Oak supply for experiments

[Expat]

Haven't been doing any runs lately because I've been renovating my house; As part of the work we had put in a custom white oak floor. Beautiful untreated wood, which was finished after installation. pic below.

700sqf of 4" by 3/4"

Of which I have maybe 35 board feet left in unused and offcuts, basically two good sized totes worth. Some searching around seems like people have used similar oak before so I'm planning on doing the same

I'll rip the boards down to 3/4" x3/4" strips, then given them a couple soaks to try and pull some tannins before I toast and char them.

I'll do some testing and post back the results.

[The Baker]

Well maybe you could look at straight-sided barrels!

Geoff

[NZChris]

I'd stack some outside for a year or two, cutting off only what I need.

Search the forum for advice from old hands that may no longer post.

Search the interweb for what coopers for your favourite commercial products do.

Build a wine press.

With that much oak available, an extremely efficient, traditional, slatted cider press would be a very attractive option if you had the time, skills and apples available and liked Calvados enough to go to the trouble..

[Yummyrum]

don’t rip them all into strips Expat .
Man I’d love some American white Oak planks .
Doesn’t happen to be Appalachian WO by any chance ?
I’m dreaming about one of those big vats Bundy age their Rum in ..... you lucky bugger Expat .

[Expat]

Well maybe you could look at straight-sided barrels!

I believe they now just call them boxes

I'd stack some outside for a year or two, cutting off only what I need.

Search the forum for advice from old hands that may no longer post.

Yes, plenty of reading recently on oak treatment. Building an outdoor stack is definitely something I've been considering to do. Unfortunately we did have to use some of the material to actually build the floor lol, but I do have quite a bit leftover. Enough to try multiple experiments, but probably not enough to build a cider press to the size i'd want.

don’t rip them all into strips Expat .
Man I’d love some American white Oak planks .
Doesn’t happen to be Appalachian WO by any chance ?
I’m dreaming about one of those big vats Bundy age their Rum in ..... you lucky bugger Expat .

No stress Yummy, I won't be ripping anything for awhile as there are plenty of partial planks and off-cuts I can play with. i'll post up a pick once I've had a chance to sort through the trove. Unfortunately I don't know for sure if it is Appalachian; I know the mill work was done here in Canada, but I was told the wood is sourced in the US.

Honestly guys its easy (at least for me) to forget what a beautiful material white oak really is, the smell and the look of grain are just amazing.

[8Ball]

A little off topic, but a couple years ago I drove past a home in Georgia that had a big pile of white oak rounds destined for the fire pit. I stopped and was able to cherry pick through the largest pieces that had big heart sections. Filled up a third of my pick up truck bed for $10 and what was left of a bottle of UJSSM I had in the truck box. Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll be needing any more.

[_Merlin_]

how do you know that it is untreated?

unfinished is one thing, but if kiln dried and destined to be flooring, where warp-age and cracking is undesirable, there is a good chance it was treated with stabilizers during the drying process. even if not, there is also the good chance that it was fumigated if it was meant to be shipped across the border.

I would never use a commercially prepared piece of wood without knowing exactly how it was processed.

Cheers,
Mërlin