How to Identify Red Oak Wood (Quercus rubra)

Red Oak, Quercus rubra: color, grain, end grain, Janka hardness (1,290 lbf) and weight, and how to tell it from White Oak, quoted from the USDA Wood Handbook and The Wood Database.

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At a glance

Scientific name: Quercus rubra
Type: Hardwood
Origin: Eastern North America
Color: Heartwood is a light to medium brown, commonly with a reddish cast; paler sapwood is not always sharply demarcated from the heartwood.
Grain and texture: Grain is straight, with a coarse, uneven texture; pores are so large and open that air blown into one end of a board exits the other end.
End grain: Ring porous; solitary earlywood pores in rows of two to four, latewood pores in radial/dendritic arrangement; vessels very large in earlywood, small in latewood; tyloses absent or scarce; parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates; rays of two distinct sizes (narrow and very wide), wider rays visible without magnification.
Janka hardness: 1,290 lbf
Specific gravity (12% MC): 0.63
Other clue: Has a distinct smell that is common to most oaks; most find it appealing. Heartwood lacks tyloses, unlike white oak.

What Red Oak looks like

Heartwood is a light to medium brown, commonly with a reddish cast; paler sapwood is not always sharply demarcated from the heartwood. Grain is straight, with a coarse, uneven texture; pores are so large and open that air blown into one end of a board exits the other end. End grain: Ring porous; solitary earlywood pores in rows of two to four, latewood pores in radial/dendritic arrangement; vessels very large in earlywood, small in latewood; tyloses absent or scarce; parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates; rays of two distinct sizes (narrow and very wide), wider rays visible without magnification.

Hardness and weight

Janka hardness 1,290 lbf (side hardness: the force needed to embed a 0.444-inch steel ball to half its diameter). Specific gravity 0.63 at 12% moisture content, so a cubic foot weighs roughly 39 lb. Weight in the hand is one of the quickest checks: compare a piece of known size against a board you already know.

Red Oak vs White Oak

Red oak heartwood lacks tyloses (the small bubble-like structures that plug the pores), while white oak has abundant tyloses, which is why white oak holds liquid (used for barrels/boats) and red oak does not; ray height on face grain is also shorter on red oak (rarely over 1 in.) versus over 1 in. on white oak. The White Oak page has its own details.

Smell, weight and other clues

Has a distinct smell that is common to most oaks; most find it appealing. Heartwood lacks tyloses, unlike white oak.

Where you will meet it

Cabinetry, furniture, interior trim, flooring, and veneer.

Working it

Produces good results with hand and machine tools, though fairly high shrinkage gives mediocre dimensional stability; can react with iron (especially when wet) causing staining; oak has been reported as a sensitizer causing eye/skin irritation and asthma-like symptoms.

How to photograph it for identification

Photograph a freshly cut or sanded face in daylight, not a finished or stained surface, since stain hides color and finish flattens grain. Add a close-up of the end grain: cut a clean end, wet it or sand it to 220, and shoot from straight on; pore pattern and rays are the most reliable marks. Put a ruler in frame. The app suggests the likely species; confirm with the end grain and weight.

FAQ

How hard is Red Oak?

Janka hardness 1,290 lbf. For comparison, Red Oak is about 1,290 lbf and Eastern White Pine about 380 lbf.

How do I tell Red Oak from White Oak?

Is Red Oak a hardwood or a softwood?

Red Oak is a hardwood: it comes from a broadleaf tree. Hardwood and softwood describe the kind of tree, not how hard the wood is; some hardwoods are softer than some softwoods.

What color is Red Oak?

Heartwood is a light to medium brown, commonly with a reddish cast; paler sapwood is not always sharply demarcated from the heartwood.

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