# Oak ID



## HomeBody (Mar 27, 2012)

Is it possible to tell the species of oak I have here? 

These are 2 beams from a barn near Atwood, IL that was built in the 1880's. Sad story. Here's the short version. Absentee landowner, greedy farmer, bulldozer, fire, an extra 1/2 acre to cash lease.

I sanded one with 50 grit and was hoping it was white oak and I would see some rays. Don't see any. Does all white oak have rays? I like the worm holes. Were they drilled when the tree was alive or while the wood was in the barn? Gary (crossing my fingers on the pic posting)

[attachment=3488][attachment=3489][attachment=3490][attachment=3491][attachment=3492][attachment=3493]


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## Kevin (Mar 27, 2012)

HomeBody said:


> ...Does all white oak have rays? ...



Yes, all _quercus_ (oaks) have medullary rays. You can see them running from the center of the trees and bisecting the rings. 

[attachment=3499]

See the red lines I've added and see all the other faint lines running in the same direction thhose are the "rays". But this piece you have here does not have any quarter sawn surfaces and that's the only way for the rays to be visible. All 4 faces of this piece are rift sawn. The others you have are plain and rift, so that's why you're not seeing the rays. there is a small section (bottom left) that is technically qtr sawn but the rays are elusive and do not follow any set rule. Small areas of quartersawn faces can be devoid of the rays, but you get a big enough face of qtr. sawn and you will see them. 



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## Daren (Mar 27, 2012)

HomeBody said:


> Is it possible to tell the species of oak I have here?



There are 100's of species of oak (literally). I would say what you have there is one of the red oaks. I see open pours and wider growth rings than I would expect in white oak.


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## Kevin (Mar 27, 2012)

Red oak most definitely. Got caught up in the whole ray thing . . . . 






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## phinds (Mar 27, 2012)

As Daren point out, there are 100's of them. Depending on who you listen too, that's about 600 or about 900.

I have a pretty extensive database of woods but it only has 300 species in the genus Quercus


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## HomeBody (Mar 28, 2012)

Thanks guys. I wish I could have salvaged more of the barn, but it just wasn't meant to be. Gary


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