White oak

[Ed Jarvis]

Is white oak good for turning?

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Great to turn, but can be challenging to dry without cracking.

 

[hockenbery]

Is white oak good for turning?

Yes with cautions.
Dried white oak great for spindles.

Working with green white oak can be a challenge it moves a lot when drying.
White Oak, has a high shrinkage rate.
White oak shrinkage. 5.6% radial, 10.5% tangential, 16.3% volumetric.
White oak shrinks about 30% more than Red maple
Red maple shrinkage. Radial: 4.0%, Tangential: 8.2%,. Volumetric: 12.6%

Also white oak splits easily. Basket makers and chair seat weavers beat a white oak split and pull it apart into thin strips to get weaving material.

Google “pascal oudete sandblast” For a real treat .

 

[John Hicks]

I love White oak for utility bowls. It does really need to be twice turned unless its kiln dried though.

 

[Richard Coers]

Turns great, but there are hundreds and hundreds of oak species and sold in only two categories. White and red. Wet oak turns my hands purple and will do the same to the wood if you touch it with metal particles on your hands or get steel wool anywhere close to oak. Your lathe bed will flash over with rust very quickly with oak. Do not let wet oak shavings sit on steel overnight, including your tools.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Oak is quite nice to turn and I like how the medullary rays can show themselves, and yes the tannin in the wood can be used to make it very dark, nearly black or dark brown.

Yes there are approx. 200 species worldwide and about 70-80 in N.America, only about 10 in Canada, and that is more than I thought there were.

These here are White Oak that I know off, I turned quite a few Oak bowls, both White and Red species.

 

[Dave Bunge]

I've had lots of trouble with cracking when drying thick bowls that were meant to be returned. Bowls that were turned to final thickness right away fared much better. I really like the colors that develop with ammonia fuming.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

In the family is Live Oak and If you can get it the look is fantastic. White Oak has interlocking grain so it can be difficult but worth the effort. Turn green if possible because when dry is like concrete. It does move a lot. A friend had their house hit by tornado and small live oak down . I made two pieces and the small bowl turned into a football. was going to do a second turn but it also had a very unusual look and feel on the sides. The grain popped like basket weave so just a little sanding and done.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I have turned a lot of both red and white oak and they both have the prominent rays. The oak I get in the geographic center of the continent (there are several small towns northern MN and Canada that claim to be the center) has a very slow growth rate making it difficult to count the annual rings but that seams to make it easier to get a smooth finish.

 

[Michael Anderson]

I love turning white oak. It’s a little bit of work combatting stains/rust if the wood is really green, but the final piece is usually very interesting. Bar Keeper’s Friend is a great way to get rid of any tannin-metal stains before your final sanding. Also, be sure to blow out the pores between grits and before sealing/finishing. It also burnishes really well. If you once turn it thin and let it dry slowly, it usually won’t crack, and you’ll also get pretty cool surface texture due to the rays.

 

[Darryl Fective]

It's wonderful for turning. Actually, my photo on the left is white oak. (with some other inlays) My weekend project is hauling a major score of free wood: white oak and maple. (this is load 2 of 4 or 5)

 

[John Grace]

Yes it can be...but I find it's one of those woods that you really need to learn its characteristics before working. As others have said...it will move a lot so when 'twice turning' leave yourself ample materials. Yes...I too have found it cracks readily in the drying process. If so...be cognizant of trying to 'chase' a crack to turn it away. Be aware of what your turning when you return a dried piece to the late. I find putting oak back on the lathe feels similar to trying to turn a rock...it can be very rough on the tools as well as the body of the turner. That said...if and when you can get through all of that, it will take a beautiful finish.

 

[R Henrickson]

I use a lot of white oak -- much of it dry -- for various purposes, but mostly spindle work. In the course of a year or two, I used over 200 BF of 4/4 white oak. Luckily I have a place I can get it cheaply. I usually fume much of the white oak I turn.

It's also very good for Windsor chairs which I also make (although there the spindles are rived, then shaped with drawknife and spokeshave -- no turning).

 

[Mike Novak]

Darryl

Do you turn your white oak logs as quickly as possible, or let them season first? I have a lcrotch log. Tried turning some of it and it split like crazy. Don’t want to ruin some great figured wood. Wondering if I let the log season for a while with Anchorseal on ends if I would have more success?

 

[Pat Wisniewski]

Darryl (Peter),
I'd think the benefit of white oak from Traverse City would be the shorter growing season and tighter annular rings which might make it more stable than the longer growing season hee in Delaware perhaps?
At least the white oak I brought back from our place in SE Michigan has tighter grain (more growth rings/inch).

BTW, you mentioned you're riding your cycle to the symposium... trailer? - or are you more restrained than I at trade show purchases ?

 

[Darryl Fective]

Darryl

Do you turn your white oak logs as quickly as possible, or let them season first? I have a lcrotch log. Tried turning some of it and it split like crazy. Don’t want to ruin some great figured wood. Wondering if I let the log season for a while with Anchorseal on ends if I would have more success?

I haven't had trouble with splitting with wet white oak. I actually sent a message to a woman that gave me a whole tree of it a few years ago. She was interested in turning so I invited her to watch me turn a salad bowl from it. She asked if she could bring a couple people with her, which sort of scared me, she was a local news anchor and I pictured a crew to document it. Turned out her mom and sister came along and we had a great afternoon in the shop. They bought a few pieces and a couple weeks after finishing, I gave her the one they watched me turn. That was the last I heard from her and I really hope it didn't split.

My inlay pieces are usually with dried wood. A local miss has some great cutoffs. the few green turned bowls I have all look good. Decent movement, but no splitting.

Darryl (Peter),
I'd think the benefit of white oak from Traverse City would be the shorter growing season and tighter annular rings which might make it more stable than the longer growing season here in Delaware perhaps?
At least the white oak I brought back from our place in SE Michigan has tighter grain (more growth rings/inch).

BTW, you mentioned you're riding your cycle to the symposium... trailer? - or are you more restrained than I at trade show purchases ?

You may be right about slower growth and ring density, but I can't imagine that there's that much difference between Michigan and Delaware, though.

Bike has no trailer, but other club members are driving down and our next meeting will be the following Saturday. I do try to show restraint and being on a bike often helps.

 

[Ric Williams]

I've turned several pieces of 150 year old white oak, and aside from running into to worm trails on some, it was really nice to turn and had an interesting aroma. It was recovered from an ancient barn that a local wood dealer took down a couple years ago.



I've also turned a bunch of red oak harvested from downed trees on our property. I rough turned a bunch and have been gradually finish turning the pieces. I didn't know that oak tends to crack when drying because I apparently had unusually good luck with the rough turned stuff drying in a dehumidified garage.