Bob wrote:
I read a while back about a company in Houston that specializes in
harvesting large unusual local trees for furnitures (tabletops, etc).
We have a Black Jack Oak that is over 100 years old that has died.
The trunk is about 13 feet in circumference.

Are any of the Houston residents on this conference familiar with the
company I am talking about? I cannot find them with Google search.


If you can't find a sawmill (don't forget you have to GET the tree TO the
sawmill), you can build your own saw.

Here's some videos of homemade sawmill bandsaws.
http://www.sawmillplans.com/versawmilltv.html

There are even guides for a chainsaw that will help make lumber out of a
tree trunk.

You might also try millwork shops. I visited one to get some molding and
they had a warehouse full of raw lumber, um, "planks" about 18x18 inches by
20 feet long (teak, mahogany, walnut... all manner of exotic woods) waiting
to be turned into something pretty.