They should all split like this one. Nine feet long, 21″ at the top, 23″ at the bottom. Red oak. I split this one from the bottom, it just worked out that way. Usually, I’d split down from the top. Two steel wedges, two wooden wedges. A little snipping with a hatchet. Less than half-an-hour to get it into one-half, one-quarter and two eighths. I later counted about 100+ years on the rings, still quite fresh in the heartwood, sapwood is all decayed. Must have been down for a while to lose the sapwood completely.
here’s the photos, including a juvenile yellow-shafted flicker, rounding out a woodpecker trio at the house. Haven’t seen or heard a red-bellied here lately:
June 11, 2012 at 12:13 am
Nicely done; textbook as a matter of fact … an enviable level of virtuosity.
Once again, very nice bird photo … I owe you quite a few.
Thanks,
s
June 11, 2012 at 12:34 am
That split really nice Peter.
And knowing you, there are treasures hidden in that log.
Another beautiful bird picture as well.
Thank you.
June 11, 2012 at 1:12 am
Love the slide show. Please do them more often!
June 11, 2012 at 4:56 am
Ahh Red Oak, is there anything it cant do? I wish we had it growing down here! What a beautiful split.
June 11, 2012 at 6:36 am
“That’s the lick it’s done with” as the old men say here. Beautiful work.
June 11, 2012 at 7:45 am
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June 12, 2012 at 11:12 am
What are your plans for the wood?
June 12, 2012 at 9:02 pm
table, stools, form, chest of drawers. in that order.
June 12, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Peter – You mentioned that this log was ‘down for a while’. Are you saying this tree was cut green and then left for a long time? I have a opportunity to get a large red oak that has been dead for a while. Not sure how long nor how ‘good’ it is. Is the potential there to split and rive it? Does a dead tree ‘dry out’ faster than a green felled tree? Sorry for all the questions. I had never thought of working wood this way until reading your book.
June 12, 2012 at 9:01 pm
Yes, this tree was cut green; it has been laying long enough for the sapwood to rot. It breaks off very easily…but the heartwood is still wet inside. There is some bug activity; so that’s another indication that the oak has been a while since it was connected to the ground. Standing dead trees might be different. One way to tell…
June 13, 2012 at 11:12 am
Thank you. I think I might have to give it a try. At least I would get some firewood out of it….
What other kinds of wood can you rive like oak? I would think Ash, since it is similar. Any others that work well?
June 12, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Fascinating. Love the slide show thank you. Love your bird photos too,
June 13, 2012 at 7:24 am
So this has been one of my questions for a long time: when you see those big tables with riven oak tops 9 or 12 feet long, how hard was it? Maybe harder with white oak. I don’t think an American long joined table survives with an original three- or four-board riven oak top. The Salisbury one is new. The Sudbury one has that original huge one-board pine top, and where did they get that? I’m not thinking of any others. To say nothing of those 25-foot-long Elizabethan shovelboard table tops. From one huge oak. They must have sawn them tangentially to miss the pith. I can’t think of another 17C long joined table.