# massive figured red or white oak ?



## davduckman2010 (Apr 26, 2013)

i have this very large and very old massive oak tree that blew over laying out back for a good 15 years according to my 90 year old neighbor . i thought it was rotten i use to climb up on it and shoot deer of it. i took a saw to it and was shock that it was hard as a rock still . it had large twisted branches ( I MEAN TREES) that had swirly figure and white flake through the grain . dont know what kinda oak it is . we were going to cut it up for fire wood. i cut 2 giant slabs 6 inches thick for oak table tops there almost 40 inches across. the giant log has a hugh crotch that looks real burly swirly rings sorta go every where in spots and its 4 1/2 feet across the log is 18 ft long and thats half of it. any suggestions on how i should cut this beast up to get the most out of it. is it worth the trouble and what kinda oak is it thanks duck

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## Sprung (Apr 26, 2013)

Don't know anything about how to cut it up, but from your pictures, that may be the most gorgeous oak I've ever seen! :wacko1: You'll definitely have to post more pictures of it when you cut it up!


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## Kevin (Apr 26, 2013)

I can't tell from those pictures, because WO can look dark like that when wet and that is wet. My guess is RO but I need better pictures Duck especially bark & leaves. Was the bark real rough or just a little rough? RO bark is not as deeply furrowed as WO. All WO leaves will have rounded lobes and all RO leaves will have sharp points. 

I have never seen swirl like that in the second pic in an oak. I bet that would make pretty lumber.


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## davduckman2010 (Apr 26, 2013)

kevin this beast has not had bark or leaves for 15 years or better the bark thats left is about 1 1/2 left in spots and rotted but the wood under that stuff is rock solid. i will take some pics of the tree and post tommorrow im going to a funeral right know for 12 more walleye  i started cutting it in large sections. i could barly roll those slices out of the woods there a couple hundred pounds . the main logs are ohh maybe 10 tons more rings than i can count  oh and i just hosed them off before pics there wet


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## davduckman2010 (Apr 26, 2013)

Joe Rebuild said:


> That would make some awesome beams



your right rob ill get some of those out of it yep


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## phinds (Apr 26, 2013)

Can you cut off a small slab and clean it up and sand it down, especially the end grain, and get good pics? That would maybe make ID possible, although given that there are something like 600 to 900 lumber producing Quercus species I think the best you can hope for is red vs white.


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## Kevin (Apr 26, 2013)

davduckman2010 said:


> kevin this beast has not had bark or leaves for 15 years or better ... but the wood under that stuff is rock solid. ...



That's all I needed to hear. It's white oak.


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## Mike1950 (Apr 26, 2013)

Kevin said:


> davduckman2010 said:
> 
> 
> > kevin this beast has not had bark or leaves for 15 years or better ... but the wood under that stuff is rock solid. ...
> ...



Kevin is probably right- white oak is tough- red oak nah- white oak is what they made the sailing ships out of. I have heard that you can take a 1x1 x4" inch piece of oak -stick one end in water and blow on other end- white oak- no bubbles red oak bubbles. Never tried though.


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## Mike1950 (Apr 26, 2013)

PS- cool wood buddy- ya been holdin out from us and hiding this. :dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2:


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## jimmyjames (Apr 26, 2013)

Yep it looks way to light to be red oak especially green, our red oak logs are a lot redder than those and they've been sitting for Bout the same period of time


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## woodtickgreg (Apr 26, 2013)

Just based on the fact that the tree has been down for so long and not rotten or spalted tells me it's a white. Red oak has open cells that allow water in, white oak has closed cells. White is more resistant to rot because of this and why it is used in ship building. the straw test explains this as well.


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## davduckman2010 (Apr 26, 2013)

Mike1950 said:


> PS- cool wood buddy- ya been holdin out from us and hiding this. :dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2:



lol nope just never thought much about the oaks back there and thats one of the baby ones you should see the red and white ones next to it look like giants compared to it. besides i killed a few deer siting in that tree it had a purpose you could walk right up and your 15 feet up in the air perfect :archery1:


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## DKMD (Apr 27, 2013)

I'm usually not much for oak, but that flame pattern is super cool! As for cutting it, I'd go for the crotches and anything figured... I'd probably burn the rest, but QSWO is awfully pretty for flat work.


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## Kevin (Apr 27, 2013)

Ain't no probably to it. A standing dead oak for 15 years is 100% WO. RO would be gone in a couple or four years at best. But man I can't wait to see that stuff flat sawn. You ARE going to flat saw some right? If you have it QS you will not see the curly patter in WO. But if you flat saw it, it will be plain where the curl is not present. Catch 22.


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## davduckman2010 (Apr 27, 2013)

now im confused kevin my batterys died tonite on the camera when i was out there cutting a large block off a twisted log . ill get some pics of the tree tommorrow and maybe you can draw some scetches on the log so i can get some kind of idea . i cut a 3 foot block off right where that flame peice came off and its kinda wild the grains going everywere so i want that swirly stuff showing when its sliced. the pith is way off to one side a couple inches from the edge. and the rings are so tight i cant even count them and there so out of round im wondering what it will look like sliced . i think its retarded or somthing :dunno: the crotch on the big boy is massive duck


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