COMMERCIAL USES OF WHITE OAK 



trade was small in the first years, but it 

 was one of the largest items in the earli- 

 est commerce. It was a peculiar circum- 

 stance that while rough lumber was go- 

 ing from American to England, dressed, 

 cut, and fitted material for houses wa? 

 occasionally shipped from England to 

 America, accompanied by carpenters to 

 put the material together upon arrival 

 here. Some houses of that kind were 

 built in Maryland. 



Tight cooperage staves, which were 

 nearly always of white oak, were among 

 the first forest products of the United 

 States. How much e.\i)erimenting the 

 first settlers did before they learned the 

 value of white oak as a container for 

 liquors is not known, bur they were early 

 in possession of the knowledge and made 

 practical use of it. \^arious commodi- 

 ties were stored and shipped in the bar- 

 rels made of American white oak, but 

 some of the best of the wood was for 

 the fine wines of the Canary Islands. 

 The claim was then made and has since 

 been often insisted upon that the wine 

 was improved by long storage in oak 

 casks. The users of barrels strongly in- 

 sisted on having white oak, and the drain 

 on convenient supplies was so heavy that 

 exjierienced men declared years before 

 the beginning of the nineteenth century 

 that the supply could not last much 

 longer. A New York trade committee 

 in 1T9.5 suggested reforesting old fields 

 to provide oak for the future. Long be- 

 fore that time measures had been taken 



in New Jersey looking to the regulation of the stave trade, is said to pass 250 old whiskey barrels a day through the 

 In 1713 an export duty of $7.50 per 1,000 was laid on hot steam process. 



pipes and $5 on hogsheads. Four years later the dutv Barrels for alcoholic liquors are not the only white 



was taken off, but was replaced in 1743 and remained cak output of cooperage shops. Pork, oil, molasses, and 

 until the Revolution. many other kinds of barrels are manufactured. Some of 



Oak barrels at the present day frequently cross the these do not require the highest grade of oak. and staves 

 ocean more than once. Some go to Russia where they of other kinds of wood are in use. The principal 

 are used as containers of oil, and these never come back, advantage of white oak over other woods, in addition to 

 Others carry liquors to France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, its strength, is that the wood is dense and seepage through 

 and e\en Arabia. After they are emptied of their con- the pores of the wood is very small. Barrels of a cer- 

 tents, they are refilled with wines of those countries and tain wood may hold one liquid with little leakage, and 

 returned to America. When they have been emptied be entirely unfit for others. The dense summer wood, 

 of their wines in this country they are frequently filled which forms a large part of the annual rings of growth 

 with vinegar and shipped once more. English ale is of white oak, is the i)art of the wood which makes it 

 often shipped in American barrels. exceptionally valuable for tight cooperage. The liquids 



White oak wood absorbs a considerable amount of the can not seep through, 

 spiritous liquors in the barrels. When they are emptied Small oak staves in early times were made into numer- 



it is found profitable to drive the alcohol from the wood ous vessels other than barrels, such as tubs, kegs, churns, 

 in a specially constructed distillery where hot steam is and well buckets. The latter use was common. A 

 the agent. The alcohol thus obtained is of high grade, bucket of that kind dips easily on account of its weight, 

 worth $100 a barrel. A single distillery in New Jersey "The (Jld Oaken Bucket." of Samuel Woodworth's well- 



VEHICLES AND VEHICLE PARTS 



Oak stands second in importance among the woods used for this industry, red and white 

 oatc being employed in about equal jiroportion. White oak enters into the manufacture 

 of vehicle body frames and gear parts. The photograph shows oak spokes piled for 

 seasoning in the plant of a large spoke and hub manufacturer. 



