Ok folks...What is roasted oak?

[Dewey Torres]

Last time I was in my local Woodcraft they had a new wood I had never heard of or seen before called "roasted oak".

I thought immediately "gimmick" but would like your thoughts.

How do they make this?/ Is is made or real?
How long has it been around?
What is the catch?
Has anyone used it?

Always willing to learn something new.

[Bill Huber]

Well you take some oak and put it in the oven at 350 for 2 hours and 40 minutes, turning it every 45 minutes. When golden brown you take it out and cool it on a rack until cool.

I have no idea but it sure would be neat to find out.

[Chip Lindley]

Never heard of Roasted. Perhaps you are thinking of Fumed oak??? Gassing oak in an enclosure with ammonia reacts to the oaks tannins to turn the wood very dark indeed. A special finish which cannot quite be duplicated with any stains.

Mebe *roasting* speeds up the process?? hmmm

[Thomas Knighton]

Perhaps "roasted" is a euphemism for "caught in a fire"? ;)

[Tony Joyce]

Bill, if you are using them in winemaking that sounds about right.

Tony Joyce

[Prashun Patel]

All the furniture at the Friar's club is made of roasted oak.

[Paul Girouard]

Maybe re-claimed Oak wine barrels. On This Old House years ago they did a remodel in the Napa valley and Norm visited a wine barrel marker and they called the "over the fire" , when they scorch the inside of the barrel, roasting.

Although in this case it may be more about marketing the product.

[Frank Drew]

Definitely not a term I ever heard in almost thirty years in the business... does it refer to a finish color, or to a raw wood product?

[Jim Becker]

I've seen reference to this before and believe it's some kind of heat treating process that interacts with the tannins and subsequently changes the color (and flavor relative to wine making, etc.) Unfortunately, I could not find a current example other to a link for some flooring (http://www.simplefloors.com/products/Hand-Scraped-Flooring/Lumberton-European-Plank/Roasted-Pepper-Oak/flooring536.aspx) other than chips for wine making.

[Dewey Torres]

Definitely not a term I ever heard in almost thirty years in the business... does it refer to a finish color, or to a raw wood product?

Well I haven't been woodworking that long yet but I do claim to know wood fairly well.

The wood was dark very dark like walnut. It did look like oak just the color was way to dark. So dark it could have passed for being stained. It was all rough lumber. It doubt it was fumed as I am working on a Morris chair right now an have been studying ammonia fumed wood rather extensively.

I challenge any of you to go to your local WC and see if they carry it. I wish I would have had my camera.

If the creek is stumped then I am writing it off as a gimmick!

[Frank Drew]

Dewey,

It might not be a gimmick but it might be a relatively new term or a new method or product that few of us have heard of; other than freshly cut walnut being steamed to even out the color, I can't think of another broadly sold raw lumber that's color treated before retail sale, but I haven't been shopping for a while.

[David DeCristoforo]

Maybe you should just call them and ask. I'm thinking it's "misprint". The idea of the wood coming from reclaimed wine or whiskey barrels is logical but the correct term in that case would be "toasted" (or "charred") not "roasted".

[Brian MacDonald]

I was recently in the woodworking store in Sumner, Wa. They had roasted oak as well as roasted maple both quite dark and not overly attractive. Found this:

heated to very high temperatures in a vacuum condition. The hardwood is then rehumidified in order to achieve a uniformly colored material. This achieves levels of greater consistency and dimensional stability. The resultant color (coffee) is similar to one of Black Walnut but the price is less expensive.

This was for maple and birch, I'd assume that the oak is processed in a similar fashion.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I've seen reference to this material before. Various kinds of wood are heated at high temperatures (don't know if it's with or without air). The wood is referred to as roasted or "torrified". This (obviously) darkens the wood but also makes it more stable for some applications like flooring. It seems to "set" or break down some compounds in the wood. I doubt that it would be an application for general woodworking.

[Howard Acheson]

I'm with David. Call the store and ask them. Seems like the easiest way to find out.

[Porter Bassett]

At the market in Portland, I saw some boxes made out of what they called "roasted Maple". I thought it looked fabulous.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Perhaps they were out of roasted chestnut...this is the Holiday Season after all. :)

-Jeff :)

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Well you take some oak and put it in the oven at 350 for 2 hours and 40 minutes, turning it every 45 minutes. When golden brown you take it out and cool it on a rack until cool.


Ya gotta baste it every half hour.

