Oak (maybe) Identification

[Michael Boyet]

A friend sent me this photo. Came off his property in upstate new york many years ago. What kind of oak is this? They claim it was an oak tree. The end grain says "red oak" to me. Pretty brown right off the jointer, though.

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[Andrew Seemann]

It could be red oak with a fair amount of aging. Also, red oak can be pretty brown sometimes, even gray, just like white oak can sometimes have a pink tinge.

[John K Jordan]

Have him shave a bit of the end with a razor blade. Oak has distinctive pore structure when looking at the end grain with a magnifying glass.

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Check candidate species on the Wood Database.

[Lee Schierer]

Slice a 1/4" off one end. If you can blow through the end grain it is red oak.

[Brian Tymchak]

My guess is white oak. The pores in the end grain look generally plugged, unless they are filled with dust.. Whatever it is, it appears to have been a very fast growing tree.

[Christopher Giles]

Its white oak.

[Prashun Patel]

Slightly tighter grain and browner color than red I'm used to. I vote white.

What does it smell like when you cut it? vinegar (ketchup, feet, 'sweetly acidic') or burnt coffee (vanilla, cream, 'smooth')? Vinegar suggests red oak; coffee suggests white.

I've been reading a wood identification book and there are MANY species of white and red oak - many that you can't really tell by eye.

I talked to an arborist once who said that trees hybridize naturally and that he dislikes the distinctions 'red' or 'white'. Just like 23-and-me suggests people are rarely purely 'bred', so to it may be with all plants.

[Jason Meinholz]

It 'looks' like white oak, but based on the flake length in the first pic, and open pores in the second pic, it is NOT white oak.

Without seeing it in person, I'll vote red oak, or ash.

[Mike Stelts]

Folks seem evenly split on white vs. red. Perhaps, it's pink?

[Dave Mount]

The guideline is that the vertical height of the rays on white oak are often more than 1" in height (along the length of the board) and in red oak they are rarely more than 1" in height. Height in this context means length parallel to the grain (vertically if the board was still in the tree). It's actually better to look at a flatsawn surface for this as you can see more rays and see their full length. On QS surfaces , it's a little dependent on the angle of the saw relative to the orientation of the ray.

Best,

Dave