Hi DLB,

These are not timber framing trees.

Trees of this size and girth should go for planking.

Regards

Ken Hume

Ken,

In America trees of this size were frequently used for framing, in no small part because there were so many of them around during the days of settlement.

And as I have tried to make clear, not near all of them are going to be used for framing timbers.

Later this afternoon I am going to do some figuring and find out sort of what I can expect to get out of these trees, and from there figure how many will be riven and how many will be milled.

The thing with tornado damaged trees is that they often times will have some splitting at the top, especially in cases like this where the tornado ripped off the entire top of the tree. If you are going to split them, than this is not usually a problem, and in fact can be used to your benefit, however it can be fatal to sawn boards.

If one or two trees turn out to be total junk, then you can always make some nice split rail fencing out of it. Unfortunately our white oak is not usually well suited to burn, so I can't load up on firewood. It has a tendency to just kind of sit there and never burn, all the while sucking heat from your fire.

DLB

DL, from my observation of local frames 1800 through 1870, I will agree with Ken. Almost all heavy timber, 8 x 8 and larger, I have seen is boxed heart with sap wood and somewhat lesser amount has wane. Logs were selcted for hewing with the end product in mind with minimal waste and effort in conversion. Big stems could end also be used for radial split shingles and siding.

How big is your saw?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYhh_i5wc2o&feature=fvwrel

At least around here, I see no evidence of large timber being used. Even brace stock can have pith in it and wane. This is due the the size of trees we have, though.

I see some evidence of it around here, but there is not a whole lot since many of the extant barns are from around 1900, when most of these were gone.

There is a log cabin in this county built I believe in either the 1830's or 1840's, with the squared log style. All of the logs in it are at least 24 inches wide, totally free of any sapwood.

Here is a couple of pictures:



These corner joints are unusual. I have heard there is one particular builder who built most of the cabins in this county, and this type of corner joint was his trademark. In other words, nobody else (at least hereabouts) used it.

But any way, this is a fine example of some super-sized timber at work. IT is hard to tell from this picture, but in other places it is evident that these gigantic timbers were converted entirely by axe.

Mike, I remember you shared this once before, but I forget, what exactly is this? A summer beam from something I would guess?

One thing that is not obvious from the photos I showed, that is a 2 story log cabin, with timbers the big all the way to the top. How on earth did they DO that?!

In addition to that, I know there are examples from the middle ages where building are built of timbers that were split and then hewn, and also that this method was not at all uncommon during the first half of the viking age, when their ships were built of gigantic oak. Later on this wasn't the case, as the shipbuilding boom exhausted the supply of oak. It took over 100 oak trees to build a single longship...

Summer or swing beam, Oak, from a barn(s) in Ohio, re-purpose project. 12" thick. Close to 2' tall in the center. Gunstock posts in the background were similar size @ the top.

The first bent we picked weighed 2700#s if I remember correctly. 2 posts, 2 braces, that summer beam.

Yeah, I've wondered and marveled at the things folks have done with out cranes and power tools...

I wish I had got a picture of the whole cabin when I was out there, it is an impressive feat. I'll have to swing by and get one some day, which should be easy since it's like 20 miles from me.

This cabin was used as an illustration of what the forests in this county looked like before the land was cleared, records suggest that trees of this size not only existed, but were dominant and quite common -most trees were this big.

But back to the trees in question here...

There is 1 big reason why I want to use at least some of them for framing timbers: because I have them.

If instead of 9 large trees I had 20 small trees, I would use them, but I don't have 20 small trees I have 9 big ones.

My project has certain demands, and these trees happen to be my best option for fulfilling those demands. In fact, by using these white oaks I may have a few options opened up to me that I would not have had otherwise.

Could you trade with someone locally? Someone who could use the big ones and supply smaller logs for your project?

"Horse trading" has been around for as long as trading and horses have been. Hee!Hee!