European oak

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OAK, EUROPEAN

Quercus petraea (syn. Quercus sessiliflora)
and Quercus robur (syn. Quercus pedunculata)
Quercus petraea and Quercus robur of the family Fagaceae. There are another 10 or so Quercus species than might be listed as European oak, but these are the two primary ones. Any oak listed as English oak, French oak, German oak, etc, will be on this page. Both of these species are in the white oak group but I don't know if all the other Quercus species that might be listed as European oak are in the white oak family.

Both these species also occur as what is most commonly sold in the USA as "English brown oak" which is the same species but with a fungal infection that causes the wood to turn a beautiful brown. That form of English/European oak has its own page on this site as "oak, english brown".

A NOTE ABOUT OAK NAMES

DISTINGUISHING RED / WHITE / LIVE

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of English oak / Quercus robur --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a quartersawn sample plank of European native hybrid oak / Quercus rosacea --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This is neither Quercus petraea nor Quercus robur but rather a hybrid of the two that apparently sometimes occurs naturally where the growth range of the two species overlaps.

end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of English oak burl / Quercus robur --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The first side is lighter in color than the second side because the first side is freshly sanded and the seconds side has a slight age patina.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of English oak burl / Quercus robur --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. NOTE: a sample plank from what I believe may have been from the same larger piece as this one was labeled English brown oak burl and is on the English brown oak page. I think on the burl you can't really say if it's one form of Quercus rober or the other.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

quartersawn figured English oak veneer --- colors are pretty accurate but missing a hint of gold color (contrast to the sample below, which is from the same lot)

both sides of a single piece of quartersawn figured English oak veneer. One side looks like the samples above this set, but lighter, and the other side is quite different and begins to look like English brown oak. The color in these pics is just a shade too red and missing the gold color of the actual wood, which shows up nicely in the web pic directly below.

the web pics that were posted by the vendor that sold me the veneer lot from which the samples directly above were taken --- except for a slight shininess that the real wood doesn't have, these pics are quite accurate. The color is more accurate than my pics.

web pics:

planks just listed as European oak

quartersawn planks listed as European oak / Quercus petraea

planks, flat cut and quartersawn, listed as European oak European oak

plank listed as oak / Quercus robur

plank listed as European oak / Quercus robur

plank listed as English oak / Quercus pendunculata, which I take to be a misspelling of Quercus pedunculata which is a synonym for Quercus robur. There IS a Quercus pendunculata but it is not English/European oak.

French oak plank

plank listed as French oak / Quercus petraea

glulam listed as European oak / Quercus petraea

pippy european oak planks

English oak burl plank

European oak burl plank

flat cut European oak veneer

quartersawn European oak veneer

bookmatched quartersawn European oak veneer

European oak veneer that appears to be covered in blue stain

quartersawn flaky English oak veneer

curly European oak veneer

figured European oak veneer

European oak veneer listed as "knotty", but looks like a burl to me

French oak veneer

quartersawn fiddleback French oak veneer from a vendor who manages to make her veneer look shiny even when it is not.

listed only as "wavy veneer", this looks to me to be identical to my own samples (see the top of this page) of quartersawn figured English oak, and I think it is from the same vendor from whom I bought mine, so I've put it on this page

European oak / Quercus robur veneer sheets, one flat cut and two quartersawn, that were listed as "smoked" but I think they meant "fumed" which is a process of exposing oak to ammonia vapor which causes the tannins to turn dark. This is particularly dark fumed oak.

English oak burl veneer

listed as "blistered" English oak burl veneer

listed as "white English oak burl veneer". I do not remember ever otherwise seeing any reference to "white" English oak, it's always just English oak, but English oak is in the white oak group.

bookmatched burl veneer listed as European oak / Quercus robur

European oak / Quercus robur burl veneer and cluster burl veneer

European oak cluster burl veneer, bookmatched

European oak burl veneer, bookmatched

bookmatched crotch veneer listed as European oak / Quercus robur

veneer listed as pippy European oak