Wood Dynamics

[Goo]

Oaks are ring porous and will soak water like a sponge in the end grain

What about Live Oak?

[BOB HILL]

I don’t think I want to build one with live oak. Over 60 lb. per cubic ft.,if memory hasn’t failed me.   Pretty dense stuff. Don’t think you would have a problem with it splitting either.
 Bob

[Jerry V Lape]

Live oak is pretty interesting.  I lived in Charleston SC for a couple years and cut some live oak for a mail box post and fire wood.  The mail box post sprouted branches 3 feet long in short time and the fire wood laying on the ground took root too.  I think that stuff might be eternal!  Sure is heavy. 

[Daryl]

I didn't realize 'old Tom weighted so much.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Weight+per+pound+of+Different+Woods&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

https://www.google.com/search?q=Weight+per+pound+of+Different+Woods&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

[P.W.Berkuta]

Oaks are ring porous and will soak water like a sponge in the end grain.

Strength, toughness excellent. Availability is excellent. Workability is ok. Stability with moisture, not so good.


Good stock woods have high workability, strength, resistance to splitting, and dimensional stability. These qualities and attractiveness make walnut, maple, and cherry the premier stock woods in America. Will others work?  Yes, but if they had the whole package they’d have been commonly used.

Me thinks it's red oak that is porous through the end grain not white oak. Barrels are made of white oak  and do not exhibit the end grain porosity effect. Have a quick read of the attached quote from Documentarian Anne MacGregor on the Abandoned Ship: The Mary Celeste
“True, she says, nine of the 1,701 barrels in the hold were empty, but the empty nine had been recorded as being made of red oak, not white oak like the others. Red oak is known to be a more porous wood and therefore more likely to leak”.   If you get a 1" X 1" X 12" length of red oak and put one end in a bowl of water and blow in the other end you will see bubbles come up from the bowl of water - not so with white oak.

[bnail]

Mauling live oak makes the sweat run!

[M. E. Pering]

Live oak would be interesting to experiment with.  The hull of the U.S.S Constitution is live oak, so you know it is extremely tough stuff.  I would try a pistol first though, I think.

M. E. Pering

[smallpatch]

I know.....let's build gun stocks, out of gun stock wood!

[jerrywh]

 Does anybody believe all these odd woods haven't been tried in the last 300 years before???

[Pukka Bundook]

Jerry,
Yes I Do believe they have been tried,...............and abandoned as no good!
If they were any good, we'd see examples all over.     

[BOB HILL]

 Dry true, Richard, very true.
Bob

[JBJ]

https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/distinguishing-red-oak-from-white-oak/

[WadePatton]

Does anybody believe all these odd woods haven't been tried in the last 300 years before???

This and folks, I had no idea the difference in Red and White Oak wood was so little known.  For general purposes Red Oak is great if you can keep it dry.  White Oak is wonderfully rot-resistant.  edit: as I understand it TN has about 20 different native oaks, evenly spread over the red and white oak groups. While there is one named "White Oak" there are nine more that are indeed "white oaks" as the that's what they're made of.  Confused yet?  White oak is tan in the wood and red oak is not. 
https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1731.pdf

But I'm nearly certain either Oak or Hickory or Black Locust (yes I've seen a contemporary gun in BL) are a bit more work than I care to fool with.

Curly Ash broke me of "woodsploring" stockwoods any more for a while.  For LR's that is.   

[jerrywh]

I have worked ash and know it’s hardness. It’s not much worse than white oak. Has anybody seen any white oak stocked guns?  I’ve got some beautiful quarter sawn slabs that could be made into stocks. Would this be historically correct? The ray fleck could be incredible.

Early Spanish guns

  Yeah. But it's very heavy, HUH?

[WadePatton]

I have worked ash and know it’s hardness. It’s not much worse than white oak. Has anybody seen any white oak stocked guns?  I’ve got some beautiful quarter sawn slabs that could be made into stocks. Would this be historically correct? The ray fleck could be incredible.

Early Spanish guns

  Yeah. But it's very heavy, HUH?

A cured and dense bit of white oak isn't far from osage or black locust in weight.  Pretty sure I've seen reference on this, but it's also one of my firewoods, so I handle a lot of it.  The "olde standards" of stockwood generally all run in the "next weight class" lighter than my favorite firewood fodder.