Been toying with the idea of building a bridge over a brook on my property to cut my interwoods commute in half. Finally found a nice enough trail way connected to a spot to cross. I.E. no major work to do besides drive on it and make it a trail. Last piece to the puzzle is bridge decking. White Oak being the cheapest (free) alternative. Been keeping my eyes open. Took a ride through a state forest road today and there’s piles of these all along it. Tell me that’s white oak. I’m pretty sure but I’ve been fooled before,,,,,,,,
My eyes work better than my nose. Unfortunately they’re both connected to my brain which went into early retirement some years back. Only got out of the truck at one pile, the first decent set of logs. It was oak but pinkish and very smooth end cut. Not like the red oak I know. Smelled like urine which is red to me. Or pizz oak LOL After that there were too many pedestrians walking their dogs. I’ve got my 30 lb beagle jumping up and down on my head because he knows for sure he can whip any Bull Mastiff out there. So for the most part I just rolled up on the piles with the window down and stared a bit. white would be nice, red might outlast me anyway
Two outside logs im not sure, although left one matches other as far as end color. The far right one appears to be red oak. Second and fourth (painted one)id say yes. You milling those Joe?
Heres my idea. Crazy maybe but half the fun of doing this stuff is seeing if crazy will work LOL Thinking of centering a plumb line right on the middle of the the growth rings (pith?) Then more lines spaced 3” off that. Connect lines on both ends with chalk line. Noodle all the lines on both ends of the log then split the rest with wedges. Hoping it’ll make 3” slabs. It’ll be rough but you get what you pay for. I like rustic anyway.
Sounds like something Abe Lincoln wouldve done only he didnt have a chain saw. Rail Splittin Joe...could be a new user name for ya if it works! Will you cut a kerf all the way down the length of the log of just the ends? I still think a chain saw mill attachment is in your near future.
Another question for anyone to ponder. On the splitting. Was originally thinking of running down the sides of the log with wedges. Today I began wondering if May just splitting from the two ends wouldn’t make a straighter piece? As long as everything is centered on the center the grain should run straight. Anyone care to mull over the possibilities?
Thought about it. Don’t think the rip kerf is necessary. I’m more worried about what might happen in the center of the log. Hard to control what happens in there. More like potluck. Nice straight grained logs are the key I suppose. I might have to bring them all home and have you pick out the white ones from pictures LOL. Brad my long distance lumber inspector.
even if an appearance in person is needed, im glad to lend a hand. buZZsaw's tree identification service at your service! Im not picking one of those up though Joe. I may be crazy but i aint dumb...or is it the other way around? Here's a thought. What if you make a plunge cut all the way though at certain evenly spaced increments and pound wedge in the cut? Sort of like how they split granite or marble?
That’s an idea. Course if your plunge is off angle it’ll mess up. I think it’s gonna come down to a little experimentation to see what works the best. Width of bridge is important and still not determined. Six feet would be fine for the atv but the John Deere would require more.
I know you like tinkering with stuff like that and taking your time doing it. Trial and error always works as long as there is enough white oak around. Worse case scenario...it turns out to be firewood! White oak does split pretty straight IME and those look straight grained. You got enough wedges?
Brook Crossing Brook Crossing Did something similar a little while ago. Lucky for me I have a grove of white at the brook. Got some help from MikeInMa Actually crossed the bridge 6 times today hauling 4 smaller stand dead white oaks and a maple. And I could smell it. It has its own smell for sure.
I’ve got four steel wedges from the old days. Should be enough of those. Whip up some bigger wooden ones to keep the pressure on.
Close. I’m thinking of just dropping two white oaks across the brook. I have a few relatively small dead straight trees in the woods for that. Then split rough planking out of wider logs to lay across/ horizontal. Maybe one log spike in the middle to keep them from walking. Cross that bridge when I get to it. push come to shove if it’s a little saggy I can just throw a stack of premix concrete bags under the center like piers. Rain will harden them eventually. Nice bridge, Or tank pad, depending on your armament
I had the glorious idea of making my own rails out of locust for a snake rail fence. All I can say is Honest Abe must of been one bad azz with the wedge. I hope it works for you.
I’m envisioning it being as easy as snap crackle pop. LOL In reality I probably should have an ambulance on site.
I may visit YouTube. See what I can see. Must be something similar out there somewhere. It’s the internet!!!
