Thread: Wood Tester

Ummm... a lot of different species of Oak, and a lot of other woods that are called Oak, especially in Aussie. True oaks are from the Quercus group, and there are dozens of them. Sheoak is Casuarina species, while Tasmanian Oak is various Eucalyptus species. I think that name was made up in years gone by because it was easier to market "oak" than "gum tree"

If you know the actual species of wood you can look up it's mechanical properties, weight, strength, flexibility, hardness etc and compare different species.

The term Oak is just too general.

As your other recent post was about martial arts equipment I assume that some people make the gear from American white Oak? There are a number of Aussie species that you could substitute, for instance Jarrah is heavier, harder and stronger if that what you need. I'm sure the local wood experts here can give you advice as to what local wood is best to use for different things

Cheers

Ian

Buy beg borrow if you can a book called "Wood in Australia" by Keith R Bootle
ISBN 0 07 451047 9. It's got numerous listings for Oak giving the mechanical/strength properties etc.
A total of 17 listed predominately of the Silky type Oak,but does go into the Europeans also in some detail.

A great book to suggest as a gift from one of your loved ones!

Cheers