I hate red oak

[Bill Wilson]

I like most hardwoods, different species for different looks and applications. Cherry, walnut and sassafras are probably my favorites. I don't mind red oak. I've used it a number of times, but not as much lately as I have a pretty large inventory of other species at the moment.

[lucky788scroller]

A few years ago I didnt care for red oak, but, no matter where you go, you can find something in red oak.So when doing a project, red oak always seems to fit in with almost any decor. I have grown to love using red oak, not only because of that, but because its not to light and bland, and its not to dark, and always has some interesting features in its grain. I dont think it really cuts that hard on the scrollsaw, Ive cut many compound cut projects out of 1 1/2 inch thick red oak, as well as more exotic stuff, like 1 1/2 inch thick wenge or purpleheart, and the oak is WAY softer than those.When I grab a pattern, I immediately think out in my head what wood to use on it, and 90% of the time its red oak.Thats my most favorite domestic wood, I have hundreds of BF of walnut, cherry, butternut, burr oak lumber in the garage and basement, but sadly, hardly any red oak. As for one of my favorite exotic woods, it would have to be lacy sheoak from Australia, I love the stuff.Bocote is nice stuff too!Actually, most southern hemisphere woods are really beautiful.

[sawdustus]

My favorites are walnut, cherry and maple but I also like both red and white oak, mahogany and poplar (if I am going to paint it. I most dislike pine (too soft and blotchy) but I do use a lot of birch ply for ornaments and pictures.

george

[MikeyD]

The thing about red oak is the price. It is the cheapest hardwood , well at least around here it is. I buy it for $1.50 bf, only 50 cents higher then construction pine. Now if you had to pay the same as walnut or cherry ($3 - $5 bf) then I don't think it would be as popular.
As for favorites, Sawdustus hit the nail right on the head for me too.

Mikey

[Paladin]

I love cutting walnut personally. Unfortunately, the masses love their red oak. Everyone's eyes just light up when you tell them it's oak.

Kevin, hilarious that you would throw lyptus in there. I cut one stand-up puzzle out of lyptus because I need the slightly red color. It cuts really nice, but then when I went to finish it is where the trouble began. Most of my stand-up type puzzles, I will just dip them in danish oil and be done with them. Well, when I went to put the lyptus in my almost full gallon can of danish oil.......the dang pieces sank to the bottom!! It was not fun fishing them out. That stuff is really dense.

[mrsaw]

i hate pine! i use what i can buy a the local hardwood mill.my faves are walnut,maple and butternut i got from ebay.tom

[skeeter]

Red Oak has it's place, wanna waste blades, cut quarter sawn white oak. I just did a tractor out of it and it burned blades like nobodys business. I work a lot with Black Ash, I get fall off from a local coffin builder. You hit it with finish and the grain explodes

[Okie_Arkie_Wood_Cutter]

The only one that I really hate is SYP and it is only good for building houses. I don't mind red oak, but prefer white oak and my Dav is Ash. Walnut is really nice , but very expensive. Red cedar is fine, but I always have issues with finding a pattern that will match up with my stock of cedar. Since I don't do Intarsia, I have to have a pattern that will match up with a portrait style or fretwork pattern.

[charliedearing]

I only hate woods that splinter easily when doing intricate fretwork and Oak is bad about that. I don't have any fancy foreign woods so I can't pick any favorites. Anything that has decent non-invasive grain patterns and cuts easily I suppose.

[bubbantenn]

I'll chime in just to be a part of the discussion. I don't really dislike any wood but my favorite to look at when it is used in a project is birds eye maple. The worst wood I've had to cut is some 50 year old cherry (now almost 60) that someone gave me. Not even my platinum blades from Seyco want to cut the stuff, and it burns like crazy. Hate is a pretty strong word but comes the closest to how I feel about that cherry.
As for ease of cutting, poplar and fir take the prize, and I love the smell of the fir and the way it looks when it is finished. Much different than yellow pine which I use very little.
I once used some pine from Mississippi called Loblolly (sp) pine that came out of an old house. Let me tell you, hardwood has nothing on that stuff. The older it gets, the harder it gets. I've bent more nails on Loblolly pine than I have on 100 year old barn wood.
Thanks for opening the thread. It is very interesting.

Bubba