I read someplace that the way to tell the difference between white and red oak is to take a section of the and insert the long grain end in water. If you can blow through it and the water bubbles it is red if not it’s white. Dose anyone know if this is true. If it is I have some red oak. I didn’t buy the wood it was given to me and I will continue to use it. I was just woundering what it is.
ZABO
Replies
I have heard that as well. I believe that it is true, though I haven't tried it. I find that white oak has a very distinctive smell (odor).
Chris @ flairwoodworks
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Oh, and dont forget to look for the red color :0) JK
"If you can blow through it and the water bubbles it is red if not it's white. Dose anyone know if this is true."
It is.
Tyloses are bubble like structures that form in the tubular vessels (vascular tissue) of many hardwoods during the changeover from sapwood to heartwood. Tyloses block the previously open vessels preventing free movement of liquid. Red oaks form very few tyloses whereas white oaks produce many and this explains why white oaks are preferred for barrels. The tyloses reduce the loss of liquid out of the barrel to acceptable amounts.
Whisky distillers talk of the "Angels Share", which is the alcohol that does evaporate through the walls of the oak barrel. Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
Edited 4/4/2008 2:52 pm by SgianDubh
Gee Richard , I think I want to come back as an angel in the Crown Royal plant.
dusty
dusty, I'm responding to you from the ethereal rafters of the Glenkinchie distillery. Slainte-- hic.Richard Jones Furniture
It's twoo! It's twoo! You can do the experiment easily with a piece a few inches long.
-Steve
Yes, or you can blow cigarette smoke through it also--if anyone still smokes.
It's the reason that red oak is not considered a good outside wood.
Thanks Guys
I thought I had read that somewhere but couldn't remember for sure. You know memory is the first of two things that goes out with age and I can't remember the other one. Anyway thanks, it's hard to tell the difference of the two oaks sometimes. The colors can be quite similar sometimes red oak is light color almost white and sometimes white has a red hue to it.
Zabo2
you can blow cigarette smoke through it ........
I tried it in reverse. Makes a great filter for my Lucky Strikes.
The soda straw method works in theory, but often not in practice, as crosscutting the sample often plugs the pores with debris.
Use a razor blade to slice the end grain clean and use a 10X hand lens. With clean cutting, the tyloses will be visible as white debris in the vessels of WO....in turn the pores of RO will be clean and dark.
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