I much prefer it on the rotisserie. It's self basting that way.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Here is a link I found on Roasted wood.

http://www.goodfellowinc.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&lang=en&id=143&Itemid=426

[Darryl Lunn]

I've never seen roasted oak, but I know that Goodfellow does roasted maple and birch. The maple looks very similar to walnut. I've used the roasted wood before and found that there is no difference in how it cuts, planes etc. The piece below is of roasted maple.

[Darryl Lunn]

Here's the missing pic.

103153

[Dewey Torres]

Here's the missing pic.

103153

Yep that's the stuff .... It was done over what looked to be white oak though and may have been just a shade darker.

[Peter Quinn]

My boss has a flooring business as part of his millwork/cabinet operation, they have been using roasted oak now for a couple of years. I can't tell you the exact receipt used by his suppliers, but it involves heat and pressure. The wood has a 'trapped in a house fire' aroma, an attractive even brown color that verges on looking fumed except the ray fleck does not pop on the quarter sawn material, and seems to be increasingly popular and available. It is not a joke or a gimmick, but seems to be a genuine new option offered by kilns regionally. It does not resemble any walnut I have seen, just looks like very tan oak. It seems the suppliers have varied the formula several times; some stuff was too cooked (very dark and smelled burnt), some too light, others just right. All we need are three bears and a little blond girl to complete this tale!

Not sure how it works as a wood worker, we have made nothing other than flooring with it. I can say I've heard it doesn't glue up well but no one I know has actually tried to glue it, so that may be rumor or hear say? Something about the heat damaging the woods cellular structure? Good luck with it, I'd be interested to know how you find its working properties relative to regular KD oak.

[Chris Padilla]

...just looks like very tan oak...

Careful, there is a species of oak called tan oak. :)

[Tony Joyce]

http://www.certainlywood.com/detail.cfm?ID=1789

Tony Joyce

[Larry Edgerton]

Being Christmas season and all, and being as Chestnut is so rare, maybe you are supposed to substitute? Doesn't have the same ring though..... :)

One of my pet pieves is that the big box/chain stores "discover" something and rename it to suit their marketing purposes. Home Depot and the like are guilty of this, and it just confuses the issue. Some things they do it so it seems that they are the only supplier, and others out of ignorance perhaps. For example Radenta was sold as pine for the longest time, and the two are not even close in character although they do look similar. The problem was that Radenta will last maybe a year or two in a northern outside condition, even well painted where pine will last for many years. They do the same with tools, hardware, whatever. If you ask the store person for what you want, by what it has always been called, they just look at you with a blank stare. When you find it yourself it has a new name and a nifty package.

I really miss the local Lumber yards/hardware stores........

[Russ Filtz]

Not the same, but back in 8th grade shop class (when they still had those!) we finished a hammer handle by toasting it almost black with a torch, then sanding it back to whatever amount you wanted. Free way of getting stain I guess!

[Ralph Wiggum]

So the color goes all the way through the wood? If you cut it does the cut expose lighter wood?

[Dewey Torres]

So the color goes all the way through the wood? If you cut it does the cut expose lighter wood?

I didn't cut it. I only looked at it but from what others have posted the color goes all the way through.

[Pat Germain]

I was with Dewey at our local Woodcraft when he first saw the "roasted oak". His his defense, it's likely nobody in the store at the time would have known anything about this wood. Like I've said before, our local Woodcraft is pretty inconsistent.

If we called back asked to speak the manager, he likely would have gone on for 20 minutes about why he won't order roasted oak anymore. ;)

[Matt Armstrong]

It's what you get when you try to cut 8/4 QSWO with my forrest blade

[harry strasil]

whiskey barrels are charred inside to give the aged liquid its color, butter churns and buckets and barrels are heated (toasted) so as to shrink the wood on the inside and make it curve to conform to the curvature of the barrel, Also there used to be dry coopers and wet coopers, dry coopers made flour, sugar and cracker barrels, wet coopers made barrels to hold liquid.

[harry strasil]

My Jointer plane is made of Burr Oak, which has a nice tan color.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/jointerplane.jpg

[Matthew Hills]

My money would be on it being what other places call "toasted oak":
http://www.mountainlumber.com/images/uploads/ToastedOak-web.jpg


Mountain Lumber’s Toasted Oak takes a new approach to hardwood flooring. Using a carefully measured heating process, we slowly raise the wood’s temperature thus reducing the wood's moisture content. The finished product is harder than regular oak flooring and naturally resistant to moisture, mold and mildew. The heating process also enriches the oak’s natural color without the use of chemicals. Unlike a surface stain, our Toasted Oak’s dark luxurious color penetrates the wood and provides a consistent color throughout.

