There are the recent threads "White Oak from A Policeman" (Greg), and "White Oak Down by the creek" (MAF143), and so I'm adding this shot from this morning: White Oak down by Cottage Grove Lake. It had been cut up and left abandoned for weeks, so I got the permit from the Corp of Engineers and we had it loaded it in less than 10 minutes - couldn't be easier. This is Oregon White Oak, also known as Garry Oak. Maybe 24" on the stump, I didn't measure it. My buddy has the tractor and he gets the crotch wood for his mill while I got the "plain old firewood" - it had been a hazard tree.
I have to wonder if you are talking about the Oak tree limb that fell and killed a person in a parked car yesterday morning in Portland Oregon? What chitty luck.
White Oak has to be the slowest curing wood I'm aware of Brad, so I will reserve it for emergencies or until at least 2023. (??) On the other hand, ya burn what ya got, right? I have outdoor stacks, a barn, and a woodshed so I'm lucky to have space to set aside a few years worth. Wasn't always this lucky. My brother in law same way - has a barn full of just Oregon Oak. I have living oak trees too, but I'd rather allow them to keep growing and just cut the dead junk for now or scrounge around for ones like this one. You? (And we still want to know how much wood your little saw cut!)
Interesting that white oak takes that long to dry. I recently brought home a big butt log from our woodpile. I have found that the end of the wood starts to check/crack within a few days. Love the smell of white oak!!
But that cracking really does not mean much with the drying. It just says that it is drying right there where you can see; nothing from the inside. It always used to get to me when wood sellers love to point out the cracking as if that is proof that the wood is dry. Sorry...
That is more so proof that it is not dry...the cracks start when wood fibers on the end start to dry, and the ones immediately adjacent are not...causes an internal stress that causes cracks to start. I have noticed that on some types of wood the cracks will later close back up somewhat as the rest of the split dries out...
To Backwoods’ point, I’ve had wood with checking that very wet still and wood that is under 20 percent with next to no checking.
