Many people mistakenly believe that "red oak is red oak, and white oak is white oak." In fact, this is not the case. The reason why red oak is called red oak is because its leaves turn into red oak in autumn. red. As for the origin of the name White Oak, I am not very sure. Do you want to know how to distinguish red oak from white oak?
First of all, you must understand that what we call white oak or red oak every day is a general term for various oak species. White oak does not refer to a specific species of oak, and red oak does not refer to a specific species of oak, although there is indeed a species called Quercus alba, which literally translates to white oak, and there is also a species called Quercus rub. The literal translation of the tree species is red oak. Botanically, they belong to the genus Quercus (also known as Quercus, commonly known as oak, oak tree, or oak tree), which is a genus in the Fagaceae family.
The white oak and red oak we buy from the market may be one or more species of oak included in the two major groups (red oak group and white oak group), but it is not necessarily true, because there are still some that we don’t know Oak tree species exist, so the oak we buy may not belong to any of the above red oak groups and white oak groups, and the possibility is very high.
Understanding the above content, we can roughly distinguish white oak and red oak from the tree species' names. Below we will look at some other more practical ways to distinguish between the two types of wood.
look at color
The sapwood of red oak is white to light brown, and the heartwood is pinkish brown. The sapwood of white oak is light in color and the heartwood is light brown to dark brown.
For inexperienced people, it is actually a bit difficult to distinguish red oak and white oak by color.
Look at the wood cross-section
Observing the growth rings of red oak under a magnifying glass, you can find that the cell tubes have many holes and are empty inside, which should be easy to identify. There is impregnating material in the tube holes of white oak. Although it is a very subtle difference, this makes white oak have excellent anti-corrosion and insect-proof properties and better water resistance, so it can become a world-famous oak barrel material, while red oak cannot. Make wine barrels.
Nitrite (NaNO2) test
This method is very accurate and reliable. Although it is a bit overkill, it can still be used when physical methods do not work. NOTE: Nitrite can only cause color changes in heartwood.
Below we will use a set of experiments to tell you how to distinguish red oak and white oak:
First, we need to prepare the heartwood of red oak and white oak, and then use a 10% nitrite solution (sodium nitrite solution with a concentration of 1% to 20% can successfully complete the experiment. Here we recommend that the best concentration is 10%).
If the heartwood of red oak is coated with nitrite solution, the color will not change much as time goes by. It means it will become slightly darker, and sometimes it will turn a little green. But if it is the heartwood of white oak, the color will change obviously. The color will change from natural color to maroon color, then slowly to deep indigo blue, and finally to almost black.
Look at the leaves
This is the most practical and simplest method. You can distinguish red oak from white oak by just comparing the shape of the leaves. Red oak leaves have pointed edges, while white oak leaves have rounded edges.
Physical properties
Finally, the physical properties of red oak and white oak are also different, but this is also related to their origin. The data in the table only represents the two types of wood produced in the northeastern United States.
