What to do with Poor quality Oak???

Can't save you from yourself, Barry. It is always a surprise to me how some people find crappy wood as "having character" or words to that effect. I don't think you should put much of an effort into it like you would with fine furniture, but if can whip up a reasonable table  with the SS legs, you might be able to sell it and get a few dollars out of it. Call it a utility table

Firewood?

Around here they build barns with it. Some people say that this is and burning is the only proper use of oak although I disagree.

It is one thing to have some junk as a feature, but all junk is a lot of work, and for what?  You could make a table top, and then set it off with some perfect wood in the base, a yin yang sort of thing, along with the idea that the base won't hurt anyone.  Now that junk wood is popular, in stuff like waterfall tables, it is as well to remember that there is a difference between rubbish and what Nakashima did in that his crappy tops had very strong design elements.  Is there a story in the pile of trash, other than that you knew it during it's life.  I mean a visual story, not sentiment.

It is the kind of thing that if you don't even know what you want to do with it, it is far too much work to start. 

I am at the summer home, and it is 60 miles round trip to get a screw we don't have.  We keep a bit of everything.  I needed a stiff wire, the other day, and I reached for what turned out to be a clothes hanger my great Uncle (WWI vet) hung up there at some time, might have been my father.  But if we had been giving shelf space to a wire that disintegrated in my hand.  That would have been being a jackass.

Anyone know if mice like almond butter, seems as though they should but I think it has failed before...

Here are some ideas for using those large, flawed red oak boards:

• Cut around defects to make smaller boards for rustic furniture pieces - table legs, chair seats, bench slabs, etc.

• Use the clear sections to make cutting boards, charcuterie boards or serving trays.

• Incorporate shakes/holes into design features like bowtie inlays, butterfly keys or epoxy fills.

• Make a large chopping block for a kitchen island or outdoor cooking area. Defects won't matter.

• Turn sections on a lathe into legs, candlesticks, bowls, vases, etc. Holes can add character.

• Pair with a contrasting wood to make a striking bookmatched tabletop with intentional voids.

• Use thick sections for structural pieces like mantels, shelves, window sills, thresholds where defects won't show.

• Save the highly figured areas for smaller specialty boxes, keepsakes or marquetry accents.

Don't be afraid to work around and highlight the imperfections in creative ways. The cracks and bug holes may end up adding visual interest! Definitely make some test cuts to see what potential there is in the boards.