sometimes radial cracks can go in enough directions from the center that most of the lumber is ruined. You might be able to probe into the cavity in the bottom end of the log with a rod to get some idea but it might not tell you anything about the integrity of what is higher in the tree. One huge tree had a large cavity with a honeybee colony high in the tree. A maple that came down in my woods hand a long cavity with a huge black ant colony - the tiny opening must have been 30' off the ground!

Even a standing dead tree can be quite wet inside.

I don't mean to sound discouraging but there are just some of the things that you can run into. It's easy to get excited by a log that looks great on the outside but you never know until you open it. I've sawn some promising-looking logs that gave me nothing useful. But then I've had some wonderful surprises! It's hard to decide when it's worth gambling the time and handling trouble (or the expense, if you can't do it all yourself) of finding out.

[Dave Fritz]

The benefit of hiring an experienced sawyer is they will have experience and could tell you what they'd do.

[Rod Sheridan]

Sean, I was given a red oak log of similar diameter.

I split in half by merging and cutting a pocket for a hydraulic jack, and the split the halves so I had 4 quarters.

We had some nice quarter sawn wood, however we weren’t slabbing it.......Regards, Rod