Paul G. is planning to make his workbench out of _thick_ oak:
> wrt the legs. At first, I was going to glue up stock just like Mike
> did. Then I got to thinking of asking the sawyer for several lengths
> of 6 inch square oak from the center portion of the tree. This would
> be the portion of the tree which usually goes into fence post
> material. I have a local sawmill which can probably give me what I
> want but I wanted to check it out with some galoots who are much
> smarter than me. Is this material stable enough for workbench legs?
> Are there any other concerns I should have using the center portion of
> the tree? What does a sawmill usually do with this part of the tree?
> Is it waste? (Read that as, can I get it cheap?) Thanks for any
> input.
The "center portion" of tree's contains the pith, and any board
with pith will split big-time as it dries. You won't get dried thick stock
cheaply. They generally don't saw hardwood to leave a "fence post" in the
middle - too much waste, especially of the quartersawn wood. My
local small sawyer cuts out the pith in a single 4/4 (quartersawn) board,
then cuts out the pith to yield two nice boards.
I think the "fence posts" containing the pith that you're talking about
are cut mainly of SPF (spruce/pine/fir), probably from smallish trees. I
also think you're more likely to find pith in posts from lower quality
lumber yards.
BTW, most places around Phila. charge a very high premium (per BF) for thick
stock - often 2-3x the price / BF for 4/4. That's supposedly due to the
long, slow drying schedule required in the kiln to avoid splitting.
You don't want to know how much I ended up paying for 12/4 (closer to 16/4)
red oak stock for legs for 2 beds last summer.
Tony Seo seems to know places in PA that sell thick green oak cheap, but I
still wouldn't accept pieces containing the pith. As far as the
stability/usability of thick green oak, I'm skeptical, but Tony seems to
have had success.
Regards,
Don Berry
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