Large Oak Taken Down at my Parents House

[WoodBurnerInWI]

Just thought I'd share some of the photos they sent me. The job was done this afternoon. My dad ended up selling the trunk to a nearby mill since it was so perfect and straight (you'll see in the photo). This had to be taken down because it began leaning towards their house and large limbs were too close to the chimney. The base of the tree was at the bottom of a ravine in the woods and from there was probably another 80 to 90 ft tall above the ravine so overall I would say a 100 ft tall tree.

Here it is before it was cut, look at how nice that trunk is!



Part of the trunk being hauled away



Nice pile of rounds! Maybe I'll take this week off work and head on over to their place with the woodsplitter and get that split!

 

[CincyBurner]

It looks like straight white oak ? Looks like you'll still get plenty of firewood. Great burning, and it will smell great as it seasons. Give white oak plenty of time to season.
Too bad it needed to come down, but glad your dad sold the trunk. It's a shame to see beautiful wood burned when it could be used for higher value added purposes.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

love oak.. thats a good looking tree.. I'd take the whole thing..

 

[Nealm66]

Wow, I’m impressed you got that loaded with the little tractor! Must’ve used some ingenuity. Would have been fun to watch

 

[SidecarFlip]

Leaning towards the house.. What homeowners insurance is for. I'm against cutting a healthy tree myself. When people initially plant trees (myself included), they rarely take into account how large they grow. I'm guilty of that as well but I would have trimmed that one instead of removing it. Just my view.

 

[WoodBurnerInWI]

It looks like straight white oak ? Looks like you'll still get plenty of firewood. Great burning, and it will smell great as it seasons. Give white oak plenty of time to season.
Too bad it needed to come down, but glad your dad sold the trunk. It's a shame to see beautiful wood burned when it could be used for higher value added purposes.

We're pretty sure it's a white oak. They've got tons of red, white oak on their land as well as hickory, some locust, maples and a bit of birch. Plus pine trees. The mill ended up giving my dad $800 for the trunk which is probably fair since the mill guys ended up having to come out with their tractors and trailers to help get the trunk out of the woods, and they ended up cutting it in half to get on their trailer. Hopefully the lengths they cut it at is one that's useful for milling. The oak should be nice for them, they have a Blaze King Sirocco 25 insert in their fireplace and my dad cuts right from the woods behind the house when he needs firewood.

Wow, I’m impressed you got that loaded with the little tractor! Must’ve used some ingenuity. Would have been fun to watch

Well it was actually the guys from the mill and their equipment that got the trunk out of the forest but yes impressive given the size of the trunk. They could tell it wouldn't be able to fit on their trailer as is so they cut it in half and dragged the two sections on there. Hopefully it was cut into a good length for milling.

Leaning towards the house.. What homeowners insurance is for. I'm against cutting a healthy tree myself. When people initially plant trees (myself included), they rarely take into account how large they grow. I'm guilty of that as well but I would have trimmed that one instead of removing it. Just my view.

I agree as I hate removing healthy tree's in any situation unless 100% necessary. No need to when there's a lifetime supply of standing dead in just about any woods. But I don't know all the details of this tree and why it needed to be removed. Back in 2004 they had a really powerful derecho come through their area and it took down a 300 yr red oak in the their front yard. That tree also took out the sidewalk, 2 power poles and some of the road in front of their houses as it came crashing down. So maybe they got concerned a future storm would take that one down and that tree for sure would come down on the house.

Everything I cut either comes from my wife's grandparents property (and I only take dead trees and/or downed logs) or is logs delivered to my house from tree services. That stuff probably isn't completely from dead only tree's but it tends to be a lot of ash logs which were probably EAB killed so hopefully more dead trees vs healthy ones are taken but I don't know for sure. Since it's free logs I accept it and process it.

 

[Mutineer]

That white oak is in big demand from all the bourbon distillers these days for casks. Seems like every big-to medium/small town these days has their own "craft" distiller, and of course all those big operations down in Kentucky are barreling up as much as they can.

 

[MainePatsFan]

$800 for just that section of trunk on the trailer or was there more? I don't even know where the closest sawmill is to me. Do they all want oaks? I've been busy splitting the two large red oaks I had taken down near my house and every time I split a nice piece that comes apart in two smooth halves I look and see beautiful red oak flooring.

 

[WoodBurnerInWI]

$800 for just that section of trunk on the trailer or was there more? I don't even know where the closest sawmill is to me. Do they all want oaks? I've been busy splitting the two large red oaks I had taken down near my house and every time I split a nice piece that comes apart in two smooth halves I look and see beautiful red oak flooring.

There was more trunk, the guys had to cut it in half and ended up putting two large trunk sections on there (I don't know if they did that because it made the trunk easier to move or if it fit better on their trailer cut in half). I think my dad could have gotten slightly more for the log but since the guys brought their trailer and equipment to haul the trunk out of the woods that probably figured into the final price. Still not a bad deal and I look forward to seeing what they end up making with that wood.

Found out today too that my parents are going to split the wood with another family. Guess one of my brother's friends, their family heats with wood and they have a splitter (and are literally a few streets over from my parents) so they'll be bringing their splitter over this week and they'll cut all the wood and will divide the split wood between my parents and them.