Chestnut Oak for Trailer Decking

[4x4American]

I have been getting a lot of trailer decking orders for white oak.  Around here, it's hard to get quercus alba white oak, but, it seems I can get chestnut oak (quercus montana...?) easily.  Right now I have an order and I have enough chestnut oak to do it with.  Will that be ok?

I know that the cooperage people dont want it, but when I send out grade hardwood, they buy it as white oak.  And most loggers tell me that the sawmills around here pay for it as white oak.  But will it be as good as q. alba in trailer deck application?

[OneWithWood]

I believe it is a high silica wood and should work just fine.  One thing I know for sure is it is the hardest oak I have ever cut.  Sparks fly when falling the tree 

[Ga Mtn Man]

In my admittedly limited experience with Chestnut Oak, I find that it seems to check more than other white oaks.

[bkaimwood]

Chestnut oak does not have the rot resistance that white oak does...I'm sure it lasts pretty long, but customers who know better always specify white oak, not chestnut oak, right? I know it grades the same as white oak in most but not all production settings, where cabinet/furniture usage is its end destination...exterior usage is a different story...

[4x4American]

In my admittedly limited experience with Chestnut Oak, I find that it seems to check more than other white oaks.

I would have to agree there Mr. Paul




One with wood, high silica?  Is that the same stuff they put in with your blades to help stop them from rusting?


bkaim,


the only customer who specified against chestnut oak was a cooperage guy.




come to think of it, I have a customer who ordered white oak for outdoor furniture, and I told him I have a real hard time getting real white oak, would chestnut oak work, and he did some research and ordered 2mbf at SW

[Glenn1]

From what I have understood, white oak has tyloses (I believe these are pores) that are filled.  This makes white oak an excellent wood for boat building.  Chestnut oak is very similar but the tyloses are open.  If you cut a thin sliver of each and hold them up to a bright light, you can see light thru the chestnut oak but not the white oak. 

[4x4American]

Thanks Glenn, I'll take a look into that.  Awhile back I was having a hard time distinguishing between white and red oak I got in on a truckload, because there was no bark on alot of them and they were muddy.  The way I figured it out was looking at the end grain after making a fresh cut, on the red oaks I could see the open pores and the white oaks were more closed.  Alot of that white oak I sawed had a nice red color to it, which I had read it's because they were old growth trees.

[jdw]

I done a trailer floor with chestnut oak about 2 years ago or so it's doing really well. And I might add it's a cattle trailer.

[SineWave]

From what I have understood, white oak has tyloses (I believe these are pores) that are filled.  This makes white oak an excellent wood for boat building.  Chestnut oak is very similar but the tyloses are open.  If you cut a thin sliver of each and hold them up to a bright light, you can see light thru the chestnut oak but not the white oak.

For whatever it's worth, the book "Native Trees of the Southeast" (great book, by the way) says that chestnut oak is a white oak. (The book basically divides all oaks into either white or red families.) They say the wood is "heavy, hard and durable in contact with the soil, hence it was formerly used for fence posts, railroad ties and fuel." I'm surprised to hear you say it has open pores...I thought filled pores were what made white oaks so rot-resistant.

I have quite a bit of "swamp chestnut oak" on some land that I plan to cut. They're similar, but swamp chestnut oak grows quite a bit bigger. Apparently both are sold as "white oak."