RED OAK BOTANICAL NAME

american red oak
Lobatae - The red oaks (synonym sect. Erythrobalanus). North, Central & South America. Styles long, acorns mature in 18 months, very bitter, inside of acorn shell woolly.

Quercus falcata - Southern Red Oak or Spanish Oak - southeastern North America

Quercus gravesii - Chisos Red Oak - Mexico, southwestern North America (Texas)

off the top of my head (I don't know the tree personally), Querca rubra.

OK, wait, I'll look it up.

Quercus rubra. RED OAK, NORTHERN RED OAK.

Deciduous tree. Zones 1 - 10, 14 - 21 (Sunset Western Garden zones). Native to eastern North America. Fast growth to 60 - 75 feet tall, 50 ft. wide, with spreading branches and rounded canopy. Bark becomes quite dark and fissured with age. Leaves 5 - 8 in. long, 4 - 6 in. wide, with three to seven pairs of sharp-pointed loves. New leaves and leafstalks are red or bright yellow in spring, dark green in summer, turning dark red, ruddy brown, or orange in fall. Acorns are 3/4 - 1 in. long, shaped like a toy top, enclosed by one-third in shallow cap; often profuse, creating litter on pavement. Needs fertile soil and regular moisture. High-branching habit and reasonably open shade make it a good tree for big lawns, arks, broad avenues. Deep roots make it good to garden under.

Quote from Sunset Western Garden Book, copyright 2001.
There is a later one, but I have it in NOT in paperback, thus it sits there.., in either case, not a small book.



Hey, Dadpad, if you are looking to equivalents, check Bob Perry, he's the man. Uh, Robert Perry...

I presume but don't know that he is still active. If he is, just write him.

I'll try to find a useful link.

I have a few in my own mind... but Bob Perry is much more swift on all this.

OK, here's a link to Bob Perry... (he's written two books, that I know about, the first one, forget the title, some of us shredded in the use of, and the second one, '92, is very useful as well.)

http://www.csupomona.edu/~la/faculty/emeritus.html
His email seems to be on there.

Thank you ragman.

I will research timber connections in conjunction with these botanics.

osso folowing up your links

Thank you

Perry knows california cold, and ca is sim to australia, both in their various manifestations. He may well know more than that; I didn't go to cal poly, but know him from some lectures and the well worn books.

Oaks grown in "orchards" seem to have large pithy wood patterns and very large open grain. Forest grown oaks are tighter and IMO stronger for dimensional wood. I dont care for oak as a finished wood because of its instability . We have an oak called "Blackjack oak" (Q. marylandica) that grows in dry drained soils and keeps a fairly tight grain when in open areas.

Im on a search for more dimensional Paulownia. I bought about 800 board feet 2 years ago and am almost done with projects and interior shutters . I heard that Australia was growing this stuff with straight trunks.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?s=4562a5443a99e91c6401e9707e20e313&attachmentid=20247

Farmer you obviously like the pawlonia... it has a reputation here of being somewhere between balsa and western red cedar. ie soft.
Some up to date info on Pawlonia aka Kiri
http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=25814&highlight=Paulownia
check all the links on that thread. If you want reccomendations the woodwork site members may be able to assist.

There is one in next doors yard? Do you want me to roll it and split it up into boards?



This seems to be a comment that is applicable to most timbers. The trick is to grow it fast enough to be commercial and not fast enough to downgrade the timber. Fertiliser and rainfall are key elements. Highly fertile soil & high rainfall means large cell structure >less dense timber. Things change when early competition (or reduction of) and age are introduced into the equation. I'm still experimenting with what and how.
dimensional instability is usually associated with growth stress. We find that thinning early 3 5 and 10 years works for eucs.

I'm thinking about trialling black walnut.

Isn't black walnut a very slow growing tree? Not certain; just asking.

Hmmmmm, ipe.... (I know it as tabebuia impetiginosa, probably has other names). Very dense wood, sustainably farmed in some places. I'm thinking I read it is farmed in Brazil.

Sas- Paulownia takes paint and then makes a nice light piece for "folky" furniture. Yes, on the Hoof its very dentable, but with it all carved and with 2 coat primer and a color, its very nice. I made the whole family some hanging corner cupboards with raised panels and veryornate crown mouldings. They look quite Pa Dutch and I love to do "faux" painting to give it an aged look.

