ekomeshak Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 Had a large oak fall down in our woods, and I've been splitting it for firewood. The wood is loaded with these wild swirls & spirals - sometimes around a knot, but often just in an otherwise straight section. I've split my fair share of oak, but I've never seen anything this prevalent. Is anybody familiar with this? I'm wondering how something like this could be used in a finished project, and if I should have tried to save some for lumber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keggers Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 I wish I had the answer for you as to what would cause this. For what my 2 cents is worth - I don't think I'd be burning it. I'm with you. I've never seen anything like it. If you had some way to slice it about 1 1/2 inches thick you could then sticker it and let it dry slowly somewhere inside. Seems a shame to burn such beautiful wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 Holy cow. I too have never seen swirls like that. I would definately be frying to get some cool boards out of it if those swirls are pretty tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 Was this tree near a field with crop circles? This is definitely aliens, or sasquatch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodbutcher74 Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 It looks like something Van Gogh painted. Reminds me of Starry Night. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 A friend of mine, who also happens to have his own kiln and I buy my wood from him, had a piece of furniture made from a red oak tree that was over run with those sort of twists, turns and curls. When he showed it to me, I couldn't tell that it was red oak, in fact I thought it was an exotic. The piece was nicely done, but didn't show off the wood as well as it could have been. I've got first dibs on any that comes into his kiln. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FtrPilot Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 Ekomeshak...welcome to the forums. Do you live anywhere near Atlanta, GA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkrusen Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 Wow thats pretty incredible. Never seen anything like that. Jealous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 i have a bunch of red oak boards with that sort of grain. Is here is a table top I made from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPCV_Woodworker Posted April 25, 2015 Report Share Posted April 25, 2015 Looks almost like wound wood. Where in the tree were you seeing this? It looks like it is more prevalent nearer the heartwood, which would indicate that the problems (blessings?) occurred when the tree was young. Could be anything from buck-rub to fire damage... Where was this tree growing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted April 25, 2015 Report Share Posted April 25, 2015 That looks like a badly cut branch that grew a mass of "suckers" from a wounded branch collar and then got overgrown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekomeshak Posted April 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Thanks FtrPilot - I'm actually in Michigan. RPCV - I'm seeing this mostly closer to the sapwood. In fact in the 2nd picture above you can see an impression fo the swirls in the bark (in top left). This tree was growing back in the woods - about 75 yards from any clearing. Pretty big - about 3 feet across at the base. It had some rot at the base and fell last year in a windstorm. Unfortunately I had most of it cut up before i noticed all those swirls. Splitting it radially they just appear as bulges about the size of a quarter, but splitting it with the grain (ex. flatsawn) is where they show up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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