Rafael, Take a look at a clean cut close up of the end grain with a hand lens. The pores of white oak will be plugged up with tyloses, red oak pores will be open.
Leaves are distinctly different, but looking like it’s too late for that.
The tiny samples of bark in one of the pictures look like white oak but I can't be sure. There is no way of telling for certain from the meager information you have provided so far.
Some more tricks:
Does it smell like ketchup/vinegar when milling (red oak) or more coffee/creamy (white oak)?
White is in general tighter grained than red.
If you have some scraps you can rive the end grain with a mallet and hatchet. A clean split suggests red oak, a stringier split suggests white.
You can also purchase sodium nitrite. A 10pct solution in water will turn white oak black, temporarily; red oak will turn only brown. Both will mellow to a fumed oak brown after weeks.
This being said, red and white oak are very broad categories. So the above are only guidelines for diy identification.
I see that kind of spalt pattern more on milled red than white oak. But the grain from a distance just looks a little more like white to me.
Last edited by Prashun Patel; 12-13-2019 at 7:17 PM.
There are Many varieties of Oak in the U.S. I forget the exact number, but it's a lot. I believe every one is either a white oak, or a red oak, but probably an odd exception, or few. That doesn't mean that any one is either White Oak, or Red Oak. I know that might seem like a smart ass answer, but it's really not.
If the colors on your photos are accurate it's red oak. White oak has no red tones anywhere.
John
I haven't picked up the boards yet. The guy I'm getting them from doesn't know. He sent me a picture of the leaves.
received_1074703512867282.jpg
One other way to tell the difference... Take a short piece of wood -- say a quarter inch along the grain. Put one end in your mouth and try to push spit through it. On red oak, you can. On white oak, you can't.
Those leaves are from white oak! Click on the image to enlarge it.
Snip of oak leaves.PNG
Cheers,
Tim
White oak based upon leaves and appearance.
Could minerals in the soil cause some different coloration? A friend brought an oak log to my sawmill and said the guy who gave it to him said it was white oak. When we cut into it I told him it sure looked like red oak to me. Then later, with a closer look at the end grain pores and the rays I changed my mind. That's the only while oak I can remember with red tones.
JKJ
Rounded lobes on the leaves suggest white oak.
This is good for Oaks of the Eastern U.S.
https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/t...fieldguide.pdf