Oak Crotch

[woodnick]

The city just took down an oak tree from the neighbor's property, and I got 2 crotches. My question is: how should I cut them to make figured wood not for turning??

 

[DaveO]

You'll get your best figure if you cut the wood perpendicular to the crotch. In other words you want to split both trunks in half at the same time. How big of BS do you have????

Dave

 

[jeff...]

Mr. DaveO is right on this one - the most interesting crotch figure will be in three boards depending on thickness. The board before the pith, the pith ridden board and the boards right after the pith. I don't know what you got planned but I would make two boards instead of three by splitting the crotch right down the center, This will allow you to see if you have a dud (no figure), most likley not, but sometimes you get a dud. Since you don't have a band mill, cut a fat board off each half and come back and trim the boards just past the pith with you planer, just try and take the same abount of each board (for book matching). Sometimes it's hard to get all the pith, but get as much as you can. Leave the boards as fat as you can, come back in several months and plan to thickness after it dries and is ready to work.