# WANTED: Oak species identified



## onemarleyfan (Jun 24, 2013)

I am working on a non-woodworking project(feel free to ask privately if you would like to know). What I am seeking out is heartwood from a variety of different species of oak. For my project the species has to be identified(this is very easy if I have a pic of the acorn/leaf and know your general locale). 

Other info that would be helpful is a general age of the tree(the older the heartwood the better), how long it has been downed/drying(shooting for roughly 12-36 months, but younger is fine). I need to make certain nothing has been done to it with chemicals(food application).

I do not need large amounts. 2 pen blank sized pieces will suffice for what I am doing.

Any help anyone can give me is very much appreciated. I have just started searching as this is for a project for later this year or 2016.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I gather that you are asking for people to send you samples of wood and include a lot of identification data. You do not say if you will pay to get this wood. Your writeup suggests that English is not your native language so shipping will probably be expensive.

And, you do not want to tell people what is this project???

George


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## onemarleyfan (Jun 24, 2013)

I feel like it is pretty clear I speak English as a first language. I would pay but for oak blanks from your backyard dont expect an exorbitant amount of money. If you want to know what the project is PM me privately and I will be glad to tell you.


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

You'd probably get a lot more support and interest by opening up and telling us about yourself and what your trying to do. After all this is a community.


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## onemarleyfan (Jun 24, 2013)

This kinda sucks....I typed out a long post only to have it deleted because I was not signed in.....so here goes....again.....

These will be used to age whisk(e)y to put it simply. To understand it i will give some backstory. Oak has tannins and other flavors. When you soak high proof alcohol in it that flavor is extracted. Typically Bourbon is aged in charred New American Oak barrels (lots of vanillins are extracted.....more age equals more tannins which equals more bitter which is not good in whiskey). American Oak is generally the species Quercus alba. These are generally from the midwest, 100 to 120 years old and dried 12 to 36 months. The next biggest wood usage comes from French Oak, Quercus petraea, which has more cinnamon type flavors. There is to a lesser extent Hungarian Oak, Spanish Oak and European Oak (Quercus rober). In the Japanese whisky industry they use to a very small extent Quercus mongolica(spicy and floral flavor notes), this is very expensive whisky. I tracked down a bowl blank of this.....I assure it tastes good in a whisky (search Mizunara whisky and you will see these bottles run 500 to $1000). Other types of oak generally are not used because they are too kotty, don't seal well, etc. They are not not used for flavor reasons. I know from doing some research that there are hundreds of types of oak. Even in my backyard I have an oak tree that only grows in the valley I live in. So.......

My background is that I am a whisky lover/maker. I enjoy creating with my own two hands and some ingenuity. I have created 27 whiskies not available on the market my next few projects will create upwards of 500 whiskies not seen in the whisky market. I want this project a couple years down the road to add to the total putting me in the thousands of bottles to choose from. Not all will be good but some will be whiskies to behold. Some so good and so rare only one bottle on the planet will exist. 

Based on tasting what I have made I have been approached by a distillery owner to help create unique small batch experimental whiskies for him. I want to be able to choose from thousands of bottles of what to make, only the best of the best will be released. I am very passionate about what I do, as well as obsessed. Just as you all enjoy woodworking I put the same level of time and effort into whisky making.

So yes I could pay a little but this is coming out of my own pocket (I am unpaid help until the distillery makes money). My hope is that people will be willing to assist me in making my dreams become assist reality. The more variety I can get, the better. Feel free to ask questions, I will always answer. I'm sorry if my original cryptic comments were a put off.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

So you are experimenting with different oaks to see what affect it has on taste. I don't have any experience with whiskey but you might try to locate some black jack oak. The wood has a very strong odor when cutting the tree down.


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## onemarleyfan (Jun 24, 2013)

That's probably the sap.....the one in my backyard had a very strong odor as well....not too pleasant. Black Jack oak was one of the first ones someone offered up to me. For me it's more a matter of finding someone willing to send it to.me. there is a definite effect on flavor between oak varieties.


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## Rob Brown (Jul 7, 2009)

*oah wood*

with my limited knowledge, I can ad some info. You want white oak not red. that is due to cellular structure. You don't want anything from near any animal holding pens or pasture areas. Geological variances from different regions will also contribute variations to the end product. and the last thing I can think of is that it will be very difficult to come up with acorns or leaves from a downed tree, unless the donor has prior knowledge of that particular tree. Good whiskey is hard to come by. I just tasted a some 50 yr old White Horse. it was awesome .


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