Red Oak

[cwearing]

I have a rather tall dead red oad that must come down. Is this wood suitable for lathe projects if it is "sound"?

 

[arbud]

Youbetcha! everything from balusters to vases

 

[C Edward Moore]

Yes!

I have made a lot of natural-edged bowls from red oak. I prefer to turn it over white oak. The crotch area can yield some excellent grain. Use CA glue to keep the bark on.

I let some red oak sit longer than I meant to after harvesting it and the sapwood spalted, but not the heartwood. The bark had to come off, but the bowls are very interesting.

 

[Jeff Jilg]

I am happy to hear that Ed is successful turning oak. In Austin I've only had access to oak which is one step away from morphing into a rock. If I can't rough turn it while it's wet then it goes to the firewood pile. Also the oak here has the obstinate proclivity to crack and split. Some local turners won't touch it...and I'm not too far from that opinion.

 

[Steve Worcester]

I have to say i am one of those who won't turn it. Or at least rarely. If you get it when it is fresh cut it is OK, but it will crack, almost guaranteed (for me anyway, the stuff hates me personally).

It falls into the group of cottonwood, willow and a few others that are won't bothers for me.

Does make a great firewood though.

 

[C Edward Moore]

I am very surprised by the responses. I just noticed that my location was not given so I edited my profile. I was near Annapolis, Maryland, and now live in Virginia near Roanoke and Smith Mountain Lake, and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Oak is stringy and is hard when dry, but I like the results. You can get cracks when you turn crotch red oak, but most any crotch wood has a lot of tension in it and will split when given a chance.

I turn wood which is either fresh or has been sealed and allowed to dry a little. I do not try to make a bowl from dry wood. And, I try to turn the bowl thin enough so that it won't crack as it dries. Certainly it will distort and go elliptical as it dries, but when the thickness is right it will not split. Problems that have occurred have happened when I left the bottom too thick. Now if the crack is already there, it will probably get worse. Sometimes CA glue saves the day.

I am strongly suspicious that the difference in climate may account for our divergent views of oak. It is very porous and will probably dry quickly if its environment will let it. My area is humid and allows a little more time to deal with the wood before it starts to split.

I have just finished a 10" diameter, 7" high natural-edged red oak bowl with the spalted sapwood.. If I can, I will get an electronic picture to share in a few days.

From Burnt Chimney, VA, where I was startled to see a fairly large coyote in my backyard yesterday,

 

[hockenbery]

Unlike my friend, Ed, I still live in Annapolis, MD and prefer turning White oak more than red oak although it tends to move a bit more it has more pronounced rays and in my opinion finishes more nicely. Hi Ed!

I'll try attaching a photo is of a recent piece I named flightless which I turned from a fresh cut Red Oak that was dead standing for about 5 months in our yard. This piece is about 6H, 12L and 6.5 d. An even wall thickness prevents cracking.

 

[Mike Schwing]

Ech! Wife won't allow it in the house

I don't know how you guys can stand the smell of wet red oak. It smells to me alternately like either urine or vomit, sometimes both. That stuff STINKS!!!! There's more red oak around here than I could turn if I wanted, but I pass on it every time. Stinky!

 

[Mark Mandell]

Mistaken Identity

Mike, you've apparently been involved with "piss-oak", a variety of black oak that not only has that smell when cut, but also when BURNED. I'll not forget the time my old man brought home some "free firewood" and loaded up the fireplace. Spent a cold night in January getting the stink out of the house!

You can avoid by sniffing a fresh shaving; quite unmistakable, like the Times Square subway station on New Years' Day.

 

[nicksilva]

I'm with Steve - I don't care for Red oak, post oak, piss oak, etc.
Guess I'm just not an Oakie (apologies to my OK brothers and sisters).

However when it comes to furniture projects, I've used white oak quite often. It is very stable and dense. peace.

 

[Andrew]

And I'm with you, Nick. I don't do the oaks except the whites and blackjack (which is completely different from black). I tolerate the blackjack just because of it's striking coloration (the Ozarks' Exotic). Only on very special requests and large orders do I ever turn red oak anymore. Hate that stuff with a passion.

- Andrew

 

[C Edward Moore]

red oak bowl

As advertised, I will attach a picture of a red oak bowl with spalted sapwood. The finish is General's wipe-on urethane over the Seal-a-cell oil finish, buffed.

The red oak in Maryland and Virginia must be different from the varieties that many of you have described. It does NOT have an unpleasant odor, it machines fairly well, and it looks nice. While making custom furniture in the Annapolis area I placed some nice red oak pieces in some fashionable homes. One was a bibliotheque' in a designer's bedroom, which she also used in a decorator's showcase.

Edit: I thought that the picture was attached. Hmmm. I uploaded it, but the system must have eaten it.
Edit #2: The picture was over 80kb and was probably rejected. My son is going to crop it and resend it to me. Then, I'll try again. Mea Culpa

 

[Mark Mandell]

Will The Real Red Oak Tree Stand Up?

The attached was turned from a New Jersey "Black" Oak. I have been told that actual Red Oak is more limited to the northern ranges, and that anything south of the PA/NY border latitude is not the Real Red.

BTW attached is 11" by 8+" deep and about 3/16 thick

 

[hockenbery]

a long list of Red Oaks and White Oaks too

There are red oaks in the south. Red oaks have points on the ends of the leaf lobe and you shouldn't make barrels from red oak because the pores leak.

