Paragraph 29. The most important hardwood trees are the oaks. The oaks have been called the "Royal Family" of American woods. This reputation has been given this class of trees on account of their broad application, their unusual durability, their great strength and unequalled beauty. Oak wood can be used for all kinds of constructive work, almost regardless of conditions. It has been performing satisfactory service for more than 2,000 years, so mechanics feel that oak has passed the experimental stage. A few years ago, when practically all constructive work was of wood, the important timbers, such as sills, beams and al foundation work, were made almost entirely of oak. This wood was selected because of its strength and durability. There is no other wood so broad in its application. This is true not only on account of its great adaptability, but because it grows in almost every part of the United States. The tree reaches a very large size, which makes it suitable for most any kind of heavy construction work.

On account of its attractive beauty, as well as its durability, oak has become the leading cabinet wood, and because of the great demand for choice oak in cabinet construction it has almost gone out of use for ordinary rough building work.

The Oak Family

The oak family is usually divided into two broad classes. They are known as the "White Oak Family" and the "Red Oak Family." The Government recognizes more than forty different species of oaks growing in the United States and they all belong to one of these two general families. The white oak, which is the most important of the oaks, is often spoken of as "the king" of hard woods. It is the standard timber of commerce; it is usually taken as the standard in measuring the strength of any other timber. Much of the beautiful quartered-oak which we see in fine cabinet work is white oak. While it is true that there are so many different classes and kinds of oak, they are all alike in one respect - that is, all oak trees bear acorns. That is about the only single characteristic that is pointed out as common to all oak trees.

The broad class of oaks, known as the "White Oak Family" (there are probably twenty-five different kinds of oak in this family) , all produce their acorns in one year.

The red oaks require two years to produce acorns. This is the most important distinguishing feature between these two great families, although they can usually be told by the leaves. All trees belonging to the white oak family are recognized by their round-lobed leaves, the type of which is shown in Figure 43. The red oaks are known for the sharp-pointed lobes of their leaves, as shown in Figure 44. This is a family likeness which is found in practically all of the trees of the red oak family. These two characteristics will enable you to determine whether an oak tree belongs to the white or red oak family. On account of there being so many different kinds of oak and because they have so many different local names, you will probably not be able to recognize any great number of them and give them a specific name, although you should be able to determine whether or not a tree is an oak and to which one of the general families it belongs. The following table is a classification of oaks which is generally accepted as correct:

Figure 43.

Figure 44.