Ok...white oak lumber, now what ?

Anonymous-0 · Oct 26, 2009

Ok...will make this as short as I can.
Dad always used white oak on the farm wagons and the floors in the barn and out buildings. Never had a problem and it, it lasted forever. I still have some of his work on a couple of hay wagons and the barn lofts.
I had my nephew who owns a saw mill in Indiana cut and rip me a load when I brought dad's truck to Texas. I needed a good floor in the gooseneck and a friend needed some for his trailers. I thought that was the way to go.
I was over at my friends over the weekend...and his trailer floor looks like it has been there 50 years. Big sections rotted out, looks like it is rotting in long brown strips. It will have to be replaced this winter for sure.
Mine is ok...looks ok, same lumber, the trailer just sets inside most of the time with a tractor or 2 on it.
What gives? Did we do something wrong?
Need help on this one for sure.

Wesley Stephens · Oct 26, 2009

Are you certain that it was white oak? other types of oak will rot pretty fast.

Zachary Hoyt · Oct 26, 2009

You can test whether it's white or not. If you cut a piece of straight-grained red oak and blow through it into a bucket of water it will blow bubbles like a straw, white oak will not because the pores are plugged every couple of inches(which is why it doesn't rot, I'm told). It's kind of fun, blowing bubbles.
Zach

Tony in Mass. · Oct 26, 2009

Might have had a decease- however ya spell it, but all my oaks are dying, cut into firewood it does the same thing, gets punky insted of bone dry. You can tell red from white if you have the both planks next to each other.

MarkB_MI · Oct 26, 2009

Even white oak is not impervious to rot, but if it was red oak then I wouldn't expect it to last very long at all. And even white oak won't hold up when continuously exposed to the weather.

VaTom · Oct 26, 2009

Bill, the sapwood of any species will not be rot resistant. Otherwise, Zachary's correct, the tyloses in white oak will prevent moisture (or air) movement through the trunk.

Takes a hand lens to definitively determine whether you've got white or red oak. Those tyloses are clearly visible with a clean end-grain cut.

"Long brown strips" sounds like sapwood.

TonyIN · Oct 26, 2009

From my very very basic knowledge of trees, oaks tend to be incestuous/easily cross bred. According to an old local who helped me mill both red and white oak, they will inter-breed (red, white, pin, swamp oak, etc.)and it can get difficult to tell the true species on some.

I used 1x4 rough sawn white oak leftovers for a carry-all platform that sat untreated in the elements for about 8 years - not a problem, still hard and solid. Came from an older tree off the property. Grain is nice and tight, not like that from the lumberyards. Grains seems looser from the lumberyards these days - maybe from planned and harvested forests where they accelerate growth I guess?

da-bees · Oct 26, 2009

What TonyIN said about cross breeding is something to take note of. I have grown many oak from acorns and have noticed that the new tree sometimes doesn't memic the parent. Hmmm,learned something today. Thanks Tony

2x4 · Oct 27, 2009

Post Oak & Big acorn Oak have bark & leaves very similar to White Oak but do not have the closed grain of white oak. Thats why they won't buy those species for whiskey barrel staves but take only white oak; they won't hold their liquoir, or water. Thus they rot nearly as fast as red oak.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 27, 2009

Punky...that's it...exactly right on. Like dad used to call radishes...pethy...like real course open funky grain.

Ok...white oak lumber, now what ?

Anonymous-0

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Wesley Stephens

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Zachary Hoyt

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Tony in Mass.

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MarkB_MI

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VaTom

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TonyIN

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da-bees

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2x4

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Anonymous-0

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