Oaks are hardwood trees, the wood commonly used in
oak
furniture and flooring. The bark of Quercus suber, or Cork oak, is
used to produce wine stoppers (corks). This species grows in the Mediterranean Sea
region, with Portugal, Spain, Algeria and Morocco producing most of the world's
supply. Some European and American oak species are used to make barrels where wine
and other spirits are aged; the barrels, which are in some cases charred before
use, contribute to the taste.
Of the North American oaks, the most prized of the red oak group for lumber, all
of which is marketed as red oak regardless of the species of origin, is that of the
Northern red oak, Quercus rubra (a.k.a. Q. borealis). The standard for the lumber
of the white oak group, all of which is marketed as white oak, is the White oak,
Quercus alba. White oak is often used for the construction of barrels for aging
wine. The wood of Quercus robur, the English oak and Quercus petraea, the Sessile
oak, is extensively used in Europe .
The bark of the White Oak is dried and used in medical preparations. Oak bark is
also rich in tannin, and is used by tanners for tanning leather. Acorns are used
for making flour or roasted for acorn coffee.
It has a pale brown hard wood.
Depending on size and quality it is used for sawn timber, veneer, building timber,
hardwood pulp, poles, fencing, firewood and charcoal. Coppicing of woodland used to
produce stakes. Food and drink - Tannin used to be produced from bark for tanning
leather. Acorns formerly used to feed pigs.
The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred
species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus, and some related genera, notably
Cyclobalanopsis and Lithocarpus . The genus is native to the northern hemisphere,
and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cold latitudes to
tropical Asia and America.
Oak trees have spirally arranged leaves , with a lobed margin in many species,
though far from all, with some having serrated leaves or entire leaves with a
smooth margin. The flowers are catkins, produced in spring. The fruit is a acorn,
borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule; each acorn contains one (rarely
two or three) seeds, and takes 6-18 months to mature, depending on species. The
"live oaks" (oaks with evergreen leaves) are not a distinct group, instead with
their members scattered among the sections below.
~ More information about oak and ash
wood comparisons or oak and pine furniture
comparisons
~ More information about American
light oak here
~ Read more about Milano Oak
Furniture here
~ Read more about wood here
~ Read more about acacia wood
information here
~ Read more about Pine wood
here
~ You can shop by wood here
~ Read about furniture care advice