Here is a long list of common names for oak species.

Appendix A: Technical Information Sheet
From: Alden, H. 1995. Hardwoods of North America.
USDA Forest Service. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-83.

Quercus spp.
Fagaceae
Oak
Worldwide, the oaks (Quercus spp.) consist of 275 to 500 species that can be separated into three groups based on their microanatomy: the live or evergreen oak group, the red oak group (Erythrobalanus), and the white oak group (Leucobalanus). Species within each group look alike microscopically. The word quercus is the classical Latin name of oaks, said to be derived from Celtic fine and tree.

The commercial North American species are as follows:
Red Oak Group (Erythrobalanus)

Quercus coccinea ******* oak, black oak, buck oak, red oak, scarlet oak, Spanish oak, spotted oak

Quercus falcata American red oak, bottomland red oak, cherrybark oak, Elliott oak, red oak, Spanish oak, southern red oak, swamp red oak, swamp spanish oak, turkeyfoot oak, water oak

Quercus kelloggii black oak, California black oak, Kellogg oak, mountain black oak

Quercus laurifolia Darlington oak, diamond-leaf oak, laurel oak, laurel-leaf oak, swamp laurel oak, water oak, obtusa oak

Quercus nigra American red oak, blackjack, pin oak, possum oak, punk oak, red oak, spotted oak, water oak

Quercus nuttallii nuttall oak, pin oak, red oak, red river oak, striped oak

Quercus palustris pin oak, red oak, Spanish oak, Spanish swamp oak, Spanish water oak, swamp oak, swamp Spanish oak, water oak

Quercus phellos black oak, laurel oak, peach oak, pin oak, red oak, swamp willow oak, water oak, willow oak, willow swamp oak

Quercus rubra American red oak, black oak, buck oak, Canadian red oak, common red oak, gray oak, eastern red oak, leopard oak, Maine red oak, mountain red oak, northern red oak, red oak, Spanish oak, spotted oak, southern red oak, swamp red oak, water oak, West Virginia soft red oak

Quercus shumardii American red oak, Schneck oak, Schneck red oak, shumard oak, Shumard red oak, southern red oak, spotted bark, spotted oak, swamp red oak, Texas oak, Texas red oak

Quercus velutina American red oak, blackjack, black oak, dyer oak, jack oak, quercitron, quercitron oak, redbush, red oak, smoothbark oak, spotted oak, tanbark oak, yellowbark, yellow oak, yellowbark oak

White Oak Group (Leucobalanus)
Quercus alba American white oak, Arizona oak, Arizona white oak, forked-leaf white oak, Louisiana white oak, mantua oak, ridge white oak, stave oak, true white oak, West Virginia soft white oak, white oak

Quercus bicolor blue oak, cherry oak, curly swamp oak, swamp oak, swamp white oak, white oak

Quercus garryana Brewer oak, Garry oak, Oregon oak, Oregon white oak, Pacific post oak, Pacific white oak, post oak, prairie oak, shin oak, western oak, western white oak, white oak

Quercus lyrata American white oak, overcup oak, swamp post oak, swamp white oak, water white oak

Quercus macrocarpa blue oak, bur oak, burr oak, mossycup oak, mossy-overcup oak, overcup oak, scrub oak, white oak, white mossycup oak, white overcup oak

Quercus michauxii American white oak, basket oak, cow oak, swamp oak, swamp chestnut oak

Quercus muehlenbergii chestnut oak, chinkapin oak, chinquapin oak, dwarf chestnut oak, dwarf chinkapin, pin oak, rock oak, rock chestnut oak, running white oak, scrub oak, shrub oak, white oak, yellow oak, yellow chestnut oak

Quercus prinus American white oak, basket oak, chestnut oak, chestnut rock oak, chestnut swamp oak, cow oak, mountain oak, rock oak, rock chestnut, rock chestnut oak, swamp oak, tanbark oak, white oak, white chestnut oak

Quercus stellata American post oak, barren white oak, ******* oak, ******* white oak, box oak, box white oak, brash oak, Delta post oak, Durand oak, iron oak, pin oak post oak, ridge oak, rough oak, rough white oak, southern oak, turkey oak, white box oak, white oak

Live Oak Group
Quercus virginiana dwarf live oak, encino, live oak, rolfs oak, scrub live oak, Virginia live oak, Virginia oak

Distribution: Widely distributed throughout the United States.

The Tree: Oaks can reach a height of 125 ft (38 m), with large diameters.
General Wood Characteristics: The sapwood of oak is white to very light brown, while the heartwood is light to dark brown in the white oak group and reddish brown in the red oak group. Oak wood has a course texture; it is heavy, straight-grained, hard, tough, very stiff, and strong. Fast-grown oak, with wide rings, is stronger and heavier than slow-grown oak.

 

[hockenbery]

***** trumps science

Steve if you are out there ---

I pasted a page from a scientific report and noticed ***** in my paste.

The common names of several oaks include the slang term for illegitamate birth.
I don't think this particular issue will distort discussion.

-Al

 

[Mark Mandell]

Geez,

I ask for the Real Oak to stand up and Burnum-freakin'-Wood overruns Dunsenane!

Funny; I didn't catch "Quercus Urinae" in the list. Perhaps that's just a localized condition . . .

Thanks Hock




Mark