What kind of wood?

[Petertaylor]

In the barn this week I saw some old boards leaning against the back wall. Rough sawn, some 15 feet long. Enough to make a dining table. Here it is, glued up. Ash? White oak?

   

   

[Bill Holt]

Not an expert; my guess is white oak.  A test I've heard here: IIRC, cut a small piece, and blow through it like a straw.

[Bob Vaughan]

Not an expert; my guess is white oak.  A test I've heard here: IIRC, cut a small piece, and blow through it like a straw.

I think Bill has it.  Zooming in on that great photo, I seem to detect the crusty tylosis in the pores.
Some species in the white oak family for sure.

For blowing through the wood, about a 2" wide crosscut off the end will do.

[tablesawtom]

Based just on the pictures and not having it in hand I would guess Ash. I build and sell workbenches. Ash is my primary wood for the top. It absorbs blows and doesn't send a recoil back the hands like white and red oak. Also because of the Ash Bore Beatle there is a lot of dead ash trees in our area so it is readably available, and price wise much cheaper than Hard maple

Ash like red oak is open grained, while white oak is a lot more closed grained. What I can see from the pictures  the wood seems to be more open grained.. Again I only have two pictures to look at but there is a possibility of it being Hackberry.

Tom

[tablesawtom]

Went back and looked at the first picture again. The grain of flat sawn Ash tends to be more what I would call flowery, and I don't see it in the glued up panel so I think I will change my mind and stay with white oak. Again Hackberry is a possibility but on second though I think White oak. When I say flowery it is like a friend I have made a paneled blanket chest everything out of quarter sawn white oak. It is like it just was much to busy for me. Personally I would have made the frames  it out of riff sawn white oak and accented it with quarter sawn white oak in the panels. 

Of the two choices I vote white oak.

Tom

[fredhargis]

Another call for white oak.

[jteneyck]

Looks like white oak to me, as well.  If it smells like wine barrels, then it certainly is.  Confirmation is the blow test, although Burr oak will meet that test, as well, but has a greenish tint that yours doesn't.  It doesn't smell like wine barrels either. 

John

[OneStaple]

A picture of cleanly cut end grain would likely be helpful.

Tyler

[JosephP]

A picture of cleanly cut end grain would likely be helpful.

Tyler

yep...that's the definitive way to tell the difference.  Oak will have very pronounced rays where Ash will not.  I don't think Red oak is an option here...but the difference between Red and White oak:  White oak has early wood pores filled with tyloses (looks like fiberglass) while Red oak does not.  That is the "blow test"...because of the tyloses white oak is waterproof so you cannot use it like a straw or blow bubbles through it, but you can Red oak.

[Petertaylor]

Thank you all for the replies. Well, the boards won’t smell like wine. I found them in the barn where they have probably been for 60 years. And they may have been old when put there.  15 feet long, 4/4. They were rough sawn, so couldn’t tell what they looked like until after they went through the planer. Straight grain. 

After I asked the question, I looked up white oak (which I have never worked with) and read about medullary rays. Yes, this is white oak.

I hadn’t been planning to be in the shop this week, but on finding these boards, the first thought was, These could make a dinning room table. It will be 6 feet by 3 feet with breadboard ends.