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NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt
the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood

red oak / Quercus spp.
(primarily Quercus rubra; see fact sheet)

5" x 5" flat cut, 5" x 5" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

Note that the quartersawn surface shown here has larger than normal ray flakes for red oak but it is normal for the red oaks to show flakes on quartersawn surfaces.

Ring porous with a thick row of earlywood pores changing immediately to a latewood with very small pores in radial strands, sometimes looking like dendritic groups. Banded parenchyma is visible. The ray thicknesses vary from fairly thin to quite thick and are visible with the naked eye.

"Red oak" is a name that encompasses a great many species in the genus Quercus. About a dozen of them use the name red oak (among others) but a lot of oaks that are in the red oak group don't use "red" in their name. The red oak group can be distinguished from the white oak group primarily by virtue of the white oaks having tyloses in the pores and the red oaks not having it.

Some live oaks (which have radically different end grain characteristics from the normal red oaks) are in the red oak group. Such oaks are shown on this site on the live oak page.



A NOTE ABOUT OAK NAMES DISTINGUISHING RED / WHITE / LIVE


the red oak and white oak groups

There is universal agreement that all oaks belong to the genus Quercus of the family Fagaceae but beyond that there are differing reports on the breakdown. The most common seems to be this:

Leucobalanus, the white oaks, are further subdivided into live oaks, chestnut oaks and the rest of the white oaks.

Erythrobalanus, the red oaks, are further subdivided into the live oaks and the rest of the red oaks.

Live oaks are oaks that keep their leaves year-round and which otherwise come from both the red oak and the white oak groups.

Depending on the authority, there are stated to be somewhere between 250 and 900 different wood producing species in the genus Quercus.

For woodworkers, what matters is this: the oaks that grow in America are generally sold only as red or white, not live or chestnut. Botanists care about the distinction but woodworkers generally have no reason to although you will sometimes see oaks broken out into different species due to differences in hardness or looks. As just one example, burr oaks tend to have MUCH stronger rays than most other oaks.

Another oak commonly sold in America is English brown oak; this is a form of European oak (Quercus petrae) and I have broken it out separately. There are some other woods that use the name oak (some of which I have also broken out separately), but which are not actually oaks. None of these are of the genus Quercus. These include sheoak, fishtail oak, Australian oak, Tasmanian oak, New Guinea oak and various varieties of "silky oak".

a note about red oak from my experience: there may be more porous woods than red oak but I am not aware of them. The vessels in red oak are so large that it is common, in my experience with plain cut boards, to have glue come oozing out of the pores several inches away from where the glue was applied. That is, if you take two plain cut red oak planks and press them against each other with a big blob of glue stopping three inches away from the end, it would not be surprising to see glue oozing out of the pores at the end. At one inch away it would be surprising NOT to see glue oozing out of the pores. This messed up the finish on one of my first oak projects because I couldn't get rid of enough of the unexpected glue at a butt end and the subsequent polyurethane cover did not go on at all evenly, leaving a blotchy look to one area.

There are two oaks in the red oak group that have their own pages on this site:

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


very nice, clean, cathedral-grain plank shot at a lumber yard with extreme enlargements present --- the 2nd enlargement does an excellent job of showing the open pores in the flat cut surface. This piece has the classic red oak look, to the extent that there is such a thing.


both sides of a sample plank of Southern red oak / Quercus falcata.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- the pores have gotten a bit clogged up but the fine details are much more clear


both sides of a sample plank of Southern red oak / Quercus falcata --- 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 sample plank of Southern red oak / Quercus falcata --- 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 sample plank of Southern red oak / Quercus falcata --- 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 sample plank of Northern red oak / Quercus rubra --- 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 sample plank of Northern red oak / Quercus rubra --- 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


both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn Northern red oak / quercus rubra --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. I note that the vendor and I disagree as to how much angle you can have on the rays and still legitimately call something "quartersawn"; I call this piece rift cut although I must admit that the ray flakes on the face grain are quite large (larger than one would expect for rift cut))


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


first face and the end grain of a sample of red oak / Quercus rubra. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION A


the second face, before and after sanding, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.


both sides of a sample plank of curly Northern red oak / Quercus rubra --- 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: this piece not only has curly figure, it also has wavy grain as you can see particularly clearly in the side grain closeup below.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE and side grain closeup (showing the wavy grain) from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of curly Northern red oak / Quercus rubra --- 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


both sides of a sample plank of Texas red oak / Quercus buckeyli --- HUGE enlargements are present


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of scarlet oak (aka red oak) / Quercus coccinea


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of scarlet oak (aka red oak) / Quercus coccinea --- HUGE enlargements are present


