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Northern Red Oak

A popular and attractive looking shade tree, the Northern Red Oak can be found on suburban streets across the North American continent.  The red oak, has a natural colour variation and is quite grainy with more open grain patterns.  If you like your wood grainy and want lots of colour options, the oak is for you.  If you want a red hue, the red oak is less expensive than the Cherry.

Botanical Name: Quercus rubra from the family Fagaceae, Beech

Nicknames: Common red oak, eastern red oak, mountain red oak, grey oak

Growth
As its name implies, the red oak is prominent in North American and grows in northern eastern areas of the region. Native to North America, the Northern Red Oak grows in the northeastern United States and southeast Canada. It grows from the north end of the Great Lakes, east to Nova Scotia, south as far as Georgia and states with good soil that is slightly acidic.
 
Colour
The heart and sapwood are similar with sapwood lighter in color; most pieces have a reddish tone slightly redder than white.  The grain is open, a little coarser (more porous) than white oak.
Grain  
Red Oak finishes and stains easily. The open pores absorb more stain, so the grain pattern becomes quite evident when a dark stain is applied to red oak.
 
Stability
When properly dried and treated, oak wood glues well, machines very well, and accepts a variety of finishes.
 
Hardness   
Red Oak has a Janka rating of 1290 and is commonly referred to as the benchmark when looking at the Janka rating of any wood.

Fun Facts
  • Leaves and acorns are toxic to animals if eaten, and in some cases fatal
  • If fatal to animals, it means you should pretty much avoid eating them too!


Northern Red Oak Diamond Standard Ratings

Janka 1290 Select & Better

Select
 		  Semi-gloss Harvested
from North America 

 


Wide Content: 

The Northern Red Oak has the widest colour selection of all species.  This oak tree stains very easily giving you lots of colour options.

The Cognac and Praline colours are ONLY available in the select grade with a  low -sheen finish. We will do a special order for the semi-gloss in these two colours, but there is a minimum order of square footage required.