# Biggest oak tree you've ever seen?



## Danno77 (Oct 12, 2009)

What's the biggest oak tree you've ever seen? how about the biggest oak tree you've ever put into your wood stack?

this weekend grandpa took me to a tree he said I could have, it would be good firewood, he tells me. I figured i'd entertain him, because he lives over an hour and a half away, I don't really want to transport wood that far. We drive the gator back into the waterway and he points down into a creek bottom, and there is a giant oak tree laying down with roots pulled out. 

He told me it was the biggest oak tree he's ever seen. i can't argue with him, but I'm only 32 and he's 81 with some experience in the timber. 

there were (I think) three main branches and the one that was near our side of the creek was so big I couldn't quite get my arms around it (that means almost 7 foot circumference) so it was a couple feet diameter. The main trunk was through some brush and it was early and cold and wet, so i didn't go down to it, but it was huge. I can't even guess how tall the thing was because the canopy fell into the brush and I just could see the top, I don't know how big oaks get, but it seemed to be well over 75 feet, maybe just shy of 100 to the very tallest branches.

The nice thing about how it fell is that there is very little of the stuff laying on the ground, so it should be able to wait for me to get the time and resources to take care of it. If nothing else I just really want to get through that trunk to count the rings. i mean, something that big has to be over a couple hundred years old, right?

I'll have to get pictures when i'm back home next time. I've been trying to convince my dad to get into wood burning, maybe if he has three years worth of oak all cut and split by his house he might be more willing to try it.


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## burntime (Oct 12, 2009)

40 inch at check height I cut up when a rot section toppled it in a storm..  I bet a 4.5 ft diameter behind my house still standing


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## Danno77 (Oct 12, 2009)

that's a biggun.

I'm just glad it's on the farm and not at the timber (which is not close to the farm at all) 'cause at the farm i have the CAT, or the bigg 4x4 John Deere 8650 to help me pull stuff out if I need to. Might need the backhoe too. Nothing beats getting to use a chainsaw AND big tractors!


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## gzecc (Oct 12, 2009)

Danno, Cut it this year and you can buy a stove for 2011.


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## Dune (Oct 12, 2009)

I got a call from a friend the day after a big storm about a tree blocking his road. There were so many trees down at that time that roads were blocked all over. By the time I got there someone had limbed the tree and took most of the braches, leaving the trunk and some huge crotches. I got the crotches out of there with my lift gate, but couldn't budge the trunk. It was 38 inches at the small end, 16 feet up. A guy with a big ramp truck got it. It was a white oak.


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## Sting (Oct 12, 2009)

The one I notched -- plunge cut - wedged - then made the release cut

And pounded wedges for a half hour till I hired a guy working a cat in the next field to push it over


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## SWNH (Oct 12, 2009)

44" white oak. Sawed it up for a customer who wanted all 6x6 beams. Trimmed with my friend's Stihl 460 w/36" bar with full-comp chain and sawn with my Lucasmill 613 swing-blade mill.


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## madrone (Oct 12, 2009)

The tree in front of my house is about that big. From the end of the street you can see that it's easily 3 times the height of my 2-story house. I'll have to take pictures...


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## quads (Oct 12, 2009)

The biggest I ever cut up and put in the woodpile was a dead black oak, 30 inches diameter.  I've seen bigger, especially white oaks.


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 12, 2009)

Peter SWNH said:
			
		

> 44" white oak. Sawed it up for a customer who wanted all 6x6 beams. Trimmed with my friend's Stihl 460 w/36" bar with full-comp chain and sawn with my Lucasmill 613 swing-blade mill.



Your sawmill pics are always great.  How big do you rough cut the beams to have them end up 6x6?


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## SolarAndWood (Oct 12, 2009)

Danno77 said:
			
		

> I'm just glad it's on the farm and not at the timber (which is not close to the farm at all) 'cause at the farm i have the CAT, or the bigg 4x4 John Deere 8650 to help me pull stuff out if I need to. Might need the backhoe too. Nothing beats getting to use a chainsaw AND big tractors!



Put a winch on that big JD and you would have many years of winter entertainment and BTUs.  Although 300 hp may be a bit overkill for skidding a log?


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## BigV (Oct 12, 2009)

I posted some pic's of this oak earlier this year. The trunks is still standing in the background of the picture. Big Red Oak.
That's my 22 year old son wielding that Stihl.


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## burntime (Oct 12, 2009)

Yep, thats a lot of burning!  I actually don't like it when they get that big.  Too much work!  I don't mind 24-30 inch wide, but it gets to be a pain to process after that!


