Man Oak Is Hard!

[Jim Koepke]

We had a heavy wind storm a while back. Knocked what one neighbor told me is a bitter cherry tree across the lane shown in my avitar.

Well at about 5:00am one of my neighbor's had to get to work. Her husband came out with a chain saw, cut the tree and cleared the lane. I didn't notice until later. Heck, I don't get up that early. While looking at what was on the ground he drove by and we talked about the tree. He thought it was the common alder that grows all over since it was dark when he cut it.

We talked about what I was going to do with some of the wood and when I told him about my lathe he was wondering if I could make him a fish club. So I turned one green. I showed it to him to see if it was what he was thinking of. His reply was, "awesome. I explained it needed to be soaked it in denatured alcohol for a while and then I would smooth it and give it a spritz of shellac.

He asked me if I would like some oak he got from a pin oak that fell on the golf course where he works. Yesterday I took him the finished fish whacker, all he said was, "awesome." Then we loaded up a few planks of the oak.

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Half a dozen pieces of about 5/4 and one warped piece that is about 2/4.

He didn't sticker it well so some of it is spalted.

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That stuff is a lot of work to plane.

I cut a split section off of the end of this piece. Planning to cut it back to get rid of a knot at the other end.

LOML said she wants all the scraps. I tried splitting some and it might be easier to let her have it than to split it for fire wood.

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

White oak gives you a workout.

[Stewie Simpson]

Hi Jim. You think White Oak is hard to work with. You want to try some our Aussie hardwoods. It would make WO feel like a softwood.

[Richard Hutchings]

I'm curious as to why your trying to plane the whole board. It would be easier if you had a project in mind and cut some boards out of it before starting to plane.

[Chris Hachet]

Looks mlike some good lumber. I enjoy using hand tools even in really hard wood...

[Warren Mickley]

Here in Pennsylvania we have about 16 species of oak which grow large enough to be used for lumber. A few more oaks make there way into our local trade from the south or midwest. In the lumber trade these species are lumped into two groups, white oak and red oak. We have seven in the white oak group, nine in the red oak group. In reality though, each species has its own characteristics and hardness. And within a species there can be a pretty good range of hardness depending on growing conditions. For the various oak timbers I have worked I would say the hardest is more than 1000 points harder on the Janka scale than the softest. We often think of the white oak group as being harder than the red oak group, but again each has a large range and these ranges overlap.

The pin oak, Quercus palustris, is in the red oak group. It is native to eastern North America, but is certainly planted in Washington state. It is one of the harder timbers in the red oak group. I personally don't like it for lumber or as a yard tree. It tends to have persistent lower branches which means there are small knots throughout, and the lower branches tend to droop so one has to trim the lower branches regularly.

[Pat Barry]

Hey Jim, Got a picture of that fish whacker? My son uses a mini size baseball bat to do that job - giveaway item from a baseball game. Curious about what you came up with.

[Jim Koepke]

I'm curious as to why your trying to plane the whole board. It would be easier if you had a project in mind and cut some boards out of it before starting to plane.

I wanted to get a feel for how the wood works with my tools.

My plan is to use this piece for a slab top coffee table.

jtk

[Richard Hutchings]

I look forward to seeing it.

[Jim Koepke]

Hey Jim, Got a picture of that fish whacker? My son uses a mini size baseball bat to do that job - giveaway item from a baseball game. Curious about what you came up with.

Sorry, didn't think to take a picture. It is about 17" long. Just turned a rounded end ~2-1/2" tapering down to a handle with a top and bottom bead.

I am thinking of making another to have at the farmer's market.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

Sorry, didn't think to take a picture. It is about 17" long. Just turned a rounded end ~2-1/2" tapering down to a handle with a top and bottom bead.
jtk
I was thinking of making one kinda that size to keep in my car in case of trouble.

[Brian Holcombe]

Here in Pennsylvania we have about 16 species of oak which grow large enough to be used for lumber. A few more oaks make there way into our local trade from the south or midwest. In the lumber trade these species are lumped into two groups, white oak and red oak. We have seven in the white oak group, nine in the red oak group. In reality though, each species has its own characteristics and hardness. And within a species there can be a pretty good range of hardness depending on growing conditions. For the various oak timbers I have worked I would say the hardest is more than 1000 points harder on the Janka scale than the softest. We often think of the white oak group as being harder than the red oak group, but again each has a large range and these ranges overlap.

The pin oak, Quercus palustris, is in the red oak group. It is native to eastern North America, but is certainly planted in Washington state. It is one of the harder timbers in the red oak group. I personally don't like it for lumber or as a yard tree. It tends to have persistent lower branches which means there are small knots throughout, and the lower branches tend to droop so one has to trim the lower branches regularly.

Interesting, I've suspected that is the case for a few types of white woods that I purchase. Is this the case for ash as well? I've sourced 'white' ash that is light brown/tan and white ash that is yellow-y and they work differently. The browner variety is harder to work.

[Chris Hachet]

Interesting, I've suspected that is the case for a few types of white woods that I purchase. Is this the case for ash as well? I've sourced 'white' ash that is light brown/tan and white ash that is yellow-y and they work differently. The browner variety is harder to work.

I find that it can even vary quite a bit from stuff cut from the same forrest and cut by the same sawmill.

[Jim Koepke]

I was thinking of making one kinda that size to keep in my car in case of trouble.

The one I made would do well at persuading someone to not mess with its holder.

jtk

[Tom Vanzant]

Jim, your fish whacker sounds like the truncheon every London bobby carries beneath his tunic. Fish whacker, Brit whacker...same thing, but his is more likely turned from rosewood or some other heavy exotic.

[Warren Mickley]

Some notes about the ashes.

Here in Pennsylvania, we have black (brown) ash in the lumber trade and white ash. Black ash is a bit weaker and darker heartwood, white ash is the baseball bat and tool handle material. The white ash has a white sapwood and a darker (tan to brown) heartwood, but unlike cherry or walnut the heartwood forms much later. A 16" diameter tree could just be starting with heartwood. A big cause of variation in ashes is growth rate. A fast growing tree will have wide rings of hard material in between the rings of pores, while a slow growing tree seems like it is mostly pores and is lighter and weak.

There are two species of ash that definitely end up in the white ash bin.
Fraxinus americana, white ash which has two varieties which were once considered separate species, and Frixinus pennsylvanica, green ash, which is a complex of closely related questionable species covering a wide area. So there is quite a bit of variation.

Out of my area are Blue ash (midwest), hard with yellowish wood, Carolina ash, softer with yellowish wood, Pumpkin ash, and a number of ashes in the west and southwest that I am not familiar with. If you are seeing variations, there is a reason.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Warren, I appreciate your insights!