Red oak lumber

[woodsy]

I am under the impression that when red oak is sold at a lumber yard you could be buying northern red oak, black oak, or scarlet oak, or perhaps even some other species of red.  It's all lumped together and sold as one.

So, at the mill, for example, black oak does not have to be sorted out and sold separately. I believe this is legal in some parts of the country but is it legal in all regions?   

[WDH]

My understanding is that red oak lumber can come from any of the red oak group as you point out in your post.  For the most part, the you cannot reliably verify the species once the lumber is cut and dried.  Some people say they can seperate northern red oak from the rest by the color, but I suspect the best way to narrow down the species is understanding where the logs originated. 

Northern red oak is considered the highest quality red oak where it occurs.  In the South where it does not occur, cherrybark and shumard oak are considered to be better quality that the plethora of other red oaks that occur here like water, willow, laurel, scarlet, black, southern red, blackjack, nuttal, turkey, etc. 

[northwoods1]

My understanding is that red oak lumber can come from any of the red oak group as you point out in your post.  For the most part, the you cannot reliably verify the species once the lumber is cut and dried.  Some people say they can seperate northern red oak from the rest by the color, but I suspect the best way to narrow down the species is understanding where the logs originated. 

Northern red oak is considered the highest quality red oak where it occurs.  In the South where it does not occur, cherrybark and shumard oak are considered to be better quality that the plethora of other red oaks that occur here like water, willow, laurel, scarlet, black, southern red, blackjack, nuttal, turkey, etc. 

Yes I would think that a person could judge pretty well just by looking at quality alone. I think the northern red oak does have a slightly different color seems to be more red and the grain looks a little different not as course.

[woodmills1]

even up here there is good and bad northern, and even sometimes good black.  It gets sold the same but the pay scale for black is lower.

funny sometimes two trees(insert canadiad two tree trees here) next to each other both red but of far different texture and grain

[WDH]

Nature thrives on variation  .  This is not meant to be a statement for or against one's religious beliefs