red oak timber end splits

I recently aquired a lot of red oak which was cleared in my neighborhood. Unfortunately I did not get to the felled trees quickly enough and they were out in the sun for some time, without the ends being sealed. They are now in timber form and a few of them have splits extending up into the timber 12 inches or so. In particular the timbers which I had sawn up for summer beams are the ones which are split. I am wondering how wise it would be to use the already end split timbers for this load bearing beam. gpalmer

The split you describe could be more than just a drying split, it could be a split caused by the felling method/procedure. Can you see if it is inline with the felling cuts?
I would also question whether or not you should use this as a summer beam.
To prevent further splits, hopefully you've treated the ends with a sealant? Jim

The split dosn't seem to corespond to the felling cuts. The timber looks as if it is seperated into two pieces though, by 3/16" at the end. Perhaps I should just cut a couple feet off and make it a narrower bay. If it was caused by improper felling (I don't know how it was done) does that make the timber unsafe for use? thanks, gpalmer

Consider using splines for the joinery and you may not have to shorten the bay by much. Mark

A split caused by a felling cut is a serious split in the timber. It could affect the strength of the timber. I'm not expert on how to determine if this timber is ok to use or not, but I would question it and try to compensate for it, maybe with a spline joint as mentioned. Good luck, Jim