[John Callahan]

Ok folks...What is roasted oak?

Might have been the flooring my boss was trying to rip some years ago with a little wiener tablesaw and a way too dull blade- more than a little smoke and left a cut black as night. :rolleyes:

[harry strasil]

Could be a typo, the "r" and "t" are right next to each other on the keyboard. And Toast is a nice light brown.

[harry strasil]

Enhanced picture.

[Brian J Page]

So, while reading this thread I was curious...and I Googled "roasted oak". One of the top 10 hits was this thread...doesn't help me with more information, but cool to see.

[Peter Quinn]

It really does exist, this toasted oak, or roasted oak, or what ever the seller prefers to call it. my boss has been using it for several years now, mostly in flooring, and it seems to be gaining in popularity. Mostly they have been using red oak, as the heating process obscures its otherwise putrid color and gives it an air of dignity. It makes one of the cheapest woods look stately.

I have also seen roasted/toasted birch, ash and poplar come through the shop. The birch is quite striking, like closed grain walnut. The poplar is being touted as good for exterior decking. Jury is still out on that one.

None of this stuff is a pleasure to work with for proper wood working. It stinks like a house fire or a mesquite potato chip factory on fire, it tends to fall apart now and then, and its so dry it doesn't always take glue well IME. Worth a look to draw your own conclusions, but if you don't fall in love, your not alone.

[harry strasil]

now you know why I don't use google, try a yahoo search

[Noble Bowes]

Well I haven't been woodworking that long yet but I do claim to know wood fairly well.

The wood was dark very dark like walnut. It did look like oak just the color was way to dark. So dark it could have passed for being stained. It was all rough lumber. It doubt it was fumed as I am working on a Morris chair right now an have been studying ammonia fumed wood rather extensively.

I challenge any of you to go to your local WC and see if they carry it. I wish I would have had my camera.

If the creek is stumped then I am writing it off as a gimmick!
I use Roasted Oak, Ash and figured maple in making guitars. the beauty of this wood is that it is consistently the same colour through and through. If you have a dark stained oak floor and scratch it deep enough the lighter wood shows through and is very hard to hide. Not so with roasted.
2 shops carry it near where I live

note that I roast my own in an ordinary electric oven. (1 piece at a time when I need it)

[Peter Quinn]

The commercial stuff is done in special high heat low oxygen kilns. The low oxygen is because they toast it hard, sort of like the first stage of making charcoal, briquets, and they don't want it to catch fire. It smells burnt. And it does't always absorb glue. I've had to size the joints with watered glue, then re-glue full strength on occasion. Not sure if its sucking the joint dry because the wood is so dry, or not allowing the glue to penetrate because the cells are totally closed. Its difficult in any event. I believe one accepted industry term is "torrified lumber", though I haven't seen it marketed that way in the US. Sounds too close to terrified, or tortured. Way less pleasant than "roasted", but more accurate too. Its handsome, I particularly like the birch, and lightly toasted ash is handsome too. Unfortunately what you gain in color and stability you lose in strength and workability IME. Nothing is perfect.

[ray hampton]

I use Roasted Oak, Ash and figured maple in making guitars. the beauty of this wood is that it is consistently the same colour through and through. If you have a dark stained oak floor and scratch it deep enough the lighter wood shows through and is very hard to hide. Not so with roasted.
2 shops carry it near where I live

note that I roast my own in an ordinary electric oven. (1 piece at a time when I need it)

Do you have smoke detectors in the same room ?
this sound like a good idea

[Grant Wilkinson]

My buddies use it here for furniture pieces. Most of that they use is maple or ash, but they have used some oak, too. As Peter stated, here at least it is called "torrified". It smells burnt and when you cut it, the smell is really strong. I did a bandsaw box from offcuts of the maple. Nice to work with, but stinky.

[Joe Spear]

Lee Valley has a set of chisels with wooden handles that are treated like that. It is supposed to harden and stabilize the wood.

[John TenEyck]

Wood is "toasted" for wind barrels. This is what you are talking about: http://www.seasonwood.com/

John

[Mark Wooden]

Unfortunately what you gain in color and stability you lose in strength and workability IME. Nothing is perfect


Something about the heat damaging the woods cellular structure?

Yep, that would be my concern. Sounds like a way to dress up less usable stock.
I'll stick with more traditional methods to color materials. Go with what you know......