# Busting a big oak



## Daren (Mar 31, 2012)

Oak splits easy, I _used_ to do it all the time. (before I really started disliking oak for myself and stopped milling for others) It doesn't even take a big saw to make a kerf to start jamming wedges in.

I split this 50''+ oak log using a little Stihl with a 14'' bar, 4 steel wedges, a handful of wood wedges and a sledge. It was 14' long so I cut it in 1/2 first with a real saw and split the 7' sections. (you can see my 16' fishing boat in the background just a few paces away from the log for scale)
[attachment=3626]

In just a few minutes it popped right in half. 
[attachment=3627]

I made a little kerf and busted the 1/2s into 1/4s. The whole log weighed 14,000+, so even in 8 pieces (cut in 1/2 and each 1/2 quartered) the busted down pieces were 1700+ lbs each. I 1/4 sawed the whole log on my little manual sawmill.

Those were just pics I swiped off the web from another place I posted them. I ran out to the shed and snapped this crappy cell phone picture of a 20''+ rough sawn (and dusty) 1/4 sawn board that came out of the log. I got some 24'' wide stuff, but I sold it right away.
[attachment=3628]

Here is a better picture of the same stuff (just narrower) shot through the planer.
[attachment=3629]


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## Mike1950 (Mar 31, 2012)

Nice oak Daren!! that is about what I was trying to describe- not near as spectaculor as explosives-but considerably more acceptable in the city-have to sell a lot of boards to make bail. :cray::cray:


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## Kevin (Mar 31, 2012)

Nice job. Too bad oak is ugly or you could make a living selling it.


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## DKMD (Mar 31, 2012)

That's cool... I had no idea that wedges would split something that large.

In spite of Kevin's objections, I think a platter out of that quarter sawn stuff would be spectacular... Even though I hate turning oak!


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