Source Of Oak

[Chief Sawdust Maker]

Happy Friday Folks
I have an idea for producing a number of items from oak finished dimensions around 15 - 20mm thick 75mmi wide and various lengths from 150mm to 450mm and obviously will need to purchase boards to suit
Couple of questions
Has anyone ever brought a new oak railway sleeper to resaw (this would be ok for me as i have bandsaw and planer thicknesser)
Would green oak fence post be any use if i rough cut them and left them to season outside?
Open to ideas on the above or thoughts of sources of cheap oak
Cheers
CSW

 

[Adam W.]

Generally sleepers and posts are low grade material and contain lots of defects. Green oak ordered from a mill would be a good bet though, as they generally won't buy rubbish to start with.

 

[Gordon Tarling]

I agree with Adam - I had a few pieces of oak railway sleeper left over from a project - thought it a good opportunity to give my new bandsaw a workout and make the local bee population a home as well. Out of the 3 pieces I had that were large enough to be usable, there was only the one piece which had a chunk without defects (mostly shakes) - I made one bee hotel and the other pieces are sitting here still, awaiting their fate!

G.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

... producing a number of items from oak finished dimensions around 15 - 20mm thick 75mmi wide and various lengths from 150mm to 450mm and obviously will need to purchase boards to suit

Has anyone ever brought a new oak railway sleeper to resaw (this would be ok for me as i have bandsaw and planer thicknesser)
Would green oak fence post be any use if i rough cut them and left them to season outside?
Open to ideas on the above or thoughts of sources of cheap oak

For reasons already described in brief and in part above by Adam, the options you outline are likely to be a waste of time and materials. Good quality green oak as Adam suggested already milled to ~25 mm thick (or sleepers might be an option, not a great one really, because you'd need to mill them into boards). In both those cases it would be necessary to sticker the boards up in a suitable location and dry them to an appropriate moisture content before use, i.e., machining to the lengths, widths and thicknesses.

I strongly suspect your best bet would be to buy already seasoned rough sawn 25 mm thick oak boards and machine to size from that. Air dried would be at about right MC for parts destined for an external end use, and kiln dried for end use in a habitable building.

As to cost of oak it would be helpful to indicate your location because others forum users in your area might know and be able to point you to a source, although there are online sellers that can or might be able to supply and deliver suitable material. Slainte.

 

[Chief Sawdust Maker]

Guys
Thanks for the reply's
I am located in Worcestershire
The finished articles would be used indoors
I'm fairly new to hardwoods and finding my way through the maze the finished items will be a type of serving board it doesn't have to be oak but needs to be a durable hard wood that can be oiled and that would last
Every day is a school day and its great to learn

CSM

 

[Yojevol]

I would suggest that local bespoke furniture makers would be a good source of offcuts which could well meet your size requirements.
Brian

 

[Lons]

It's worth considering T&G solid oak flooring, available in a number of widths and a few thicknesses though the majority is 18 - 20mm thick and you lose a few mm to get the back flat. It's often available from suppliers with end of range packs at heavily discounted prices, I regularly see it on facebook marketplace and as you have a planer thicknesser used boards are good also see if you can find a few local installers as they always end up with unused lengths of a decent size and are happy to give them away foc or for a couple of pints.

I still have a stash as I used to install flooring and I use it for all kinds of projects.

 

[Fitzroy]

Scawton sawmill sell 27mm sawn kiln dried oak. They’ll courier boards out. It’ll work out about £45 per cuft. It would dimension die to 20mm very well.

When I first started it was a reasonably price and time effective way of obtaining oak.

I now buy air dried from a local yard. It’s not much cheaper but I get to choose my own boards.

seasoning your own timber is hit and miss in my experience and a 1” board will take a year to dry and find out it has actually split. Green timber looks cheap but if you’re not going to use it green there can be lots of waste getting it to dry enough for indoor use.

 

[H.Steele]

Happy Friday Folks
I have an idea for producing a number of items from oak finished dimensions around 15 - 20mm thick 75mmi wide and various lengths from 150mm to 450mm and obviously will need to purchase boards to suit
Couple of questions
Has anyone ever brought a new oak railway sleeper to resaw (this would be ok for me as i have bandsaw and planer thicknesser)
Would green oak fence post be any use if i rough cut them and left them to season outside?
Open to ideas on the above or thoughts of sources of cheap oak
Cheers
CSW

Watch out for hidden foreign items , possibly metal, in sleepers and similar items. These can be dangerous when machining.

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

I have about 100 of these oak blanks, 40+ years old and really dry. Size is approx 490mm x 67mm x 63mm but you'll lose a little cleaning them up. This is the same one.

If the price was right, and depending on how many you wanted, I might part with some. I'm in Essex and wouldn't want to post etc.
DM me if interested.

 

[Deadeye]

Happy Friday Folks
I have an idea for producing a number of items from oak finished dimensions around 15 - 20mm thick 75mmi wide and various lengths from 150mm to 450mm and obviously will need to purchase boards to suit
Couple of questions
Has anyone ever brought a new oak railway sleeper to resaw (this would be ok for me as i have bandsaw and planer thicknesser)
Would green oak fence post be any use if i rough cut them and left them to season outside?
Open to ideas on the above or thoughts of sources of cheap oak
Cheers
CSW

Oak parquet boards? They are typically 19-22mm thick, 80-100mm wide and 200-250mm long. They come up second hand quite often.
I've some I could box up and send if you're interested.

 

[baldkev]

As lons said, t and g oak. I get it locally and its planed both sides, 20mm thick....

 

[nickds1]

Green oak is subtle and quick to anger!

It's very heavy to work with and is unforgiving on nice tools like planer-thicknessers. It moves and can shrink a lot with time if allowed to dry at all... We had a special old huge PT just for green oak - kept the decent one for kiln-dried.

I used to make outside furniture and stuff for the NT - we used a lot of green oak for stuff like woodland seats etc - very good way of building up your forearms and knackering your back.

 

[Stevekane]

I have some oak that Im working with just now, I bought it as green but in fact I think it had been under cover for a while, what with the covid and all its just had another 18months with a polytarp over it and judgeing by the few cuts Ive made so far it does seem hard,,,,might be a workout doing some morticing. My only concern is that I was hopeing to use the skillsaw to cut a series of cuts to help with the tennons,,but even the big Makita mitresaw seemed to struggle a bit with it.
Steve.

 

[Woodmatt]

As Fitzroy say Scawton Sawmill would be a good bet

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

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