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## smokinj (Oct 12, 2009)

I got a 45 in. a month ago


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## sullystull (Oct 12, 2009)

well I've only seen it in a book so I'm not sure it counts.  But it once stood right down the road from me.

The tree (white oak) measured 13 ft in diameter (16ft from the base) and 10 ft in diameter (31 ft from the base).  Cut in 1913, the tree was notched on three sides with axes then sawed with a regular cross cut saw.


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## jdinspector (Oct 12, 2009)

How about the tree in my avatar? I just grabbed it off of some web site. I think it was a northern Michigan thing. Looks huge.


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## Corey (Oct 12, 2009)

Back when I was a kid, we had an oak tree in the yard  - that thing must have been ~1000 feet tall and at least 20 foot in diameter at the base.  Of course the fireplace opening was also above my head and much wider than my outstretched arms - and big enough I could almost walk in [when the fire wasn't burning] - so that should have made it ~6 foot tall, 8 foot wide and at least 4-5 foot deep!

(Or maybe things just seemed bigger when I was smaller?!?)


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## jeff_t (Oct 12, 2009)

Last winter and spring I had not one, but three big ones come my way. They were all roughly the same size. The smallest point on any of them was 44" across. Unfortunately, two of them were hollow/rotten about 18" in. The other was solid all the way through. I'll probably burn one of those rounds for at least four days.
On the plus side, one of the hollow ones was full of bees. They were pretty PO'd when the tree fell, but it was cold and they didn't last long. I was able to come up with about a quart of the best tasting honey I've ever had.


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## Backwoods Savage (Oct 12, 2009)

jdinspector said:
			
		

> How about the tree in my avatar? I just grabbed it off of some web site. I think it was a northern Michigan thing. Looks huge.



Not 100% certain but I think that picture was taken near Grayling in the early 1900's


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## SWNH (Oct 13, 2009)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> Peter SWNH said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I cut them 6 1/4 x 6 1/4...deepest my Lucasmill can cut.


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## Jamess67 (Oct 13, 2009)

Eariler this year I came across a tree (I think oak) next to a creek That wasnt very tall but was atleat 8 ft in diameter 3 ft up from the ground. I meant to go back and take a picture but never made it back.


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## Danno77 (Jan 18, 2010)

well, just was out measuring it today and disappointed that it's not near as big as it had grown in my mind, lol. it's about 90 feet tall (so it is a pretty tall sucker.) it's about 36inches through up to about 16feet up, then there are two branches, the main one is about 35 inches for another few feet and the other branch is much smaller, like well under 20"

I took some more pictures of a much bigger tree (oak) in the background that I have no clue on height, but it's about 12' around, so closer to 45" through. and one more picture of a freaking huge tree that i need ID on because i think it looks maple by the bark, but not by the structure. I never paid attention to it before to note the leaves. it's about 18' around at the base, but there's a crotch only a few feet off the ground. Does that mean that it could be two maple trees that grew together? I'll post  pic up later.


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## Wood Duck (Jan 18, 2010)

A tree that splits right near the bottom could be two trees growing so close together that they end up looking like one tree. It could also be one tree that split. Generally if you cut the tip off a tree it will spout two or more new shoots. If the tree is small, often only one survives, and after a while it is hard to tell the growing tip ever was cut off. Other times, two or more tips will continue to grow and you'll have a tree with multiple trunks. This can happen with almost all species of tree, but some are more prone to being multiple trunked than others. maple, especially Red and Silver Maples, are prone to having multiple trunks.


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## Danno77 (Jan 18, 2010)

one with the CRV and one without to get a little scale....


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## westkywood (Jan 18, 2010)

The biggest Ive seen is Cherrybark Oak in Southern Illinois just about 30 miles from here. It measures 25ft in circumference at the base and is over 100 ft tall. State record.


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## rdust (Jan 19, 2010)

We have a big one around here, I'll try to snap a picture of it over this upcoming weekend if I can make it over that way.


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## NH_Wood (Jan 19, 2010)

jdinspector said:
			
		

> How about the tree in my avatar? I just grabbed it off of some web site. I think it was a northern Michigan thing. Looks huge.



I remember seeing that photo in a book a long while back too - if memory serves, it was a chestnut. Cheers!


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## Stihl Country (Jan 19, 2010)

Here in N.C. Red and White Oaks grow super big. It,s common to see them 80ft to 100ft. 3 to 5ft. around.


