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jcdammeyer said:
Really? White Oak? Large enough for cabinet making? Hmmm. I wonder if what is sold here comes from there.
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I don't know about cabinet making. But no problem with barrels. I probably have 50 or so red oak trees right here on my farm that would make good barrels. I also have a few white oak but they are too gnarly for straight lumber.

Another problem is the time required to grow hardwood trees. Many of the hardwoods here are located in old growth Carolinian forest. Guys like me might seriously injur someone who even thought about touching those trees for their lumber value. I cut my hardwoods only when they die or are diseased. I was recently offered 20K for a Walnut near the house. It's a beauty. The guy left in a big hurry when he saw the look in my eye.
 
Susquatch said:
I was recently offered 20K for a Walnut near the house. It's a beauty. The guy left in a big hurry when he saw the look in my eye.
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25 or so years ago I guy pulls up to my place. He tells me to come and look in the back of his truck. In the 8 foot box is a log 7' 11 3/4" long and about 30" diameter. I ask and he tells me the story that his grand or great grandfather had planted this tree as a seedling when he had moved to west coast from Ontario. The property had passed down through the family and he and his sister now owned but didn't want the place and so were subdividing it. This tree fell victim to the road right of way.It was IIRC an eastern black walnut. We threw it on the mill and quarter sawed it into 1 1/8" planks. Beautiful wood. He took a sample to a hardwood dealer and asked what it might be worth. I can't remember the number but the value of that one log was a few thousand dollars and if we could cut 2" it would more than double. So the guy was quite excited both at the beauty of the lumber and its value. So we agreed he would go over to the mainland each day and retrieve one more section, I think there was six total. Instead of showing up around dinner time the first night I got a call from him. When he got back to the lot around 10 that morning he found the trunk was gone and where it had lain there were little piles of sawdust every 18".
 
Since we are talking about hardwood lumber there is a deal available for Nova Scotians. The Therialt sawmill sells kiln dried rough hardwood lumber for a really good price. They have oak, maple, birch, curly maple. Last time I was there about a year ago it was all under $3 a board foot except for the curly which was about $4 and only available sporadically. Being rough lumber you need a jointer and a planer to process it into boards.
 
Oak trees in Ontario!

The best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today. We moved to our rural property 37 years ago. It had no trees. We planted about 100 but just one oak. It is now the biggest and best looking tree we have.
IMG_3494.jpeg

PS1: It looks a lot better in the summer without today’s fog and freezing drizzle.
PS2: I have enjoyed the occasional Canadian rye whiskey on the stone bench under that white oak.
 
jcdammeyer said:
Apparently they grow the corn in central BC and the oak barrels are from Kentucky. Which makes sense. Other than Garry Oak on the west coast we're not really the right climate for that type of material.
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The barrels may be reused bourbon barrels. They’re obliged to use new barrels only for bourbon, no reuse, so there are tons of used barrels available.
 
When we were living in Mississauga, we lived in the Credit Woodlands, lot's of oak trees in our backyard and some really big ones. One died across the street and they came with a crane to harvest it, the crane had a sign on the hook end 100' the tree was very close to that. Quite interesting to watch the arborist, he attached himself to the hook, went up to the top did a bit of trimming and then after attaching a rope to the top just swung over and detached from the crane. We also had a really tall Cherry, Davy tree guy told us the tallest he has ever seen. It had a fork about 60' up and they installed a cable a about 70' to prevent the fork from splitting in a windstorm. The caterpillars did a real number on our oaks, one died guessing it must have been about 100 YO. We don't have big trees like that here in Ottawa about 50' tops I guess the colder weather.
 
CWret said:
I have enjoyed the occasional Canadian rye whiskey on the stone bench under that white oak.
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I have a large Maple tree 30 ft from my house that was planted by the original homesteaders of the place in 1911. We moved here in 57' and i had a rope swing from one of the branches when I was a kid and my kids had one from the same branch (newer rope but same damn plank seat) when they were children.
That ol' tree looked like it was dying & I thought I was going to have to remove it when we moved the house into position we now live in ( same location as the 1911 built original house that I lived in as a kid) but i did everything I could to avoid that. That old tree came back to life it seemed like when we moved into the house after a 2 yr rebuild and now I sit happy & regularly under that old tree for hours on hot days with a can of beer.
 
Red oak cells are like a bundle of straws which lets the liquid escape through capillary action. White oak has closed cells and does not let the liquid pass through. You can test a piece of oak and generally determine which species it is by examining the end grain for the hollow cells. You can usually even draw air through the end grain of red oak but not white as a way to compare them. The soaking and swelling action does help the barrel staves seal together.
 
Caterpillar & gypsy moth control:

I discovered BTK about a dozen years ago. It’s the best thing since sliced bread and Vipers Venom. It is a relatively environmentally friendly product.
We have 3 maples that shade our deck. The gypsy moth like them. The worst part is that the adult’s poop drops onto everything. They also do a lot of damage to our oak (in the pic above).
I spray in the spring using a 3200psi gas pressure washer. I mix up a few gallons in a jug that has a garden hose attachment. Then put the jug on a 5 ft step ladder so that gravity feeds the pressure washer. I made up a 10 ft wand extension. Thanks to the wand extension and the 3200psi I can spray about 50 ft high.
Timing is important. It is not very effective on adult caterpillars. Spraying just after they first appears is very effective and kills off about 90% (i think). If it is predicted to be a bad year for the gypsy moth I spray twice about one week apart.
IMG_3495.jpeg
 
Sometimes the only way to tell dressed red oak from white oak. Have someone who smokes, blow smoke into the end grain. If it’s red oak the smoke will come out the other end. Not white oak. The medullary rays run the entire length in red oak as BMW Rider said.
Martin
 
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