any one opend up sheoak

[eli szoko]

Have had many people tell me sheoak is quality timber.From what i have seen it seems to split redely.Have read some posts on hairy oak witch seams to be a diferent tree.I now there is lots of diferent kinds.I am talking about the one that is found on river banks.Have milled what i would call mounten sheoak ,works well.

[Sigidi]

From what I've heard, sheoak should give nice grain if quarter sawn - haven't sawn it myself though

[Travis Edwards]

River oak needs to be milled soon after cutting it down either that or it needs to be pushed out roots and all and left till the needles have completely withered and dried before you cut it at all. I have sawn quite a bit of various casuarinas (shea oaks) and if you do it right the splitting is very minimal if any and once dry the timber is very stable. The best figure is obtained by quarter sawing but back sawing can give a more homogenous effect throughout the boards.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/member...-handles-here/

this is a little bit of Hairy oak that I cut up a while back, the stuff that is finer flecked is getting closer to back sawn but the stuff like the bigger block you see there is the same bit but almost perfectly quarter sawn.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/member...knives/3353-a/

This is a bit of Beefwood that I cut from a branch I found in W.A. when I lived there.

and last but not least a bit of river oak from near Bega in NSW.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/member...er-oak-handle/

[Travis Edwards]

oh and if your log is splitting a bit on the end I would advise that you cut it the same way the split is going this will relieve the tension as you cut it and generally you will not have any problems with your boards splitting. If you cut across the split your board will split as soon as cut or not long after!

[eli szoko]

Thank for the info.Nice pics,yours was the hairy oak i saw,nice job.Have no log but thers lots lying in creeks around here and seem stable.Mite get me some.

[Stopper]

I pulled one out of the creek and it had gone black with years of being under the gravel. It was really hard to cut but the wood was spectacular.
The standing river oaks have a light coloured wood with nice grain but it splits easily and doesn't season very well - twists and warps. I machined some into panelling and it came up ok. Not something to chase after but not a total waste of time either. You would be better off hunting for forest oak (rose sheoak or Casuarina turolosa).

cheers
Steve