Black Walnut grows slowly here and , in forests it develops nice straight trunks. Usually grove walnuts have gnarly trunks and thats why George Nakashima liked it for his artsy tables .

We have it slabbed and air dry it a few years before working.

Yes, its quite/very slow edgar, but very valuable when mature. A sought after tree for export markets.

I'd like to get some sugar/rock/hardMaple in as well but it may be a little weedy for our environment. I think it would be fun to make some real maple syrup but because our seasons dont have the extreems and sharp changes of North America it may not produce the sap flows required. My client is married to an expat Canadian so would enjoy this I think.

I dunno yet, put in a variety of North American hardwoods and see what happens or go for one species and have a commercial lot of trees. You'd think I'd be able to dig up some info on what's been tried in Aust. before as commercial plantings but I cant find much.
There is a black walnut grower about an hour or two away so thats something.

Did you get my PM dadpad?

Red Oaks
The West Virginia Department of Forestry is pulling acorns from superior Northern Red Oak trees. I'd give them a dingle and see if they are availiable for sale outside WV.

Be careful. Many members of the Black Oak Family hybridize amongst themselves making species identification in the woods a rather chancy proposition. Even if you get a pure tree there is no guarantee that it hasn't married outside the race.

In this Family are Northern Red Oak, Black Oak, Blackjack Oak, Scarlet Oak, Pin Oak, and several others.

In WV most of our good Northern Red is used in furniture and veneer. Much is exported to Japan, probably for the same purpose. The rest nowadays is used for paper manufacture. (pulpwood) The other species are practically usless for any type of construction except railroad ties

In Australia you have a native wood (the name escapes me now) that is non electrically conductive, rot resistant, and straight. It is even imported to the US for use as fence posts. I'd check that one out if I were you. The future for a wood that can be used for decking, railings,play equipment etc. with no toxic treatment seems bright.

Check with your Department of Agriculture also. I live in the part of the US that was devastated (not to strong a word) by the blight of the American Chestnut about 1930. They may not be too enthusiastic about you importing an alien species of tree. May even be verboten

Re: Red Oaks


That would be Red Ironbark, Eucalyptus sideroxylon. A better use is veneer - $200 - $500 AUD a cubic meter, but I can see a good market for smaller pieces not suitable for sawn timber or veneer. It takes 40 - 50 years to grow this tree to a decent size but it has poor (natural) apical dominance. Some breeding wouldn't go astray. In the gold rush days this wood was used as rail road ties, mine supports and firewood. Huge tracts were wiped out completely. Iron bark is not suitable climatically for the project I have in mind.

Thanks for the input akamechsmith. that's all valuable backgrounding material.

Boomer I did get your PM

Way ahead of you on import restrictions. Thanks for the input aka

Dad, I dont know whether sugar maples would have the necessary seasonal freezing to induce a nice sap flow. The sap that makes the best syrup is that which pumps up as the ground is defrosting and the nights are below freezing and the days are just above. When the temps get too warm, the sap flow gets really shitty tasting. Ive made syrup out of late MArch sap and it was crap. (I only tried a little but you cant extend a season too well)

If you can get a maple to colonize over there, its a good microclimate tree that needs a well drained soil and some rain. I dont see many maples out west, I see cottonwoods Im assuming your climate doesnt have 45 inches of rain/yr.

My Paulownia grove is coming along. Ive planted about 5 acres in rows and on the 3rd year, Im planting ginseng in between the trees. Gimnseng needs shade.

Did you ever check out tabebuia impetiginosa, dadpad? Not to nag, and I know I mentioned brazil - but it also grows in the Los Angeles and LA is a semiarid desert region in its natural state. Sustainable ipe is a well regarded product here, due to its density... Not that I know it would work, just wondering.

Osso there are literally thousands of trees we could try. At some point I have to draw the line and just actually do something.

FM you are right about the Maple and freezing. There is a tree called Euc. gunnii which grows in Tasmania. Common name is cider gum. Aboriginals in Tasmania used it to produce a fermented sap product similar (?) to cider and got drunk on it. A friend of a friend who had some experience with maple tapping and production in North America put considerable time and effort into this tree locally but couldn't get sap flow. However researchers in Tasmania are getting good results. The difference is the degree of cold/warm change.

Rainfall here is 29 inches approx.