Comments on: Live Oak http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/live-oak/ By Woodworkers, For Woodworkers. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:45:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: Joe P http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/live-oak/comment-page-1/#comment-44 Joe P Tue, 04 May 2010 16:26:39 +0000 http://www.wood-database.com/?p=742#comment-44 Live oak grows with a sort of ropey/twisted grain. Since the grain doesn't run straight, wedges don't work so well. However, the waviness of the grain translates to the surface which ends up looking like an animal pelt. If you've ever tried ammonia fuming of white oak, live oak does the same thing but much darker and faster. It is indeed very hard and I was only able to shave off a very small portion at a time on my planer. The ropey texture also means tear out so I highly recommend drum or wide belt sanding to final thickness. As to the ship building, another common use stems from the way the limbs can grow at right angles. This can be slabbed up on a mill to be used for the knees in boat hulls. Live oak grows with a sort of ropey/twisted grain. Since the grain doesn’t run straight, wedges don’t work so well. However, the waviness of the grain translates to the surface which ends up looking like an animal pelt. If you’ve ever tried ammonia fuming of white oak, live oak does the same thing but much darker and faster. It is indeed very hard and I was only able to shave off a very small portion at a time on my planer. The ropey texture also means tear out so I highly recommend drum or wide belt sanding to final thickness.

As to the ship building, another common use stems from the way the limbs can grow at right angles. This can be slabbed up on a mill to be used for the knees in boat hulls.

]]> By: keith O http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/live-oak/comment-page-1/#comment-10 keith O Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:32:27 +0000 http://www.wood-database.com/?p=742#comment-10 I have not worked with as far as wood working goes but I did cut up the secondary trunk of a century live oak ( None to be over one hundred years old) with a 60cc 25in bar stihl chainsaw. The trunk was over 3 feet wide and it was hard as rock. Even with a professional saw like that it was hard to cut. I took a sharpened hatchet and tried to stick it in the end of the tree and it bounced out of my hand without making a dent. I tried several times with the same results. The extreme hardness may have been due to the age of the tree though. The main trunk was easily five feet thick. This thing was real old and very, very hard. I have not worked with as far as wood working goes but I did cut up the secondary trunk of a century live oak ( None to be over one hundred years old) with a 60cc 25in bar stihl chainsaw. The trunk was over 3 feet wide and it was hard as rock. Even with a professional saw like that it was hard to cut. I took a sharpened hatchet and tried to stick it in the end of the tree and it bounced out of my hand without making a dent. I tried several times with the same results. The extreme hardness may have been due to the age of the tree though. The main trunk was easily five feet thick. This thing was real old and very, very hard.

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