It is interesting that an 18" trunk on a tree in an Eastern forest is considered pretty big. Out here in California our oaks get enormous, but their wood is not commercially useful because the grain isn't straight. Here is a link to one of the bigger oaks on my place: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-s92rPdq/0/b403117a/L/i-s92rPdq-L.jpg
Oh, we have lots bigger too. Here on the farm, the maples are the largest, with several of them 3 feet or more in diameter. I suspect that those are actually clones where several sibling seeds germinate and grow up together, merging to look like one large trunk that divides less than eight feet from the ground into multiple stems. Oaks of some species grow to sizes like that too, but what we mostly have here on our farm are burr oaks, which tend to grow up rather than out and reach heights of 90 to 100 feet or more.
The native white pines up in Wisconsin and Michigan grow big in both directions, though frequent logging has eliminated most of the really humongous examples. I've seen accounts that considered the white pine to come close to California redwoods in size if allowed to grow to full stature under good conditions. I've seen redwoods in California and white pines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that certainly seemed pretty close in dimensions.
Wood with twisted grain is commercially viable for decorative work, like furniture, shelving, counter tops etc. provided it isn't so hard that no tools can slice it up.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2019-12-23 08:47 pm (UTC)It is interesting that an 18" trunk on a tree in an Eastern forest is considered pretty big. Out here in California our oaks get enormous, but their wood is not commercially useful because the grain isn't straight. Here is a link to one of the bigger oaks on my place:
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-s92rPdq/0/b403117a/L/i-s92rPdq-L.jpg
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Date: 2019-12-27 01:53 am (UTC)The native white pines up in Wisconsin and Michigan grow big in both directions, though frequent logging has eliminated most of the really humongous examples. I've seen accounts that considered the white pine to come close to California redwoods in size if allowed to grow to full stature under good conditions. I've seen redwoods in California and white pines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that certainly seemed pretty close in dimensions.
Wood with twisted grain is commercially viable for decorative work, like furniture, shelving, counter tops etc. provided it isn't so hard that no tools can slice it up.