White Oak Price; Good Deal or Not?

[Dan Nielsen]

I bought some white oak from a nearby mill yesterday for the next boat project. The owner charged me $8 for a rough cut 1x8 that was 12 feet long. If I have it right, this comes to $1/bf. You have to pick through the piles yourself but the hunt will usually yield good quality stuff out in the yard. Some green and some 1 to 2 years old. Hard part is telling white from red oak on the aged wood. I am never certain, but try to pick the stuff that looks 'whitest' with a knife cut. Anyhow, seems like a deal to me. Whadda tink?

[gary porter]

Originally posted by Dan Nielsen:
I bought some white oak from a nearby mill yesterday for the next boat project. The owner charged me $8 for a rough cut 1x8 that was 12 feet long. If I have it right, this comes to $1/bf. You have to pick through the piles yourself but the hunt will usually yield good quality stuff out in the yard. Some green and some 1 to 2 years old. Hard part is telling white from red oak on the aged wood. I am never certain, but try to pick the stuff that looks 'whitest' with a knife cut. Anyhow, seems like a deal to me. Whadda tink?Dan, the $1 bdft is a good price if your getting the wood you want. Take a very sharp knife with you and just slice a bit off the end., There is a big difference between red and white oak that can easily be seen by eye or a small 10x lens. The red will have obvious pores (hollow) The white pores will be clogged. You can also smell a difference if you are at all familiar with the smell of cabernet wine,,,thats white oak.
Gary

[Venchka]

I'm envious. That's about the same price as pine fresh off the mill in east Texas.

Too bad he doesn't keep the red & white apart.

Wayne
In the Swmap. :D

[imported_Steven Bauer]

Those little holes Gary is talking about make all the difference between red and white oak. If you take a piece of red oak say 1" by 1" and 6" long you can put one end in a cup of water and blow in the other end and bubbles will come out! Now think about that piece of wood in your boat. :eek:
I told the guys down at the hardwood store about this and they didn't believe me. Good thing we were in a hardwood store. We took a piece of red oak but they didn't have a cup handy. So Mark, ever a resourceful guy sticks an end in the toilet and blows a bunch of bubbles. While we were all laughing our heads off we had to explain to the customers that walked in what we were doing. Sounds like a great deal, but make sure you're getting what you want.

Steven

[kc8pql]

A buck a foot is about average around here for run of the log, green red oak. The price goes up for graded lumber. I'm a little suprised that the red and white mixed together. White is a bit rarer and usually brings a higher price. Be careful of the moisture content, depending on what you're going to do with it. Moisture in piles "out in the yard" can vary widely.

Ken

[Ron Williamson]

The white part is sapwood,which you don't want.
R