Frank, We were taking you seriously, so we studied up on Live Oak and here is what we found. From various sources including forestry depts. of university extensions we found the reason why no lumber of this type, Quercus Virgianus (Southern Live Oak) is carried by any yard in the United States. First is that very few pieces of straight lumber can be milled from the typical size tree. The very qualities which made it desirable for 18th and 19th century ship construction, lots of knees or large branch/trunk junctions yielding the "L" shaped knee used to support the heavy wooden decks, make it impossible to market today. Unfortunately the second reason, that of being almost impossible to dry and lack of stability while drying, is worse.
From Woodweb.com we get this:
Live oak is a separate category. It is extremely difficult to dry. It was often not dried at all. It is Quercus virginiana. It was used in ship building (especially in areas that might get hit from a cannonball, as the wood is extremely tough and hard).
Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor
From every other source we looked at, we saw repeatedly this caution:
"If you are tempted to use Southern Live Oak in any type of furniture construction, please be aware that extreme warping, twisting and bowing can occur, even after kiln drying, causing the destruction of your carefully crafted piece."
Finally, we really appreciate the offer Frank and it is really a shame that this wood cannot be put to a more constructive use than firewood, but for the reasons above we will have to keep on looking. Thank you for thinking about us!
Best regards,
Tracy and Mike