splitting oak to make shingles

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Hi. Can anyone tell me if i can use some straight grained red oak to split off shingles to put on a small hen house (8x10)? Cedar shingles are quite expensive.Just need a bit of advice from some of you experienced builders out there! Thanks

-- MARK ZIERK (ZIERK@MILWPC.COM), March 02, 2002

Answers

I found this in a foxfire book I recently sold. Just so happened to have taken a picture of the page that showed how to do this.

-- Chuck (woah@mission4me.com), March 02, 2002.

Ive made shingles from white oak,, not red. shoudl be the same, I follwed those direction from Foxfire also,, but it does have to be straight grained,, and you Do have a froe right? It helps ALOT

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), March 02, 2002.

Red oak will not work. Unlike white oak, red oak is porous across the grain and would leak like a sieve. Sorry

-- Dave (drcomer@rr1.net), March 02, 2002.

Hello Mark,

Old time barrel makers used white oak because there was just enough shrinkage in red oak to make the barrel leak. But, I am sure either one will work for your purposes.

Sincerely,

Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), March 02, 2002.


Corrugated iron. Cheap, easy, waterproof, maintenance-free, good for decades.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 02, 2002.


Don,, where do you get cheap corrugated? no such there here,, unless you steal it

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), March 02, 2002.

Mark, Don't even try to split red oak. The old timers 200 years ago used white oak because it splits striaght andeasy. We just finished restoreing a 180 year old log cabin. Back to the way it was when it was built. It had been moved and the person moving it did a really botched up job so they hired my friends and I to put the roof ou and to fix the screw-ups. We did it mit the tools that the folks on the KY frontier had when they first got here. We made 4 foot white oak shingles out of a tree that we cut in the woods. If the grain is not striaght you will put way more work into a real bad roof then if you by steel. Any way here's how we did it. We cut a white oak that waas 2 feet across at the base. and cut it into 4 foot sections. move it to the job site and spit it into four quarters mit weges and glutts. Then we split off the sap growth ring. Then using a froe and a wooden maul (made out of dog wood, it will last the best) we split out shingles about 1/4 inch thick. The cabin was 14 foot by 20 foot. and it took three men 5 days to make the shingles and lay the roof.

-- Butch (beefarm@scrtc.com), March 03, 2002.

Red oak (and pin oak is better still) splits every bit as strait as white. Avoid knotty pieces. For a coop and not a house, go for it. Remember- long shingles 18inches or more... triple laid, not just double like regular shingles. It takes a big pile to do anything with. A Froe is necessary, one can be made out of an old leaf spring, if you are handy. The galvanized 5V tin- which is used in all my outbuildings, runs less than 1 dollar per foot (24 inches wide), and is ok stuff. Dont skimp and just nail it down- the nails pull out. The screws are mucho better, though 6.99 a lb (1 and 1/2 inches long, which I recommend). A few screws go a long ways, only 6 to 12 (depending on how long a sheet) are necessary.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), March 03, 2002.

Here in Pa. we always used willow. Works great and last's and last's. Never used any red or white oak. If you don't have any knots I would look at selling it for veneer. Just a thought.

-- herb (hwmil@aol.com), March 03, 2002.

Thanks to all for taking the time to answer my question,I will try the red oak for shingles.I will use an old rotary blade sharpened up for a froe, and see how it goes! Thanks again! Mark

-- MARK ZIERK (ZIERK@MILWPC.COM), March 03, 2002.


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