Timber Framers Guild

shake in red oak

Posted By: gpalmer

shake in red oak - 02/08/04 11:38 PM

Dear Sirs, After felling a tree and cutting it into logs, is there a time frame that a tree will show shake or not? Also, if an oak log does show shake at one point in the ring(one or two inches), does that mean that the entire ring is seperated?
thanks, Greg
Posted By: Mark Davidson

Re: shake in red oak - 02/16/04 06:28 PM

my understanding of shake is that it is caused by wind damage- the wind blows the tree around and the rings are too brittle to hang together.
Any time i've seen shake and then tried to use the log i've always been dissapointed-even when there is very little shake present to the eye the wood quality always seems poor.

on the other hand i have never seen shake develop after a log is cut....just checking,warping,bowing,end splitting,rotting, bug infestations, mold, case hardening, etc, etc.
-Mark in Ontario.
Posted By: Timberbee

Re: shake in red oak - 04/29/04 07:49 PM

I've seen shake develope as time goes on, if you have Felling shake, you'll see that right away, but, I would ask why you feel this is something you need to be worried about?

Have you seen Ring Shake in any of your logs so far? and, any more than just on the exposed ends?

I've been working timbers since late '88 and I've never really had problems with Shake in Oak, Hemlock is the species which seems far more prone to Ring Shake.

I'm just wondering why this is something you feel you need to be concerned with.
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