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of scarlet oak (aka red oak) / Quercus coccinea --- 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 sample plank of scarlet oak (aka red oak) / Quercus coccinea --- 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


both sides of a sample plank of scarlet oak (aka red oak) / Quercus coccinea --- 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 sample plank of Shumard oak / Quercus shumardii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet 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 sample plank of Shumard oak / Quercus shumardii --- 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 sample plank of Nuttal's oak / Quercus texana



end grain and closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of Nuttal's oak / Quercus texana --- HUGE enlargements are present


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- the pores have gotten a bit clogged up but the fine details are much more clear


Southern red oak (Quercus falcata) sample plank and end grain --- this is a sample plank from the IWCS and was not listed as spalted, although it obviously is, and so is not representative of Southern red oak. This lack of representativeness was common in the samples I got from the IWCS. I emailed them about it but never got a reply.


end grain closeup of the piece directly above



END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of laurel oak / Quercus laurifolia --- I note that the line of earlywood pores in this piece is generally much thinner than that in the next four samples of Quercus laurifolia but I'm not sure if that implies an incorrect ID of this piece. It could just be because this sample is all near the pith and the others are much farther out on their trees.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of laurel oak / Quercus hemisphaerica --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of laurel oak / Quercus hemisphaerica --- 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 sample plank of laurel oak / Quercus hemisphaerica --- 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 sample plank of laurel oak / Quercus laurifolia --- 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 and a face grain closeup of a piece of laurel oak / Quercus laurifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Note that the first face was sanded to 240 grit and the second face was not and this accounts for minor differences in color between the two (the second face still has a patina) and the better resolution of the detail characteristics as seen in the first one. Face grain rays on flat cut oak like this sometime have a superficial resemblance to those on beech but this closeup shows very clearly how, if you look at them closely you can see that they are nothing like the same.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of laurel oak / Quercus hemisphaerica --- 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 sample plank of curly laurel oak / Quercus hemisphaerica --- HUGE enlargements are present. The curl is very broad and weak and hard to see, but it is present. Personally, I would not have designated this as curly, but it DOES have wavy grain, which you can see particularly well in the 1st level enlargement of each side.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of willow oak / Quercus phellos


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above



END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of willow oak / Quercus phellos


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of willow oak / Quercus phellos --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This species is in the red oak group.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of cherrybark oak / Quercus falcata --- 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: cherrybark is just another common name for Northern red oak


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of turkey oak / Quercus laevis --- 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 in the red oak group. The name "turkey" does not refer to the country but to the similarity between turkey feet and the leaf structure.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of figured crotch red oak / Quercus rubra --- 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 figure on this piece is not apparent in the pics but when you look at the actual sample, it clearly has a fairly strong curl. Also, as is readily apparent in the end grain update below, this piece has truncated rays.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of figured crotch red oak / Quercus rubra --- 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 figure on this piece is not apparent in the pics but when you look at the actual sample, it clearly has a fairly strong curl.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of figured crotch red oak / Quercus rubra --- 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 figure on this piece is not apparent in the pics but when you look at the actual sample, it clearly has a fairly strong curl.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of laurel oak burl / Quercus hemisphaerica --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of Darlington laurel oak / Quercus hemisphaerica --- 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 sample plank of "bird's eye" red oak / Quercus spp. --- 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 "bird's eye" description is just silly. There ARE as you can see lots of disturbances in the rays that cause spotting on the quartersawn face but that hardly qualifies as bird's eye, which is a specific type of figure found most often in hard maple.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of loquat leaf oak / Quercus rysophylla --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This species is in the red oak group.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of loquat leaf oak / Quercus rysophylla --- 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 species is in the red oak group.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of bear oak / Quercus ilicifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This species is in the red oak group.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of bear oak / Quercus ilicifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet 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 sample plank of shingle oak / Quercus imbricaria --- HUGE enlargements are present. This is in the red oak group.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn shingle oak / Quercus imbricaria --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn shingle oak / Quercus imbricaria --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet 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 sample plank of spalted shingle oak / Quercus imbricaria --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a particularly nice sample plank of quartersawn red oak / Quercus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was donated to the site by Frank Deel. Thanks Frank.


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


first face and the end grain of a sample listed as barren oak. I find several oaks that have this as a common name but they are all in the red oak group so this one, whatever the species, is a red oak. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION B


the second face, before and after slicing off 1/8" showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.


first face and the end grain of a sample of quartersawn red oak. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION B


the second face, before and after slicing off 1/8" showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.


first face and the end grain of a sample of peach oak / Quercus phellos. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION B. This is in the red oak group.


the second face, before and after slicing off 1/8" showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.


HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP from planks shown elsewhere on this page (I don't even remember which ones). I took these to get more red oak end grain closeups for the anatomy pages.


both sides of a small chunk of interestingly grained red oak (no idea which Quercus species)--- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was contributed to the site by Rob Mathison whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The second face is sanded down to 320 grit. The large number of what I take to be adventitious buds has made the face grain very swirly. It's obvious that this is red oak because the pores are so clearly free from tyloses (what clogging you do see is sanding dust)


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above. Although this was only done to 400 grit instead of my normal 1200 grit, the anatomy is quite clear and it's obvious that there is no tyloses in the pores.

a note about the 3 following encino blanco samples

I see that the end grain characteristics of the first of these samples is significantly different than those of the following two (which are almost identical to each other). The first one has an obvious single (and sometimes even double) row of earlywood pores and then "normal" dendritic groups in the latewood and modest-sized rays. The next two have no such row of earlywood pores, dendritic groups of latewood pores that are more like radial strands than normal dendritic groups, and fatter rays.

I cannot say for sure that indicates a mis-identification, but that certainly seems possible.




A note about this sample: PALLET WOOD
both sides of a sample plank of encino blanco / Quercus sartorii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Quercus sartorii is a synonym of Quercus xalapensis. The name "encino blanco" means "white oak" in Spanish but this species is in the red oak group.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


A note about this sample: PALLET WOOD
both sides of a sample plank of encino blanco / Quercus sartorii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Quercus sartorii is a synonym of Quercus xalapensis. The name "encino blanco" means "white oak" in Spanish but this species is in the red oak group.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


A note about this sample: PALLET WOOD
both sides of a sample plank of encino blanco / Quercus sartorii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Quercus sartorii is a synonym of Quercus xalapensis. The name "encino blanco" means "white oak" in Spanish but this species is in the red oak group.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end of encino blanco samples



red oak planks in a lumber yard showing a range of color and grain variety. The first pic covers an area about 5 feet by 5 feet and the second an area of about 2 feet by 2 feet. Both enlargements are present.


planks photographed at a lumber yard


planks shot at a lumber yard, moderately close up


plain sawn plank and end grain --- the unusually yellowish color is correct


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


plain sawn plank and end grain


two more plainsawn red oak boards. color is very accurate


two planks of spalted oak cut from the pieces give to me by John Saxon. The second one shows up MUCH more clearly in the enlargement.


end grain of the two pieces


end grain closeups of each


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


years ago I bought 100BF of nice red oak and somehow I never took any pics of any of it but recently I ran across this piece that was part of the salvage of a shop stool that I made 30 years ago and dismantled last year.


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


plank shot at a lumber yard --- the golden color is accurate and the grain shows up better in the enlargements


flat cut veneer. The wood is slightly lighter and slightly more red than shown here.


flat cut veneer


flat cut veneer and closeup of the same piece


red oak veneer --- HUGE enlargements are present. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION D. These are both from the new collection and they are listed as flat cut (top) and quartersawn (bottom) but I think the top one is rift cut


A quartersawn board and a piece of quartersawn thick (1/12th inch) veneer. Color is very accurate on both --- the rays on the board show up much better on the 2nd enlargement. Although the veneer is a full quartersawn cut, the ray flakes are clear but less pronounced than is sometimes the case. See for example, the two veneer pieces directly below which have very pronounced rays.


two pieces of quartersawn veneer with excellent flaky ray figure. The colors, which as you can see differ substantially, are accurate on both.


quartersawn flaky red oak veneer


rift cut flaky red oak veneer


rift cut thick veneer (1/12th inch) clearly showing rays but of course they are only partial since it is rift cut. The color is very accurate, showing how hard it can sometimes be to tell red oak from white oak by color alone (that is, this piece could easily pass for white oak unless you can look at the pores up close).


flat cut curly veneer --- the curl is weak but it is somewhat stronger than what shows up in these pics.


flat cut curly red oak veneer sheet and closeup


rift cut curly veneer --- depending on the viewing angle, the curl shows up better than it does in these head-on pics.


a couple of small chunks of black-line-spalted red maple contributed to the site by Rob Mathison whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Actually, Rob contributed one bigger chunk and I split it into a heavily spalted half and a lightly spalted half to save work on my end grain update process. HUGE enlargements are present.


face grain closeup and side grain closeup showing the spalt lines up close


end grains of both halves and a closeup of the unspalted half's end grain


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the spalted half directly above


NOTE: There are various views directly below of 3 spalted red oak planks. All three of these were contributed to the site by John Saxon of The Cedar Store from whom I regularlly buy excellent quality aromatic red cedar. My profuse thanks to John for this contribution.


both sides of a pair of spalted planks


closeups of both sides of the planks above


both sides of a spalted plank


closeup of one side of the plank directly above


The Wood Book pics


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
red oak (Quercus rubra) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is the fundamental species of hte red oak group (its name means, literally, "red oak") but there are MANY more, a few of which are shown below.


