Quercus rubra
Red Oak
Harder than European oak and cheaper, with pores open enough to blow air through. An interior wood, and only an interior wood.
- Cultivada fuera de Europa e importada a través de almacenes europeos.
- Grupo botánico. Las maderas blandas proceden de coníferas y las duras, de árboles frondosos.
- Familia botánica a la que pertenece la especie.
Avísame cuando llegueEspecie de referencia. Ahora mismo no hay piezas en stock.
¿Es adecuada para tu proyecto?
Ideal para
- Interior furniture
- Flooring
- Cabinetry
- Painted and stained joinery
- Shelving
No hay Red Oak en la selección actual
Especies similares en stock
Ahora mismo no hay Red Oak. Estas especies sirven para los mismos proyectos y tienen piezas disponibles.
Recibe avisos sobre Red Oak
Te enviamos un correo cuando lleguen a KORENA nuevas tablas de Red Oak. Cada pieza es única, por lo que conviene enterarse pronto.
Aspecto de la madera
Qué aspecto tiene
Light to mid brown with a distinct reddish or pinkish cast that separates it clearly from the European oaks. Grain is straight and the texture coarse, with very large open pores in the earlywood. Those pores are the defining practical fact about this wood: they run continuously along the grain and are open enough that the species will not hold liquid, which is why red oak was never used for barrels.
- Light to mid brown with a reddish or pinkish cast
- Very large open pores in the earlywood
- Ray fleck present on quartersawn faces but finer than white oak
- Straight grain, coarse texture, very large open earlywood pores that run continuously along the grain. Light to mid brown with a distinct reddish cast.
Cómo trabajarla
Cómo trabajarla
Produces good results with hand and machine tools and it glues and finishes well. It blunts cutters moderately as all oaks do. The dimensional stability is described in the cited source as mediocre, so it moves more than its numbers alone suggest. The very large open pores require substantial grain filling for any smooth finish, more than European oak needs.
Acabado
Takes stain and finish well and is frequently stained to imitate more expensive species, which it does convincingly. The large open pores need heavy grain filling for a smooth surface. The reddish cast can fight a warm stain and go orange, so test on an offcut. Tannins react with iron exactly as in the European oaks, so brass or stainless fittings only.
Secado
Dries reasonably but shares the oak family requirement for a slow schedule, and it is prone to checking and honeycomb if pushed. Volumetric shrinkage of 13.7 percent with tangential at 8.6 against radial at 4.0 percent gives a wide ratio, so flatsawn boards cup. The cited source specifically notes mediocre dimensional stability in service, which is worth weighing against European oak for anything that must stay flat.
¿Cuánto se moverá?
La madera se hincha y se contrae a lo ancho cuando el aire gana o pierde humedad. Calcula el movimiento estacional de un tablero de Red Oak antes de diseñar las fijaciones.
Movimiento estacional previsto
unos 9,8 mm
Fija el tablero con lengüetas o soportes ranurados, no con cola ni tornillos apretados.
Modelo de contracción lineal: ancho × (contracción ÷ 28 % de saturación de la fibra) × variación estacional de humedad. Usa una contracción tangencial del 8,6 % para Red Oak. Es una estimación para planificar, no una garantía.
Cuánto cuesta
Seguridad y abastecimiento
- Cultivada fuera de Europa e importada a través de almacenes europeos.
- Estado en la Lista Roja de la UICN: evaluación mundial de conservación de esta especie.
Oak is a documented sensitiser and reactions usually include eye and skin irritation. Severe reactions are rare. Repeated exposure to oak dust carries elevated nasal cancer risk, so extraction is not optional in a production setting.
Leer la guía completaNotas detalladas sobre el dibujo, el cambio de color, el trabajo y la estabilidad.
What Red Oak actually is#
Quercus rubra is the most commercially important hardwood in the United States and has been planted across Europe since the eighteenth century. European grown material is now common enough in the EU market that buying it does not necessarily mean importing from North America, which matters for both documentation and carbon.
It is harder than European oak, stiffer than European oak, and cheaper than European oak. It is also, in one specific and consequential way, a fundamentally different material.
The pores, which decide everything#
In white oak and the European oaks, the large earlywood pores are plugged with tyloses, balloon like ingrowths that seal the vessels. In red oak they are not. The pores run open and continuous along the grain.
The old demonstration is to take a short length of red oak, dip one end in soapy water and blow through the other. Bubbles come out. You cannot do that with white oak.
Everything practical about this species follows from that:
It was never used for barrels, because it will not hold liquid. It is rated non-durable to perishable with poor insect resistance, so it has no business outdoors. It is recorded in this catalogue as not food safe, unlike the European oaks, because open pores hold moisture and residue that a closed grain wood does not. And it needs far more grain filler than European oak to reach a smooth finish.
Preguntas de compradores
Preguntas de compradores
Why is Red Oak not suitable for outdoor use or barrels?
Its earlywood pores are very large and run continuously along the grain, so the wood behaves like a bundle of straws. Liquid passes straight through it, which is why white oak was always the cooperage timber and red oak never was. Combined with a decay rating of non-durable to perishable and poor insect resistance, it should be treated as an interior wood only.
Is Red Oak harder than European Oak?
Yes, measurably. It is 5,430 N on the Janka scale against 4,980 N for European oak, and its elastic modulus of 12.14 GPa is higher too. Hardness is not the reason to prefer European oak; durability, stability and colour are.
Is it safe for a cutting board?
KORENA records it as not food safe, and that is a deliberate distinction from the European oaks. The very large open pores hold moisture and food residue in a way closed grain species do not, and the wood is rated non-durable. For food contact choose hard maple or a similarly dense closed grain species.
How do I tell it from European Oak?
Propiedades mecánicas
Datos técnicos
Valores de referencia publicados. Cuando las fuentes discrepan, se muestra el intervalo y se usa el valor habitual en las escalas anteriores.
| Densidad (kg/m³)Masa por metro cúbico con aproximadamente un 12 % de humedad. La madera más pesada suele ser más dura y resistente. | 700 kg/m³ |
|---|---|
| Dureza Janka (N)Fuerza necesaria para hundir una bola de acero hasta la mitad en la madera. Es la medida estándar de resistencia a las abolladuras. | 5,430 N |
| MOR: módulo de rotura (MPa)Resistencia a la flexión: la carga a la que se rompe una viga. | 99 MPa |
| MOE: módulo de elasticidad (GPa)Rigidez a la flexión: cuánto se comba un estante o tablero bajo carga. | 12.1 GPa |
| Contracción radialContracción perpendicular a los anillos de crecimiento, desde verde hasta completamente seca. Es la que afecta a las tablas aserradas radialmente. | 4.0 % |
| Contracción tangencialContracción paralela a los anillos de crecimiento. Es la que afecta a las tablas de aserrado tangencial y a la mayoría de las tablas. |
