Sawing and Drying

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oak tree drying /deck

11/4/14       
gerrard rudd Member

I'm going to cut down 2 large oaks,one european,one american and have decided to use trunks to make decking ,how long will i need to dry before using /sawing ,and any other advice.
Thanks

11/4/14       #2: oak tree drying /deck ...
Gene Wengert-Wood Doc

Saw them right away. Drying this time of year using normal air drying will take perhaps six months. If used for outdoor decking, you will likely need no further drying, but you will need kiln drying or other heated drying to get the wood dry enough for interior use.

11/4/14       #3: oak tree drying /deck ...
Keith Newton

You mention one european,one american, which is worthless information. Most Oak is graded either White, or Red, with about two dozen species in each category. If they are Red Oaks, i think you are just throwing your money away, due to lack of durability. However, the White Oak should last, unless you try to include the sapwood.

11/4/14       #4: oak tree drying /deck ...
Rod Hays

I don't see any reason to dry the decking. All it will do is shrink up and leave bigger gaps between the boards so water can drain off and the boards can stay dry easier which means they will not rot away as fast as if they strayed wet.

11/6/14       #6: oak tree drying /deck ...
Mark B Member

Your saying install them green? Are you nuts?

11/6/14       #7: oak tree drying /deck ...
Keith Newton

Mark, Everybody builds decks with totally saturated treated pine. Yes, it shrinks as it dries, to the tune of about 1/16" per inch of width, so it's not a good idea to use wide boards, and best to not have much spread between fasteners across the width due to the movement back and forth between wet and dry spells.

11/6/14       #8: oak tree drying /deck ...
Gene Wengert-Wood Doc

Note that oak shrinks about twice as much as pine...about 5% when going from green to 12% MC. For a 6" wide piece, that is 0.30" or 5/16".

11/7/14       #9: oak tree drying /deck ...
Mark B

There is simply no way installing dead green oak, on a deck, with or without exposure, is going to result in anything but a jed clampett job. Treated syp is no where near as powerful as oak and even IT will tear fasteners loose when it decides to do whatever it wants to do. I feel for the guy who does it with oak.

A lot of work for a poor end product.

11/7/14       #10: oak tree drying /deck ...
Rod Hays

I've built lots of stuff with green oak for over 50 years and I have never had any fasteners torn loose from the wood shrinking. A long time ago barns and houses where built from green oaks. I'm not sure what kind of deck he is planning to build. It could be a trailer deck for heavy equipment. In that case I would think using green oak would be okay to use in my opinion.

11/7/14       #11: oak tree drying /deck ...
Mark B Member

10-4 Rod, 10-4...

Ive seen a 5/4x6 treated deck board tear a 3" deck screw out without a blink. Every single "old barn" Ive ever seen has loose nails left and right from the inevitable cycles of this stable material you speak of.

As stated, it all depends on what your looking for. If you are somehow thinking a "deck" could mean decking a trailer of any kind, you are likening your work to something most will not be able to relate to.

I guess I have to get my head around supplying wrenches to my customers to tighten up my work as it falls apart and dries...

11/7/14       #12: oak tree drying /deck ...
Rod Hays

mark, maybe you have seen those things. i'm just saying from all the 100's of decks i've built i haven't seen screws or nails pull out from the wood drying. the reason barns and building were built using the lumber green was because of its workability was one of the reasons. all post and beam barns from 100 years ago were built using green timbers. the houses from not to long ago were built using green oak framing. they let it stand for awhile tell the framing was dry enough to finish building the house. that oak gets very hard when it drys that you can not drive these nails into the oak they would normally use for framing a house now days. somewhere along the line they started framing homes with pine, i think it might of been when balloon framing became popular. here is a link that shows how they use to build with green oak.

Green Oak in Construction

11/8/14       #13: oak tree drying /deck ...
Gene Wengert-Wood Doc

Eastern white pine was used for building in huge quantities from prior to 1800 until 1920. It was lightweight, strong, shrank very little and was plentiful. In Wisconsin alone, billions of BF were manufactured and used without intentional drying. With the rail system development in the 1860s and later, lumber could be cheaply shipped beyond its growing area.

But back to the original question about using oak for a deck...

When using a high shrinkage wood like oak, the fastening system is key. Fasteners should not be on both edges as they would see the maximum amount of shrinkage. Rather, nail on one edge or near the center. This movement is why board and batten and also lap siding was developed...movement of the loose edge did not cause a failure. But with so,many better species of wood available, oak would not often be used for siding or decking...rather cedar, redwood, some local softwoods, and similar had widespread use...low shrinkage, lightweight, decay resistant, widely available, etc.

For framing, oak could be used, but again, the widespread availability of and a grading system for syp, DF and other strong softwoods post WW II encouraged their use. Chestnut was also widely used prior to 1920 or so. After WW II, the popularity of oak furniture made production of furniture lumber more profitable than structural or construction oak lumber. Likewise, red oak ties were very popular and profitable.

I assume that an oak deck would be made with fairly knot free wood...lots of knots would cause bad warping and not look nice. However, the value of such lumber for cabinets, furniture, etc., especially compared to treated pine, is very high, so oak decks would be so expensive compared to pine. Plus the high shrinkage of oak, thickness and width, including cupping, warp around knots, etc., would make the deck rather "un-smooth."

Red oak would also be very susceptible to decay when used as a deck, so generally, with better species being available, oak would not be used for a deck. Of course, we do not know what oaks the original post referred to...red or white.

11/13/14       #14: oak tree drying /deck ...
john

I sell 2in oak red and white mostly 8 or 9in wide for construction trailers always green easier to install clamp it tight screw it or bolt it down in a year later boards shrink and stableize about 1/8 to 3/16in no rot no other problems happy customers


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