ls southern oak as good as northern?

This is the second of a mini-series on oak written by Gage McKinney, a contributing editor who has considerable knowledge of hardwoods-ed.

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I have tended to unjustly classify the southern red oaks as inferior to the northern. Actually some of the southern species cannot be surpassed for workability and beauty, although the precise location where a stand of timber grows plays a crucial role in the quality of the lumber. The true southern red oak (Quercus folcato) growing upon rolling hillsides, yields excellent lumber. Cherrybark red oak (Quercus falcato var. pagododfolra), for another example, yields a bright-pink, eventextured lumber of the best quality when grown upon the uplands of the Deep South.

Problems develop in red oak growing in the low country or swamps of the south. Swamp red oak yields hardtextured, difficult-todry, sometimes brashy lumber which is prone to splitting. Purple to brown mineral streaks mar its otherwise pinkish heartwood, and the sapwood often shows a distinct, dingy gray color. Such swamp oak weighs about 100 pounds per thousand board feet more than the