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is in the red oak group.


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Spanish oak (Quercus digitata, which is just a syn. for Quercus falcata, also listed as finger oak) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is in the red oak group.


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Southern red oak (Quercus texana, also listed as Scheck's oak) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is in the red oak group and it is more commonly known as Texas oak.


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is in the red oak group.


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
shingle oak (Quercus imbricaria) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is in the red oak group.


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
water oak (quercus aquatica, also listed as duck oak, possum oak, and punk oak) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is in the red oak group. Quercus aquatica is a synonym for the accepted name of Quercus nigra


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
white-leaf oak (Quercus hypoleuca, which is just a syn. for Quercus hypoleucoides) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is in the red oak group.


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
willow oak (Quercus phellos) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is in the red oak group.

web pics:


log end listed as red oak / Quercus rubra but I find it VERY suspicious that even in the enlargement there are no obvious rays


end grain of a large red oak dowel


red oak log end


flat cut, quartersawn, and end grain


planks with wet and dry sections; the first is rift cut and was listed as Quercus rubra and the second is flat cut


slabs


a weathered plank


flat cut planks


quartersawn planks


quartersawn planks moistened for the pic and with some nice ray flakes --- both enlargements are present


planks that were listed, with the kind of blatant stupidity that is widespread on the internet, as quartersawn when they are obviously flat cut. Also, these have clearly been moistened for the pics.


rift cut planks


misc pieces listed as red oak / Quercus rubra, all from the same vendor. I note that the third pic is the same as the 2nd pic but with a few planks added.


turning stock



flat cut curly planks


flat cut curly planks and a closeup


quartersawn curly planks


plank listed as "figured red oak", --- it's curly but the curl is very weak


a web pic included just to show how unreal some web pictures get. It's as though someone said "Wull, it's called RED oak, so I reckon we oughta make the picture RED, huh Vern?" Aside from the bogus color, the pic looks to be of a really nice piece of oak with some interesting and unusual (for oak) curl in it that you can see better if you enlarge.


flat cut veneer


figured veneer


curly veneer


curly veneer sheets that show up much better in the enlargements; the top two are flat cut and the bottom one is quartersawn


rift cut veneer showing almost no ray pattern at all


rift cut veneer with some ray pattern


quartersawn veneer


veneer, all from the same vendor --- none of this was listed as curly oak, although some of it obviously is


veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement --- the first sheet is clearly curly oak, but was not listed as such


believeable figure, unlikely color. the first pic is a little too light and the second is ridiculously red.


quartersawn, showing rays in the first three, not in the next two. I have no confidence in the color of any of these.


quartersawn veneer with nice ray patterns; the color of the 2nd one is too washed out to be believable


burl veneer


quilted flat cut veneer --- see comments with sample directly below


"figured" veneer. obviously the same kind of figure as the "quilted" veneer directly above, which is just another example of how terms are used loosely, incorrectly, inconsistently, and somewhat arbitrarily on the Internet. I think "figured" is a more correct term in this case than "quilted". For a real quilted look, see "maple, quilted" or the quilted section of the sapele page.


fiddleback red oak, or so says the vendor. Since the curl doesn't really run reliably all the way across the piece, this is technically just curly, not fiddleback. It IS an unusually tight curl for oak, however.


fiddleback red oak where the curl DOES run all the way across the wood


listed as pomelle veneer; I'm dubious about the color


spalted plank and closeup --- I'm not at all confident of the heavy orangish color


spalted plank


stabilized water oak burl turning stock / scales --- there are at least a dozen Quercus species that use the name water oak (among others), the main one of which is Quercus aquatica (the name literally mean "water oak") and I have no idea which of them this is. Most (possibly all) of the species are in the red oak group which is why these pics are here on the red oak page.


both sides of a set of stabilized water oak burl turning stock / scales




willow oak table top (willow oak is in the red oak group)


red oak bowls


natural edge red oak crotch bowl shot at a wood show. Finish was listed as Danish oil. HUGE enlargements are present. The wood shows some white rot all around the outer area near the bark.


bender oak bowls turned and photographed by Tom Pleatman, whom I thank for these pics and other contributions to the site. Big enlargements are present. Bender oak, Quercus x benderi, is a hybrid of Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak) and Quercus rubra (red oak).


hollow form --- both enlargements are present. This is, to me, a terrific turning and I love the way it shows the pores and rays of the red oak.


small stool I made from red oak and an aquarium stand that I helped a friend make. The finish is polyurethane on both. The acquarium stand pic was taken by him, I think in daylight, and I did not do any color correction so it's probably too red. The color on the stool is very accurate.