Red Oak
Botanical Name
Quercus spp. of the family Fagaceae (Quercus rubra is the most widely cited one, but “red oak” also includes many others. COMMON NAMES: American red oak, black oak, blackjack oak, California live oak, Canadian red oak, cherry bark oak, eastern red oak, gray oak COLOR: heartwood is tan, frequently with a tinge of red, sometimes salmon colored or flesh colored and sapwood is whitish to grayish or pale reddish brown and usually 1 to 2 inches thick.
Grain
Straight and open with prominent rays (slightly smaller rays than white oak). Plain sawn lumber usually exhibits a plumed or flared grain appearance, sometimes called “cathedral” grain, while rift sawn members show a tighter grain pattern and low figuring Grain and color variation is usually pronounced and is dependent upon the origin of the wood and the growing season in that locality. Upland red oaks, which tend to grow more slowly, generally have a more uniform grain pattern than lowland red oaks.
Uses
It is widely used for flooring because of both its beauty and durability (and of course, relatively low cost). furniture, handles, heavy construction, joinery, kitchen cabinets, lifeboats, living-room suites, millwork, mine timbers, mining timbers, office furniture, organ pipes, pallets, pallets, paneling, parquet flooring, piano keys, pianos, plywood, railroad crossties, rustic furniture.
