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OAK, ENGLISH BROWN
Quercus petraea
Quercus petraea of the family Fagaceae
English Brown Oak is a form of European oak that (1) grows in England, and (2) is infected by a fungus that changes the color of the wood, while the tree is still growing, to a rich beautiful honey brown.
Since English brown oak is not a species, one could argue that it should not have its own page on this site. Such an argument would miss the point that English brown oak is a totally separate MATERIAL than the European oak whence it springs and thus very much merits its own page on a site devoted to the craft of woodworking, not to the botanical nature of wood.
European oak is a very useful and attractive wood, but it pales in comparison, both literally and figuratively, to the wood once the fungus converts it to English brown oak.
my samples --- colors are accurate throughout
plank and end grain
end grain closeup from the piece directly above --- color is a little too rich
another plank and end grain cut from a different log than the one above.
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
yet another plank and end grain cut from a different log than those above.
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
another couple of small pieces cut from the same plank as the one above, which was the first plank I ever saw of this material and that was over 10 years ago --- I really loved this plank; it was a rich honey brown and was even further enriched by polyurethane. I can't even remember now what projects I used it on, but I do remember it was beautiful.
both sides of a small but really terrific sample plank contributed by Joe Melton, whom I thank for this and many other contributions. I have seen a good-sized dresser made from similar EB oak and it was absolutely stunning. My color correct is almost perfect but there is just a hint too much orange in the pics.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
plank cut in half --- color is almost correct but the wood actually looks just a little more brown
taken from a centuries-old floor, this piece was sent to me by Iain Rankin, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Iain did not specifically identify it as EB oak, but it was used in England and EB oak is the only oak I'm aware of that turns so dark over time, so I'm pretty sure that's what it is.
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
rift cut veneer with accurate color and obvious ray flakes
rift cut veneer
flat cut veneer and closeup
flat cut veneer
the ebay pics posted by the vendor who sold me most of the sheets directly above. His second pic has too much yellow.
quartersawn veneer
quartersawn veneer with ray flakes
both sides of a sheet of quartersawn veneer with ray flakes. The significantly different appearance of the ray flakes is not because it's a different side of the piece but rather because I took the pics from different angles. Ray flakes and the surrounding wood on quartersawn oak will typically show this kind of extreme color change as you move the piece through different angles to the light.
burl veneer pics submitted by Neal Kuwabara --- the first pic is very well focused but I believe the 2nd one shows the color more accurately. The closeups below show the grain very nicely but have a purple tint.
verious closeups of the burl veneer directly above --- pics submitted by Neal Kuwabara, who does nice pics; both levels of enlargement are available on all of these.
web pics:
planks
a plank with a moistened area
quartersawn flaky veneer --- I had a piece myself that looked almost exactly like the one on the left but I forgot to take a picture of it. Anyway, I can vouch that these two look like real wood for sure because I saw a piece just like them at a wood show --- amazingly long ray flakes and rich honey brown color.
quartersawn veneer
veneer
veneer; all appear to be quartersawn; the color on the 2nd one looks more like bog oak but that's probably just camera carelessness. The 3rd pic looks like the "foxy" veneer shown below, but was not labeled as such and I'm not familiar with "foxy" so can't say for sure. THe last one looks a little too green to me.
veneer, all from the same vendor --- color seems too pink to me, but that's typical of this vendor
veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement --- the colors are too pink
curly veneer
figured veneer
curly veneer
"foxy" veneer
pippy plank
burl turning stock
burl veneer, some in matched pairs
burl veneer from a vendor who typically makes many woods look green whether they are or not
cluster burl veneer
bowl
OK, I did remember one of the projects I used it on. A big chunk of this bowl is made from it. The left front is English Brown Oak and the left rear is Osage Orange. The bottom is, from the left, pau amarello (yellowheart), tulipwood, a thin strip of walnut, and then kingwood which is much prettier than the almost black you see here.
