LEARNING ABOUT TIMBER AND TREES

RED OAK

Everywhere I look these days I see "Red oak" mentioned. The large number of U.S.Asian blogs and pages I look at and of course "The Woodrights Shop" may go some way to explain this, but I have recently found this timber at the masters warehouse store near Canberra airport.
 Being  me I wondered what it was, where it came from, how useful it is to me and of course is it being produced sustainably?

Here is what I have found out:

Red Oak
 Quercus Rubra  Family FAGACEAE

Red Oak

    Scientific name: Quercus rubra L.
    Common name(s): red oak, northern red oak
    Synonym(s): Quercus borealis F.Michx.
    Conservation status: Least Concern (LC) according to IUCN Red List criteria.
    Habitat: Valley floors to mid-slopes of hills and mountains Quercus rubra is native to south-eastern Canada and north-central and eastern USA.
  
Red oak is hard timber from a rapidly growing tree, which naturally make it a good plantation tree.   It is straight grained with with large open pores. Apparently the grain is so open   that smoke can be blown all the way through a flat-sawn board.
 

Red Oak

How does it compare to Quercus robur?  (European/English oak)

  Density:

• Q. rubra :770 kg/m³
• Q. robur: 670-720 kg/m³ 

 Shrinkage:  

•  Q. rubra:  Radial: 4.0%, Tangential: 8.6%, Volumetric: 13.7%, T/R Ratio: 2.2
• Q. robur: Shrinkage:Radial: 4.7%, Tangential: 8.4%, Volumetric: 13.0%, T/R Ratio: 1.8

Average dry weight:

•  Q. rubra:  44 lbs/ft³ (700 kg/m³)
• Q. robur: 42 lbs/ft3 (675 kg/m3)  

  It would appear from these statistics that the two timbers are very similar in all but colour.

References:

•  The Wood Database.
•  Kew Gardens
• Trend Timber 
• Wood Solutions 
• Britton Timbers 
• Hardwood Silviculture Cooperative College of Forestry, Oregon State University 
•