What I will be doing over the next several weeks.

[Ed B]

I have been thinning out oak and elm trees in my adjacent acre to open up the dense canopy and allow forage and cover to grow underneath. Mother nature, through very wet soil and gusty winds, gave me an unexpected helping hand about an hour ago.

This is a double trunked red oak that I paced off at over 65 feet. The Trunk diameter about 6 feet above ground level is over 6'6". I will have firewood available after I use up a few chainsaw blades and a huge hole in the canopy that should allow new growth on the ground.

It also took out several smaller oaks and elm trees when it fell. Luckily the fence and any buildings were spared.

I wish I had something or someone standing next to it to provide scale. This is about 10 yards from a spring fed creek. Some of the oaks, elm and cottonwood are ancient and huge. This one isnt ancient but it might be as old as me.

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[Ed B]

I wish I could edit the title to change "going" to "doing" but you all understand.

 

[MRG]

I can only see the first photo, the others don't come through.

You said diameter is 6'6" at 6' above the earth. Sure that's diameter , not circumference?

I've logged, sawn, inspected billions of feet of oak, never seen a 6' diameter log.

That said it is still a nice oak, be careful. Kickback still kills.

BTW: Logs are measured in diameter at the small end inside the bark. When that's not possible it was standard to take the circumference times .28 to estimate the diameter.

To determine the board footage in a log you take the diameter in inches, subtract 4 and square the quantity, take it times the length in feet and divide by 16. If your log is 78" in circumference it's 22" in diameter.

22-4 = 18
18×18= 324
324*6=1944
1944/16=124.5

So there's about 125 board feet in the 6' butt log. When I was in the industry oak was always a minimum of 8'2", with most buyers not buying them below 8'6". The top grades(FAS, F1F) in oak at that time were 8' minimum. But I haven't stayed current.

 

[Ed B]

I can only see the first photo, the others don't come through.

You said diameter is 6'6" at 6' above the earth. Sure that's diameter , not circumference?

I've logged, sawn, inspected billions of feet of oak, never seen a 6' diameter log.

That said it is still a nice oak, be careful. Kickback still kills.

BTW: Logs are measured in diameter at the small end inside the bark. When that's not possible it was standard to take the circumference times .28 to estimate the diameter.

To determine the board footage in a log you take the diameter in inches, subtract 4 and square the quantity, take it times the length in feet and divide by 16. If your log is 78" in circumference it's 22" in diameter.

22-4 = 18
18×18= 324
324*6=1944
1944/16=124.5

So there's about 125 board feet in the 6' butt log. When I was in the industry oak was always a minimum of 8'2", with most buyers not buying them below 8'6". The top grades(FAS, F1F) in oak at that time were 8' minimum. But I haven't stayed current.

Good catch, circumference.

 

[pb4uski]

How good is the access to it? I'm wondering if you would be best off to sell it to someone for the lumber value and then use scraps for firewood rather than using some very nice and valuable hardwood for firewood.

 

[Ed B]

How good is the access to it? I'm wondering if you would be best off to sell it to someone for the lumber value and then use scraps for firewood rather than using some very nice and valuable hardwood for firewood.

I may look into that. There is a mill about 30 miles south of me. Thanks.

 

[zedd]

There's a fella around here with a portable sawmill. Charges fifty cents a board foot. Check craigslist in your area.