White Oak (Quercus alba)
General Information/History | Wood Identification | Working Properties | Uses in Woodworking | Cost & Availability
The weatherproof stock of Old Ironsides, barrels, and mission furniture. When England sought wood to rebuild her once-great naval fleet, eyes turned to the American colonies' forests of white oak because by the 1700s, English oaks had all been felled. British ship-builders, though, scorned New World oak as inferior. Proud American builders knew better, and built ships of native timber. The famed frigate Constitution, known as Old Ironsides, had a gun deck of Massachusetts white oak, a keel from New Jersey white oak, and frame and planks from magnificent Maryland trees. As New England sea captains went on to sail their all-American, white-oak ships to the far corners of the world, another growing industry also made far-reaching use of the wood. Ever since colonial times, coopers had hand-riven staves of white oak for barrels. And as the young nation's merchant fleet increasingly sailed the seas, it carried with it more and more cooperage for export trade. Some of it was bound for France's vineyards, or to the West Indies for barreling rum and molasses. Later, during the Victorian Age of the late 1800s, still another use emerged-as a fine firrniture wood. Stained and highly varnished, it was sold as Golden Oak, and attained a popularity that persisted through the mission furniture of the 1920s. Today, even though somewhat revived for furniture and cabinets, white oak represents less than one fifth of all oak-red and white-harvested in the U.S.
Although you can find dozens of species of white oak growing nearly everywhere in the U.S., the grandest of them all is Quercus alba. Called stave oak and fork-leaf white oak, the tree can grow to ponderous size within its range. Trees more than 8' in diameter and over 150' tall have been recorded. Usually, the trees fall between a 3-4' diameter and an 80-100' height. You can easily identity white oak by its round-lobed leaves (red-oak leaves have sharply pointed lobes). In the absence of leaves, check for white oak's tell-tale light, ash-gray bark with its scaly plates. Or, look for acorns. Those of the white oak have a shallow cap with an inside that's satiny smooth. The red-oak acorn cap is hairy inside. The wood of white oak isn't white as the name implies. It's tan. And unlike the end grain of red oak, which displays large open pores, that of white oak shows a tightly closed formation.
Weighing about 47 lbs. per cubic foot dry, white oak features a straight, coarse grain that when sawed on the quarter often produces a rippled figure.
Unlike red oak, white oak resists moisture and decay, making it ideal for outdoor furniture and boats. Indoors, it's a cabinet-class wood for tables and chairs, floors and trim, and turnings. Basketmakers also rely on the green wood. But, due to its hardness, carvers aren't fond of it.
The lumber industry lumps all white oaks together, so you may not always be getting Quercus alba. Don't worry, all species share the same wood traits. Widely available at hardwood suppliers, white oak costs about $2 per board foot; triple that price for quarter-sawed wood. Veneer runs about 50 cents per square foot, and white-oak ply wood is widely sold. White oak requires careful handling during the drying process to ensure boards free from seasoning defects, such as internal honey combing, so closely check any questionable boards before you buy. You also might inquire about the source of the wood. Slower-grown wood from the Appalachians and the north offers an easier-to-work texture than that from southern bottomlands, although they may look the same.
