Specification
Prime A Grade European Oak is highly desired as a decorative wood.
Appearance
- Colour – Heartwood is yellowish brown or light tan to deep brown. Typically it has bands of large-pored early wood and dense late wood. The sapwood is the same but lighter. Silver grey figure on sawn quarter.
- Grain – Usually straight, but may be irregular or cross. Distinct growth rings and broad rays produce an attractive figure when quarter-sawn.
Characteristics
- Strength – Bending strength in air dried is high. Crushing strength or compression strength parallel to grain is also high. Hardness medium.
- Ease Of Drying – Dries very slowly, liable to splits, checks, warps and honeycomb especially during the initial drying stages. A yellow stain, which eventually disappears, is also common during drying. Illingworth Ingham (M/cr) Ltd supply kiln dried stock.
- Movement In Service – Moderate dimensional stability after seasoning. Exhibits medium movement in use.
- Preservative Treatment – Heartwood’s exceptionally resistant to preservative treatment. Sapwood permeable.
Working Properties
- Machining – Satisfactory
- Sawing – Satisfactory
- Blunting effect on cutters – generally moderate
- Planing – When planing a reduced angle of 20 degrees is recommended for cross and irregular grained woods.
- Carving – Good
- Turning – Good
- Gluing – Good
- Nailing – Difficult, should be pre-bored
- Screwing – Difficult, should be pre-bored
- Steam Bending – Very good.
- Moisture content should be reduced to 25% before steam bending. The best material should be dried slowly during the setting period.
Finishing
- Takes a high polish and good for staining.
