For those of you not familiar with this tree, it is found primarily in coastal areas and does not drop its leaves at one time like regular oaks. It is rare to find one in my area that is down or dead but when you do....... I found one today that had been pushed over in a construction site so, like all good hoarders, I got the saw and went to work. Basically, I had to carry the rounds up a hill to my truck so today, I only got a third of a load. All this to make this point: Live Oak is the densest, knarlyist and heavy wood I have ever fooled with, but, when seasoned for 3-4 years, it is the best firewood I have ever burned. I'm going to try to get some more this week but logistically, it is a royal pain in the a-- to carry it up that hill. A maul and/or a wedge? Not happening with live oak. That is why God gave us hydraulics. Oh, and after about 15-20 cuts, break out the file.
Absolutely concur...I grew up cutting and tying to split that stuff. Major PITA, but delivers stove-melting heat for your efforts!
Now Im wondering why Eric VW hasn't incited the picture rule on this thread yet.... I wanna see them knots!
We have Holm Oak over here (another evergreen oak) which is a little crimped like eucalyptus when split. I split a car load with a maul and wedge (no hydraulics) a year or two ago which was a serious work out, yet to experience its heat though...
Every time I've seen live oak I've wondered how it was for firewood but all I've seen looks to be a pain just cutting it.
I had several dozen pieces that had been under an open sided shed for several years. The bark was off of course but whe you hit a couple pieces together it sounded like two Louisville Sluggers. It was the hardest, densest and hottest burning wood I have ever witnessed.
Visiting in Florida for the week...huge Live Oak as far as the eye can see! Oh, the irony of all those BTUs in a place that never gets below 60 degrees
I have a sister that lives near a huge live oak, called the angel oak. We visited it, words and pics don't do it justice. Photos
Agreed. Thankfully I don't have Photoshop available, or I'd have 'shopped your boat into that old pic
I was thinking the same thing looking at them yesterday...it must take some serious gnarl to support a 60' branch that's damm near horizontal to the trunk.
They look like a difficult tree to drop. You get the notch in then the backcut just to watch it lean over and rest on a limb.....
Sorry to bump an old thread. I was about to start a thread entitled "Splitting live oak by hand. Am I a masochist?", but I figured I'd pile on here. Have some 2-3 year-old rounds from a limb that was getting too close to my house. I cannot believe how hard it was to make any headway with these. Splitting axe just gets stuck shallow, splitting maul bounces right off, and even my wedges want to run the other direction rather than take on the twists and turns. I don't bother with more than one round a day because it's such a workout. Attaching some pics that really show off the spiraling mess of these fibers.
