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Also known as White Oak or Red Oak.
Origin: One of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak native to eastern North America and southern Quebec.
Specimens are known to have lived over 600 years. Although called the white oak, the usual colour is an ashen gray. In the forest it reaches a magnificent height. In the open it develops into a massive broad-topped tree with great limbs striking out at wide angles.
Appearance: Brown with paler sapwood; strong, tough, heavy, fine-grained, durable and beautiful.
Properties: American Oak is a hugely popular hardwood for timber flooring, kitchens, furniture and interior joinery manufacture. It has a strong visible grain and is relatively defect free.
White Oak is used extensively in Japanese martial arts for some weapons. It is valued for its density, strength, resiliency and relatively low chance of splintering if broken by an impact. However, no white oak is harvested in Japan, it is all imported from the United States.