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## Birdman1 (Jan 19, 2010)

BigV said:
			
		

> I posted some pic's of this oak earlier this year. The trunks is still standing in the background of the picture. Big Red Oak.
> That's my 22 year old son wielding that Stihl.



DUDE!!
That's just FRIGGIN' huge


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## Tony H (Jan 19, 2010)

Here's the biggest or second biggest in my yard.


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## Pagey (Jan 19, 2010)

The "Birthing Tree" in neighboring Warren County, TN.

http://www.videoscott.com/oak.htm


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## wahoowad (Jan 19, 2010)

This is one of the oldest oaks in Virginia (in Earlysville). It was saved during a recent airport expansion and has a majestic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.


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## Pagey (Jan 19, 2010)

Too bad trees like that can't talk.  I would imagine they've "witnessed" quite a bit of history.


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## Danno77 (Jan 19, 2010)

Pagey said:
			
		

> Too bad trees like that can't talk.  I would imagine they've "witnessed" quite a bit of history.


I know what those trees would say to me if they were in my timber. it'd be "Hey, what are you doing with that 880?... Get back...no...stoppit....ahhhhhhhh"


Just kidding. I wouldn't cut down a biggun like that. that's a nice piece of history there. even I appreciate that.


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## xman23 (Jan 19, 2010)

We had a red oak in our yard with four 3 ft dia trees from one trunk, perfect for building a tree fort. We must have put a hundred nails in this tree some 40 years ago. Well the tree came down last year and I found each one of those 100 nails with my saw.


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## woodsman23 (Jan 20, 2010)

I had a huge one in my hands just this morning when i was peeing...... :ahhh:


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## chrisfallis (Jan 21, 2010)

BigV said:
			
		

> I posted some pic's of this oak earlier this year. The trunks is still standing in the background of the picture. Big Red Oak.
> That's my 22 year old son wielding that Stihl.



What?  No chaps?


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## golfandwoodnut (Jan 22, 2010)

This is the biggest one on my 23 acres.  I have had a few forest rangers and loggers look at and they were even quite impressed.  They said it would take special saws to cut it down and it would make an incredible noise when it fell.  The guy from Georgia Pacific recommended keeping it as a signature tree.  So far  I have not let any of them go and I don't think I will ever let this one go.  To top it off it sits right above a water fall.


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## madrone (Jan 28, 2010)

Here's the tree in front of my house. It's 4' or 5' in diameter at about 4' up.


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## Pagey (Jan 28, 2010)

madrone said:
			
		

> Here's the tree in front of my house. It's 4' or 5' in diameter at about 4' up.



No way a man could sleep through that one falling!  :bug:


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## TreePapa (Jan 29, 2010)

Not as tall as your oaks out East, but this tree was about 1,000 years old when it finally succumbed.

Encino's "1,000 Year Old" Oak Tree
http://www.wildbell.com/oak/

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encino_Oak_Tree#Encino_landmark
The Encino Oak Tree, also known as the Lang Oak, was a 1,000-year-old California Live Oak tree, Quercus agrifolia, in the Encino section of Los Angeles, California. It was designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #24) in 1963 ...
On February 7, 1998, an El Niño storm "delivered the death blow, felling the ailing tree with storm winds

This tree was at the major intersection where we turned to go up to my aunt and uncle's house when I was a kid. Passed it many times. A few years later, one of my first jobs was as a busboy at a restaurant a couple doors down the Blvd. from this tree. Sat under it a few times during lunch breaks. It was sad when I discovered it was gone.

Peace,
- Sequoia


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## wood spliter (Jan 29, 2010)

There is one about the size of Bigv's tree around me. Its a big white Oak, I will get a picture if its still standing.


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## Ronmbucket (Jan 29, 2010)

I see this 90 footer from my back yard.It's between 4 and five feet at the base.Anyone know how old a tree this size might be?


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## billb3 (Jan 29, 2010)

Ronmbucket said:
			
		

> I see this 90 footer from my back yard.It's between 4 and five feet at the base.Anyone know how old a tree this size might be?
> []



I have a pin oak in my yard  that's that size. It was half that size 60 years ago and had a triangle shape then. Now it looks like a typical red oak canopy top.

The white oaks are older, not quite as tall as the red oaks.
The woods here have been culled several times in the last 300 years. Everything really old is long gone unless access by horse/mule was tough. Everything big on  my property is near a house and saved or in the swamp.


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## rdust (Jan 31, 2010)

Finally found time to get by this one during the day light.  This is the biggest one I know of around me.


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