Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 28 of 28

Thread: Red oak or white oak

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Posts
    833
    It's good news to me then. I hope to pick the boards this weekend.

    Thank all for your help.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Posts
    833
    I understand I'm supposed to seal the end grain. What product should I use for this?

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Rafael Herrera View Post
    I understand I'm supposed to seal the end grain. What product should I use for this?
    I and others use Anchorseal, available from Woodcraft but probably called Green Wood Sealer. It's basically an emulsion of wax and water with surfactant added. It's sold by the gallon and not cheap but goes a long way. It is often sold for cheaper at woodturning clubs which sometimes buy it in volume. (I once bought a 55 gal drum directly from UC Coatings) For application I use a cheap disposable brush in a plastic coffee can. The brush never needs to be cleaned and lasts forever.

    I use Anchorseal to seal the end grain of every wet piece of wood, whether the end of a log or a processed blank. I also seal any wild grain, some sides that have sapwood near the heartwood rings, and the side of any blank of some woods such as dogwood and privet if that side has both heartwood and sapwood. (The difference in shrinkage rates and likeliness of cracks in this area is high. When roughing out bowls, I sometimes seal the entire outside.

    You can also seal with paint (latex is not recommended), dip in hot paraffin, and use other things that can be messy. The Anchorseal is quick and simple and works well.

    JKJ

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Doylestown, PA
    Posts
    7,551
    Quote Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton View Post
    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.
    Similar trick -- put one end in a glass of water and blow on the other end. Red Oak bubbles.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Michiana
    Posts
    3,048
    White oak based on the leaves. The way I learned to tell the difference: Red man use pointed arrows, white man use round bullets = Red oak has pointed leaves and white oak has rounded leaves. I'm sure there are various subspecies that deviate from that, but in my neck of the woods that's the easy way to tell. As others have noted, looking at the pores in cut lumber can tell you too.

    Edit - It has come to my attention that the old adage I shared above may be offensive to some. My intent was not to offend, but to share a mnemonic I picked up from a 2007 Chris Schwarz blog post. If any Creekers out there are offended, please advise and I'll remove it with profuse apologies.
    Last edited by Rob Luter; 12-17-2019 at 10:58 AM.
    Sharp solves all manner of problems.

  6. #21
    Wow...all this analysis! I've milled a lot of red and white oak and that sure looks like red oak to me. The slight pink tone is a dead giveaway whereas white is always yellow, ash or creamy in color. White is also heavier and denser. They both will have medullary rays but white is more pronounced. I wouldn't trust the leaf structure unless it was living on the tree. The other thing is the smell of white oak which is very distinctive but hard to describe.
    The other suggestions about porosity should be accurate since that's a very distinctive difference between the two and why white oak is used for wine and whiskey barrels and not red.
    Jay

  7. #22
    Based on the leaves and the pics, some kind of white oak probably. But at the same time there are lots of oak species and hybrids out there, so hard to say with certainty what it is exactly.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,975
    Also, one thing that can fool you about leaves is that they are different the higher up in the tree they are, so you can't really tell by picking up dry ones off of the ground. The higher leaves have more space in the openings, to let light get to the lower ones. Often, the shapes of the tips are different as a result.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    New Hill, NC
    Posts
    2,568
    Quote Originally Posted by Rafael Herrera View Post
    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.

    Attachment 421512
    Rafael, those appear to be white oak leaves, most likely Quercus alba, based upon the leaves and the scaly bark.

    White oak can frequently appear to be a pink color immediately after sawing. Also, at least one species of white oak (chestnut white oak) is open pored (similar to red oak). Cooperage companies (wine barrel makers) will refuse quartersawn chestnut white oak because it will leak.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    2,758
    For my uses the differences in the many Oaks are hardness, rot resistance, color and grain. Just because it is white oak or red does not guarantee anything. Rot resistance is created by the closed tyloses (the straw test). beyond that it doesn't matter much. Grain and color, like hardness you asses when you work it.

  11. #26
    I think the point is he is trying to assess BEFORE he starts working with it. It does matter a great deal. If you are trying to steam bend it or wish to rive it, knowing the broad category a priori does indeed help know what you are getting into.

  12. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Prashun Patel View Post
    I think the point is he is trying to assess BEFORE he starts working with it. It does matter a great deal. If you are trying to steam bend it or wish to rive it, knowing the broad category a priori does indeed help know what you are getting into.
    For some things it may matter, but others it really doesn't. I've mixed white and red oak together on stained projects, and you really can't tell the difference. Plus there is a lot of variation in the same species for hardness, workability, etc. As long as you aren't making wine barrels, or using it outdoors, red vs white is less important.

    The below desk mixes red and white oak. Anyone care to guess which parts are red and which parts are white?

    UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_69e6.jpgUNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_69ea.jpgUNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_69e7.jpgUNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_69e4.jpg

  13. #28
    I did not mean to imply that it matters in every situation; I meant to imply that knowing the difference beforehand is not always insignificant.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •