White Oak/Chestnut Oak

[123maxbars]

A logger brought me some Chestnut Oak today. I have seen it before but have never sawed it, He told me the bigger sawmills saw it up and sale it as white oak.  It looks alot like white oak but there is a diffrence that I noticed in the bark etc.  Does it have the same wood qualities as white oak? if someone could do a short brief comparison I would appreciate it. I have a large order for trailer decking and don't want to sale the chestnut oak for that purpose if it's not going to hold up like white oak does.

[mesquite buckeye]

Chestnut oak is a different species of the white oak group of oaks. The wood is considered the same as white oak in the trade.

[qbilder]

It's a white oak. Smells like whiskey and takes forever to rot.

[dboyt]

According the the U.S. Forest Products Lab, "Chestnut oak lumber is similar to and marketed as white oak".  I would not have any problem selling it as such.

This site gives a comparison of wood (http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/chemdata/woods.htm), and shows chestnut oak about 10% lower modulus of rupture than white oak.  The important thing is for the boards to be fairly clear and straight-grained.  Durability of all trees in the white oak group is excellent.

[hunz]

Well I am going to go against the grain on this one. Yes, both white oak and chestnut oak are graded as "white oak", and do look identical when sawn. However, Chestnut oak does not contain a very important chemical called tylosis. Tylosis is what keeps normal white oak lumber from absorbing water readily; it also helps repel it. In your instance with trailer decking, I personally wouldn't sell it to a customer as a long lasting exterior product. Chestnut oak can be expected to last as long outside as red oak would. Speaking from experience in using red oak on a trailer, 5 years is a good useful life. If your customer is satisfied with that, then saw'er up. If not, I may try to hunt down the real deal. Just my $0.02

[beenthere]

hunz
Tyloses is not a chemical, sorry. It is a "growth" in the cell lumen.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=192.5;wap2

[scsmith42]

IMO Chestnut white oak is one of the prettiest species to quartersaw.  If the logs are clear and large diameter, I sure wouldn't use them for trailer decking.

Since it is an open pored species, it is not suitable for cooperage.

[WDH]

I believe it is the only oak in the white oak group that does not have tyloses. 

[hunz]

hunz
Tyloses is not a chemical, sorry. It is a "growth" in the cell lumen.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=192.5;wap2

Well I was halfway there. Its been a while since I researched tyloses. I just remembered that not all white oak grades are created equal.

[YellowHammer]

IMO Chestnut white oak is one of the prettiest species to quartersaw.

There are many very large Chestnut oaks around here, but I always avoided sawing them because it wasn't the "real, waterproof" white oak.  However, it's a less expensive log than white oak, and if it looks better when quartersawn, then maybe I need to buy a load or two and see if it sells.  I'm not sure how the purist white oak customers would take to it, and I couldn't sell it to the boatbuilders, but I haven't been buying big QS quality white oaks because they have gotten so expensive.  However, I can get huge QS quality chestnut oak for much cheaper.
Thanks for the info. 
YH

[scsmith42]

I believe it is the only oak in the white oak group that does not have tyloses.

Actually there are three species of WO that grow in the SE US w/o tyloses.  I don't remember the other two off the top of my head - just recall that it was three.

[kelLOGg]

Chestnut oak is apparently a slow-growing tree. I planted one from the acorn ~20years ago and it is about 2' tall now.
Bob

[Ron Wenrich]

I find that chestnut oak saws higher quality then the white oak in the area.  If it wasn't for chestnut oak, I wouldn't have much grade white oak.  The chestnut oak has a darker brown color.  At least, in my area.

I used white oak as fence posts one time because of their supposed durability.  I even put on a dab of creosote, as it was legal then.  I think I got about 7-8 years on them.