Know Your Wood: Red Oak

Red Oak

Be sure to ask me sometime about my comfortable loveseat. It's a two millennium project.

Trade Name: Red Oak

Genus: Quercus rubra

Janka Hardness (pounds-force): 1290

Description: The northern red oak can reach as much as 140’ in height with a better than three foot trunk diameter. Generally fast growing, and long lasting, sometimes living over 300 years. The wood is a pale red-brown, with sapwood coloration somewhat darker.

Location: Typically, northeastern United States and southeast Canada. Ranges from Nova Scotia to Georgia, along the Great Lakes region ranging through the Mississippi Valley, the lower Missouri Valley, and throughout the Ozarks. Farmed anywhere people want it, in climactic conditions consistent with the area noted above.

Common Aliases: Northern red oak, American red oak, Gray oak, Black Oak

No, that's not a photoshop trick. Separate piece. I'll spare everyone the agony of looking at the sofa, even closer to completion.

Performance: I’ve heard if you blow smoke through one end of a flat-sawn board, it will exit the other end. I’ve seen something similar happen when burning scrap of the stuff, so I’ll regard that as likely true. In any event, for this reason (moisture absorbing up the end grains), do not use red oak outside. You’ll eventually be disappointed. For interior applications, it is a fantastic, strong, and highly durable wood seen somewhere in most American homes. It will splinter if tools are not kept sharp. Affordable and versatile, Red Oak is an American woodworking favorite. It is by far the most widely available marketable hardwood in the United States. Many of these widely available products are closely related to the species reviewed here, and the specifications for other closely related products are widely available.

The likelihood I'll be sanding this red oak floor in four weeks is almost exactly identical to the likelihood my brother's offer on this house is accepted by the bank.

Common Uses: Indoor furnishings, cabinetry, tables, chairs, craftsman designs, flooring, moldings, millwork, veneer, and a variety of other uses.



From: The Wood Database

Common Name(s): Red Oak
Scientific Name: Quercus rubra
Distribution: Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada
Tree Size: 80-115 ft (25-35 m) tall, 3-6 ft (1-2 m) trunk diameter
Average Dried Weight: 45 lbs/ft3 (725 kg/m3)
Basic Specific Gravity: .56
Hardness: 1,290 lbf (5,700 N)
Rupture Strength: 14,300 lbf/in2 (98,600 kPa)
Elastic Strength: 1,820,000 lbf/in2 (12,500 MPa)
Crushing Strength: 6,760 lbf/in2 (46.6 MPa)
Shrinkage: Radial: 4.0%, Tangential: 8.6%, Volumetric: 13.7%, T/R Ratio: 2.2

Know Your Wood: White Oak

White Oak

An example of the medullary rays of a quartersawn piece of White Oak, presented by The Wood Explorer.

Trade Name: White Oak.

Genus: Quercus alba

Janka Hardness (pounds-force): 1360

Description: Light to medium brown, sometimes sprinkled with pinkish hues. Red Oak is usually a darker red, but color is no way to differentiate the species. The primary difference is on the cellular level. White Oak is a superior exterior performer than Red Oak due to the tyloses providing a closed cellular structure, making it more rot- and water-resistant. White Oak was the preferred species for many of Gustav Stickley’s Arts and Crafts designs at the turn of the previous century.

Location: Typically, Eastern United States.

Common Aliases: Cucharillo, Encino, Mamecillo, Roble, Roble Colorado, Stave oak

Performance: White Oak is solid, durable, relatively easy to work, well pored, and coarsely grained. White Oak finishes very well. It is affordable, abundant, and can offer a wide array of appearances, depending on what the designer has in mind, and depending on the particular cut of the lumber. Insects such as ambrosia and Butrespid beetles will get right after this species, sadly.

General Washington would have been proud of Connecticut's efforts once his views of the Monarchy had galvanized. Check your state quarter sometime!

Common Uses: Staves, barrel making, boat building, outdoor furnishings, cabinetry, tables, chairs, craftsman designs, flooring, moldings, millwork, veneer, and a variety of other uses.

From: The Wood Database

Common Name(s): White Oak
Scientific Name: Quercus alba
Distribution: Eastern United States
Tree Size: 65-85 ft (20-25 m) tall, 3-4 ft (1-1.2 m) trunk diameter
Average Dried Weight: 50 lbs/ft3 (805 kg/m3)
Basic Specific Gravity: .60
Hardness: 1,360 lbf (6,000 N)
Rupture Strength: 15,200 lbf/in2 (104,800 kPa)
Elastic Strength: 1,780,000 lbf/in2 (12,300 MPa)
Crushing Strength: 7,440 lbf/in2 (51.3 MPa)
Shrinkage: Radial: 5.6%, Tangential: 10.5%, Volumetric: 16.3%, T/R Ratio: 1.9

Know Your Wood: Black Walnut

Black Walnut

The heartwood and sapwood found in Black Walnut is unambiguous. Broadbent Canadian Furniture produced this distinctive work.

Common trade names: Black Walnut, Walnut, Eastern Black Walnut

Genus: Juglans nigra

Janka Hardness (pounds-force): 1010

Description: Walnut ranges from a pale brown to deep sienna hues. The sapwood is quite pale, and nearly white. A very distinctive and easily identifiable wood. Medium texture and pores, usually straight grained, and has some of the wildest burl figures among all species of wood. Considered by many the standard of all the American hardwoods.

Location: Eastern North America from Southern Ontario through South Dakota across the northern bound, south through Eastern Texas on the western range of distribution, and covering northern Florida on the southern range. This large deciduous thrives mostly in riparian zones of the United States and Canada, but has been farmed in Europe since 1629. Domestically, over 60% of the US wild harvest is sawn annually in Missouri. Those Ozarks are good for something besides Yakov Smirnov!

Common Aliases: American black walnut, American walnut, Eastern walnut, gun wood, nogal, Nuez meca.

Performance: Glues and finishes well, and is very easy to work with hand and machine tools. The American woodworker familiar only with domestics would consider this stock to be quite hard, and it is indeed hard enough for most every application. Black Walnut, though relatively expensive for a domestic, is still prized by craftsmen for the distinct coloring and figure of the species. Walnut is very resistant to rot and weathering decay, although insects occasionally like the taste of it.

Love ‘em, hate ‘em, or leave ‘em, Aggie claims to know something about putting down roots. I guess. I didn’t read the article to determine how to dig the thing up and start over.

Common Uses: Fine furnishings, cabinetry, millwork, tables, chairs, veneers, handles, paneling, plywood, scientific and musical instruments, sculpture, toys, turnings, gun stock, audio cabinets, coffins, fuelwood.

From: The Wood Database

Common Name(s): Black Walnut
Scientific Name: Juglans nigra
Distribution: Eastern United States
Tree Size: 120 ft (37 m) tall, 3 ft (1 m) trunk diameter
Average Dried Weight: 41 lbs/ft3 (655 kg/m3)
Basic Specific Gravity: .51
Hardness: 1,010 lbf (4,490 N)
Rupture Strength: 14,600 lbf/in2 (100,700 kPa)
Elastic Strength: 1,680,000 lbf/in2 (11,590 MPa)
Crushing Strength: 7,580 lbf/in2 (52.3 MPa)
Shrinkage: Radial: 5.5%, Tangential: 7.8%, Volumetric: 12.8%, T/R Ratio: 1.4