Help ID'ing oak

[smokee]

Hello fellas,

We're camping this weekend and I ran a little short on firewood so I picked up a bundle of the local overpriced. Looks like a mix of red and white to me but I'd like to be sure, I can use some white for a project. Let me know what u think

 

[lone wolf]

Hello fellas,

We're camping this weekend and I ran a little short on firewood so I picked up a bundle of the local overpriced. Looks like a mix of red and white to me but I'd like to be sure, I can use some white for a project. Let me know what u think

Could be Chestnut Oak.

 

[Jed1124]

Chestnut oak +1

 

[moondoggie]

Which is a white oak.

 

[smokee]

I searched the topic, from what I read white oak doesn't have any red tint to it and the bark is more coarse and deeper. Most of the overpriced bundle was red oak with just 2 of the 5 pieces being what I thought was red.

I want to try aging some white liquor, American white oak is what's suppose to be used.

 

[moondoggie]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_prinus

Read this.

 

[moondoggie]

Characteristics of the chestnut oak include:[6]

• Bark: Dark, fissured into broad ridges, scaly. Branchlets stout, at first bronze green, later they become reddish brown, finally dark gray or brown. Heavily charged with tannic acid.
• Wood: Dark brown, sapwood lighter; heavy, hard, strong, tough, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil. Used for fencing, fuel, and railway ties. Sp. gr., 0.7499; weight of cu. ft., 46.73 lbs.

 

[Zale]

Like what everyone else said, chestnut.

 

[smokee]

Thanks, moondoggie! That was one of the first things I read. I'm going to give it a try. I did not realize there's different kinds of white oak, I'm glad I ran I to this... I should be able to ID white oak going forward. I've got a lot of red in the past. Lots of pin oak lady year. A couple more years and I should know most of what I'm getting locally.

Thanks again, brother! And everyone else that chimed in. I'll let ya know how the whiskey turns out.

 

[unclemoustache]

Whatever it is, it's not ready for burning yet. I hate when campgrounds sell green wood!

 

[bigwhiteash]

If you really want to be sure it's white oak, check the end grain with a loupe. You can clean up the area you're looking at with a razor blade. White oak will have the pores filled with 'tylosis', a sort of crystalline filling. In red oak, the pores are open. That's why they use white oak for liquor barrels. Good luck! J

 

[rarefish383]

You kind of went from firewood ID to whiskey. I know you said for a project, but we don't always read the details. All the answers are spot on for ID, but not for making whiskey. Are you going to make a mini cask or just drop a piece of wood in a gallon glass jug? If you Wiki White Oak and Chestnut Oak you will see that White Oak is used for making Whisky and Wine, Chestnut Oak is not. They are in the same family, but are not that same. I just cut and split some dead White Oak yesterday, it is one of the most pleasant smelling woods. Most of my firewood is Chestnut Oak, and it can smell quite rancid. If all you want is a chunk of wood to drop in a batch of corn squeezin's, buy an old whisky barrel and use a piece of it, it will already be charred. Charring is where the color and taste come from. I think if you just let the tannic acid do it's stuff the liquor will come out black. But, I've never tried, so not sure. If you don't like it, use the rest for a camp fire, the barrel that is, makes the whole neighborhood smell good. I don't think I'd use Chestnut Oak, but, I could be wrong on that too, Joe.

 

[svk]

If all you want is a chunk of wood to drop in a batch of corn squeezin's, buy an old whisky barrel and use a piece of it, it will already be charred. Charring is where the color and taste come from.

You will want real white oak, not a subspecies and it will need to be charred if you want to make whiskey.