American Brown Oak?

[Tim]

I bought 300bf of mixed hardwoods for $100 on ebay. Guy said his grandfather cut it up 40 years ago and it has sat in a shed ever since. I have planed about half of it and it is red oak, white oak, and walnut. (It was advertised as walnut, but for the price I can excuse that; especially since the ad said it was 100bf.)

One piece has grain and rays like white oak, but it is very dark; the color of white oak, but the darkness of walnut. It also has numerous very small pockets of decay. (the rest of the white oak in the lot is normal and no decay)

I have heard of European Brown Oak, but never seen it. Could this be white oak with the same type of fungus? Is there such a thing?

One piece of red oak has whirly curly grain like I've never seen before. It is going to make an interesting something; a plate?

[dpb]

Tim wrote: ...

I've seen similar white oak as well. Not absolutely sure of the cause(s), but can be quite attractive, best I could describe it would be similar to fuming. In at least some instances it occurs in live wood (not after cut) as have seen it in lumber from a log I know was cut directly from the stump.

Reaction-wood, perhaps? Looks almost like a curly maple effect? Similar can also be burl or a large wound like growth recovery around a large broken branch. As you say, once in a (very) rare while...

A wondrous thing of wood--it never ceases to amaze... :)

[Andy Dingley]

Quite possibly.

I use a fair bit of SW English brown oak. Here's some (no finish, other than oil and wax)

's no reason why brown oak is particularly rot prone, and it was used for hard-wearing flooring for many years, when darker oaks just weren't fashionable for furniture. Nowadays this recycled flooring carries a premium price! One thing you do find though is that the poorer grade boards are striped with brown, not solid. I believe that you're not looking at the fungus itself, but rather the byproducts of it, carried up the trunk. If this striping is attractive it's sometimes called "tiger oak" (sometimes quartersawn heavily rayed oak gets the same name). If it's unattractive, it's called firewood.

[B A R R Y]

[Tim]

When I put some mineral spirits on it, it looks pretty much like your examples. The little rotten areas seem to disappear, so maybe it is a keeper.

[Tim]

Looks more like pommelle bubinga than curly maple. If I were to guess, I think it is a crotch from the way the grain runs, but I could be wrong. Sadly, it is only about 8" by 8", and the bottom side (about 1.75" thick) looks pretty normal. Have to be careful with what I do with it.

[Andy Dingley]

Thanks - I'm pleased with that clock (must re-photograph it some time)

The neon glow of Nixie tubes goes very well with oak.

[Swingman]

The last batch of QSWO I bought has one end of an 9' board that is dark brown (a piece about 2' x 6"), with pithy, almost decayed pockets close to one edge where there is still some bark. The bark shows stress and is almost powdery in some areas. When you put a slat ripped off this end next to one ripped off the other end, it almost looks stained.

The other end, about 7' away, is definitely white oak. ;)

I'm thinking you're seeing the same thing.

[Tim]

Seems like it is the same. Fortunately mine is still structurally sound. I expect it is like spalted maple where it looks great unless it goes too far. Spalted oak?

[Swingman]

Here's what I'm seeing:

three are quartersawn white oak. You can see the pithy area on the top board, and the bottom one is from the same batch of wood.

[Dennis]

Spalted Oak did you say????

I salvaged a small log from a Southern Live Oak harvested here in South Florida when I was clearing the lot for my home. (I am told that southern live oak was used for building ships in the colonial days) I put one of the logs in a black plastic bag and sealed it up for about 12 months. When I removed the log and proceeded to saw it into quarters, I was amazed at the spalting that had occurred. Mostly light chocolate brown, with black streaks along with white soft punky wood. Some of it was a little too unstable and when I turned a few pieces on the lathe, they required some CA glue for stabilization. I made several mirrors and bandsaw boxes and wish I had several more logs.... Here is a sample of the results:

Slabaugh, Hobbyist Woodworker