Red Oak White Oak Blues

A word to the wise. If you ever have lumber sawn. Be SURE to separate the red oak from the white oak when you saw it & the bark is still on the tree. Once it is rough-cut it's a pain to tell them apart. Even after I've planed one side I have some white oak boards (I think) that look allot like red oak. The red oak is pretty easy to tell but I have boards that have the wider red oak grain, but the grayer white oak color. I guess if I can't tell no one else will know the difference.



I'm sure it has nothing to do with my aging eyesight.

Mark,

I agree! They are impossible to tell apart sometimes. Like you said as long as the color and grain matches, you should have no problems ;)

I have seen some RED white oak!

Mark.
One more reason to keep them seperate is that they don't always stain the same.
Apparently the grain structure of redoak is different than white according to some books I've read. I've also found that the red will cast a green hue under certain staining conditions that the white does not.

Actually you can tell quite easily looking at the end grain. Red oak has the cells open like bundles of little straws. White oak has those cells blocked with a resin of sorts.

Once you see the end grains side by side it is easy to differentate the two oaks.

Cut a short 1" piece off the end.
Red oak you can blow air through, white oak you cannot.

Yup! Open cell red oak vs. closed cell white oak.

In our Antique Lumber Yard we use a sodium nitrite solution to verify the hard to tell boards. White oak will turn the SN solution black and red won't do anything.

Hey Steve Clardy, I have to say I 've never seen anyone blowin' on a piece of oak.:D Maybe you could go into the drinking straw business. :D............Hmmmmm custom white oak drinking straws....On the more serious side, I just replaced 3 window sills in my almost-ready-to-paint woodshop because water intrusion had rotted away the originals (pine). I used white oak because of it's rot resistance. Wish I had found all the leaks 'cause I found out that white oak turns almost black when water sits on it for a while.:( I might just paint them over now... Got the leaks fixed anyway.

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Originally Posted by Paul Downes

Hey Steve Clardy, I have to say I 've never seen anyone blowin' on a piece of oak.:D Maybe you could go into the drinking straw business. :D............Hmmmmm custom white oak drinking straws....On the more serious side, I just replaced 3 window sills in my almost-ready-to-paint woodshop because water intrusion had rotted away the originals (pine). I used white oak because of it's rot resistance. Wish I had found all the leaks 'cause I found out that white oak turns almost black when water sits on it for a while.:( I might just paint them over now... Got the leaks fixed anyway.

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:D :D :D ROFL:D Try it, you'll like it.

Are, were, you window sills next to metal?

Another way to tell white from red is when you fume it white oak turns a nice chocolate color, red oak turns kind of green.

The best I have found to tell white oak from red oak is the smell of freshly planed lumber. The red oak smell sour a little like baby spit up. White oak has a sweet smell.

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Originally Posted by Rick Lizek

In our Antique Lumber Yard we use a sodium nitrite solution to verify the hard to tell boards. White oak will turn the SN solution black and red won't do anything.

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I've never tried SN but understand that it is 100% accurate.

I use a method described in R. Bruce Hoadley's "Identifying Wood", page 103 which is suppose to be 90% to 95% accurate. Both red and white oak contain rays (looks like black thread). The length of the rays in red oak are usually 3/8" to 5/8" with a maximum length of 1" where many of them in white oak are over 1".

Every once in a while I'll get a piece of oak that doesn't have any threads showing. Been meaning to pick up some SN at the local drug store to take care of such situations.

Regards, Joe

Closed cell white. Open cell red. I just finished patching an 85 year old hardwood floor. Being a novice, I pried up one board, took it to the store, and was supplied with some bundles of white oak. The floor appears to have a majority of red oak, and the patches are somewhat startling to some one who knows what to look for. Under the new stain & urethane, the old boards are grayer and darker, the new are redder & lighter. Overall, it's fine, but if I had it to do over....
John Templeman

I just found out that they're hard to tell apart. When I went to the hardwood lumber warehouse I only picked from what I thought was the white oak section for the face frames for the cabs that I just finished. I picked up white oak there on three different trips. After installing the cabs and making sure that they were ready for the painter I noticed that a piece of the face frames here and there was kinda looking different in a funny sort of way. It didn't dawn on me until after the painter was done that there must have been some red oak mixed up in the white oak bin at the hardwood place. No one has said anything but I see the pieces now every time I go over there. :o :o :o

I'll know to look closer next time. Silly me.........

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Originally Posted by John Timberlake

The best I have found to tell white oak from red oak is the smell of freshly planed lumber. The red oak smell sour a little like baby spit up. White oak has a sweet smell.

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lol my daughters 21 It's been so long since i had that problem I forgott what that smelled like......wow maybe a nitch for a new job oportunity :D