Is this Red Oak?

[Rotondi123]

Hi all! I’m new to the forum. I have recently bought myself a Santa Maria style bbq and plan to use Red Oak which is tradition in the area (plus it makes thick cuts taste phenomenal). I had this 1/4 cord of wood delivered to my house today and simply wanted to verify that it is in fact Red Oak. Not having the knowledge of wood I had to place a bit of trust in the guy delivering.

Please see the two pictures attached. Second, I did use a moisture meter to test this wood that is supposed to be seasoned. It said the moisture of different pieces was pretty consistently under 20% (albeit right below or at 20%) but I have a very cheap meter and this test was done without splitting the wood further than it already is and testing the inside of these pieces. When I went to start a fire today, there was quite a bit of that steaming water hissing sound, smoke, and most of the pieces took ages to finally get a small flame going. They only got going a little after they were on top of very hot coal. Any information or advice about this? I appreciate it!

 

[neverbilly]

Hi all! I’m new to the forum. I have recently bought myself a Santa Maria style bbq and plan to use Red Oak which is tradition in the area (plus it makes thick cuts taste phenomenal). I had this 1/4 cord of wood delivered to my house today and simply wanted to verify that it is in fact Red Oak. Not having the knowledge of wood I had to place a bit of trust in the guy delivering.

Please see the two pictures attached. Second, I did use a moisture meter to test this wood that is supposed to be seasoned. It said the moisture of different pieces was pretty consistently under 20% (albeit right below or at 20%) but I have a very cheap meter and this test was done without splitting the wood further than it already is and testing the inside of these pieces. When I went to start a fire today, there was quite a bit of that steaming water hissing sound, smoke, and most of the pieces took ages to finally get a small flame going. They only got going a little after they were on top of very hot coal. Any information or advice about this? I appreciate it!

Hi, never heard of Santa Maria style bbq, I learned something. As for the wood, your pics are not close enough for me to see. It does look like oak. I am not familiar with CA woods and I am not sure what I call red oak grows there. A google search provided hits on Northern redoak and southern red oak and both ranges are, generally, the east half of the USA. So, not sure what CA calls red oak. I know around here, sometimes people call oaks that are NOT red oak exactly that. Because it is about as good as it gets for firewood.

Yes, you need a new split for a moisture reading.

 

[johneh]

Need some better pictures . close up of grain , close up
of bark and a close up of end grain. In general it does look like
red Oak at a distance

 

[Simonkenton]

Might be red oak. You have some wet wood, you have to split a piece and measure on the freshly split face.

 

[gzecc]

Looks like red oak from here. Split it small, it may be ready in 3 yrs.

 

[Woody5506]

Looks different from my red oak but I'm in NY and I've only gotten one truck load of it in my wood hoarding career so it's not my most easily identifiable wood.

If the wood is hissing, it's too wet and needs more seasoning.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Close enough for me to call it Red Oak.

 

[Tar12]

I burn a lot of Oak...it doesnt appear to be Red Oak to me from this distance...

 

[Kevin Weis]

Remember there is Northern Red Oak and Southern Red Oak.

 

[Ashful]

As others have said, looks like it could be red oak, but pics are too low resolution to make positive ID at this distance.

Oaks take much longer to dry than most woods. Easily 3x-4x longer than softwoods, and 2x many other hardwoods. Most here usually figure 3 years to season oak. Steam and water are all the proof you need, these are definitely above 20% moisture content.

 

[Rotondi123]

Remember there is Northern Red Oak and Southern Red Oak.

I didn’t know this. I appreciate you telling me. I suppose I’ll have to ask some folks around here which style is best for bbq

 

[Rotondi123]

As others have said, looks like it could be red oak, but pics are too low resolution to make positive ID at this distance.

Oaks take much longer to dry than most woods. Easily 3x-4x longer than softwoods, and 2x many other hardwoods. Most here usually figure 3 years to season oak. Steam and water are all the proof you need, these are definitely above 20% moisture content.

Thank you for your reply. Here some closer photos. I noticed when taking these that the bark on some pieces seem different than others.

 

[Rotondi123]

Need some better pictures . close up of grain , close up
of bark and a close up of end grain. In general it does look like
red Oak at a distance

Thank you for your reply. Here some closer photos. I noticed when taking these that the bark on some pieces seem different than others.

 

[Rotondi123]

Hi, never heard of Santa Maria style bbq, I learned something. As for the wood, your pics are not close enough for me to see. It does look like oak. I am not familiar with CA woods and I am not sure what I call red oak grows there. A google search provided hits on Northern redoak and southern red oak and both ranges are, generally, the east half of the USA. So, not sure what CA calls red oak. I know around here, sometimes people call oaks that are NOT red oak exactly that. Because it is about as good as it gets for firewood.

Yes, you need a new split for a moisture reading.

Thank you for your reply. Here some closer photos. I noticed when taking these that the bark on some pieces seem different than others.

 

[Rotondi123]

Hi, never heard of Santa Maria style bbq, I learned something. As for the wood, your pics are not close enough for me to see. It does look like oak. I am not familiar with CA woods and I am not sure what I call red oak grows there. A google search provided hits on Northern redoak and southern red oak and both ranges are, generally, the east half of the USA. So, not sure what CA calls red oak. I know around here, sometimes people call oaks that are NOT red oak exactly that. Because it is about as good as it gets for firewood.

Yes, you need a new split for a moisture reading.

Thank you for your reply. Here some closer photos. I noticed when taking these that the bark on some pieces seem different than others.

 

[Ashful]

Those close-ups look like red oak to me. Can't speak for the whole pile, if some look different, but there's definitely red oak in there.

 

[Rotondi123]

Those close-ups look like red oak to me. Can't speak for the whole pile, if some look different, but there's definitely red oak in there.

Great, thank you!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Some looked like oak to me, others did not.

I wouldn't get hung up over it. Having 1 type of wood or another isn't going to make, or break a Bbq.

 

[Ashful]

What surprises me is that we are absolutely surrounded by red oak, to the point where it’s almost all I burn for heating my house some years, and I’ve never even heard of anyone using it for a BBQ. Most here seem to use hickory, or import mesquite.

 

[TreePointer]

New pictures looks a lot like red oak.

 

[TedyOH]

The Oak will be fine for smoking....easily identified by the sunburst rays on the end grain of your splits....as others said, some splits do not look like oak, i would avoid using those in your pit....some wood can make you and others sick or ruin your $100 brisket you spent 12 hours tending to. My favorite is black cherry, ...here's two lists of the good and bad

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[kborndale]

What surprises me is that we are absolutely surrounded by red oak, to the point where it’s almost all I burn for heating my house some years, and I’ve never even heard of anyone using it for a BBQ. Most here seem to use hickory, or import mesquite.

Really? Oak is a very common wood used for smoking...hickory is probably the most common wood but I would put oak as common as apple or cherry.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I've never heard of anybody going out of their way for it to cook with either.

 

[TedyOH]

I've never heard of anybody going out of their way for it to cook with either.

Probably because they are using amateur hour $200 Home Depot wood chip smokers and not $1000+ stick burners you feed splits.

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[EatenByLimestone]

Maybe. Or there might be enough fruit wood around here they are satisfied.