Wood ID: Oak, I think.

[Robert Marshall]

What do you think this is, if you don't think it is oak?

380591

My inventory of stored wood includes mostly maple, cherry, sycamore, box elder, oak and cedar. I believe this to be oak, based mainly on the rays and the color.

Thanks.

Robert

[Gary Baler]

Looks like white oak to me.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Yes Oak it is, probably a White Oak species for the long rays in the wood.

[Prashun Patel]

Looks like white oak to me. When you turned it, did it smell more like vinegar (red oak) or coconut (white oak)?

[John K Jordan]

Looks like white oak to me. When you turned it, did it smell more like vinegar (red oak) or coconut (white oak)?

You can look at the large pores too with a magnifier. White oak has abundant tyloses (sparkly-looking things in the pores). Some read oak species have some but I've never seen many.

JKJ

[Bob Bouis]

I know you aren't supposed to be able to tell white and red oak apart from the color, but it's usually a safe bet that darker brown = white oak and pink = red oak. Smell on the other hand has never really worked for me.

Your piece also has some fungal or chemical discoloration of the sapwood which is common in oak.

[Prashun Patel]

I am sure there are shades of grey to this, but we've analyzed red oak and white oak using mass spectroscopy and the butyric and acetic acid content are much higher in red oak than white oak, which is characterized by lactones and even vanilla compounds. It really shares a lot of volatile compounds with bourbon and whiskey. It is harder to smell on dry lumber, but fresh cut, once you learn to identify it, it's impossible to un-smell the difference.

[Bob Bouis]

Lots of reasons I might be wrong about the smell---I usually avoid oak, white oak isn't common around here, and there are so many varieties of oak that it's hard to make generalizations.

Still, to the best of my recollection, many red oaks don't smell much at all and some white oaks smell just like red oak. I will try to be more conscious of the smells in the future. Heh.