Oak Steal!


thatCharlieDude

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I noticed a neighbor getting rid of an oak tree. I think it's a red oak, only because red oak trees are popular around here. It was hard to tell from the pieces and the few leaves I found what type of oak it is. The tree, and pieces, were so large that I could only carry the smallest cuttings. I'm going to dry them out and use them for bowl and other turnings. It's a shame the owner didn't cut them up differently and I wish I had the time to rip a few, I would have liked to turn some of those crotches. 

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44 minutes ago, drzaius said:

Red oak isn't a good choice for anything that will be used for food or liquids. The pores are too big & deep. In fact, you can use a piece of red oak for a drinking straw.

With a film forming finish and plenty of coats, I wouldn't be worried  about a salad bowl. Now a tankard is another story.

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48 minutes ago, Brendon_t said:

With a film forming finish and plenty of coats, I wouldn't be worried  about a salad bowl. Now a tankard is another story.

Ya, a salad bowl is probably OK, but I think I'd want to use something like CPES on it (assuming it's food safe) Any kind of "drying" finish that uses solvent carriers will get in the pores OK, but then will shrink. The idea of old salad dressing & other gunk festering away in there turns my stomach.

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Thanks for the info on the pores, I'll take this into consideration when I plan projects. 

While I mentioned salad bowls, I was referring to the design more than the usage. I'm planning to make large plain bowls with it, not necessarily used for food. 

For my tankards I use epoxy to seal the inside so pores aren't really a problem. 

 

Which oak, white or red, is more stinky? This wood really stunk up my car. 

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The bark does not look like Red Oak does around here.  I wouldn't think it's different there.   Can you post a picture of some larger leaves, from lower on the tree, or are they just coming out there?   Leaves are definately some kind of Oak, but the bark is not one that I know.   The cut ends also don't look like Red Oak, to me.

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8 minutes ago, Tom King said:

The bark does not look like Red Oak does around here.  I wouldn't think it's different there.   Can you post a picture of some larger leaves, from lower on the tree, or are they just coming out there?   Leaves are definately some kind of Oak, but the bark is not one that I know.   The cut ends also don't look like Red Oak, to me.

I'm sorry I can't. There were no leaves on site and the leaves I posted were growing on a small limb on one of the pieces. The neighbor had two other oaks trees in their yard. The only reason I thought it was a red oak is because those are common around here. 

I may take the pictures to a local nursery and see if they can ID it. 

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Pin oak has branches that angle downwards at the lower part of the tree , straight out at the middle and skywards for the upper third of the canopy. Very distinctive pattern. And landscape architects love to use the damn things in parking lots. Those downwards branches try to poke your eye out when you get out of the car. If they trim those branches the tree fights back by angling the ones left down to harvest eyes, hair and hats once again. 

The leaf pic looks like a Southern Red Oak to me.

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There are a gazillion varieties of oak that fall under the 'red' category. I cut quite a few for firewood over the years. I've seen narrow sap, wide sap, dark heart, pink heart, smooth(-ish) bark and rough bark. Leaves of various sizes and configuration.

The one thing they had in common was pores open enough that you could place a splint into a glass of water and blow bubbles through it.

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There are dozens of varieties of Oaks in the United States.  They are all either in the category (might not be the right name) of White Oak, or Red Oak.   They all have their own name though.  Of all those varieties of each, I don't know of but one variety of each that gets named White Oak, or Red Oak.

edited to add:   Google says there are 60 different ones in the U.S.   https://sciencing.com/many-types-oak-trees-there-5347784.html

If you are selling logs to a mill around here, the ones with the names White Oak, and Red Oak bring the most money.  The others go for significantly less.  Just my own thinking, but I always thought it was because White Oak, and Red Oak are used for flooring, and furniture, and everything else is sold for pallets.

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Thanks for that Keggers.   That was something that I didn't know-about the veins.   But do notice that it says this helps you narrow down the number of trees you're trying to identify.

I don't believe the tree in question here would make it into the pile of Red Oak at your hardwood supplier.  If you go to a sawmill around here that saws White, and Red Oak, the only logs you will see on the yard have the same types of bark, and this is not one of them.

The last time we sold a stand of mixed hardwoods, which has been a while back,  the good logs went for $15 a ton.  Poplar, and Silver Maple went for a little less.  The loads that went to a pallet mill, which included everything else that wasn't sold as "saw logs" sold for just 3 or 4 dollars a ton.  Sweetgum brought a buck a ton.  There were a number of different kinds of Oaks on the pallet mill loads, and as we have learned here, every one would be some type of either White, or Red Oak.

I know it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, but being one of the Red Oaks doesn't make it what we all know as Red Oak when we buy boards.

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