OAK 



male, C. noir, Durelin, Rovre, Drille or Drillard (Compiegne) 

 and C. blanc (Blasois and the South) (69). In Germany the 

 former is called Stieleiche and Sommereiche : the latter Trau- 

 beneiche and Wintereiche. 



Source of Supply. Europe generally. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 35-53 Ibs. 

 per cu. ft. Hardness Grade 6, compare Walnut or Chestnut. 

 Smell slight or none when dry. Taste astringent. Burns very 

 well : embers glow dully in still air. Solution with water 

 brownish. 



Grain. Very coarse and open. Surface scarcely bright. 



Bark. Of Q. pedunculata silvery, when young, often like 

 dull tin-foil in patches, or lustrous-brown splashed with black : 

 supple : deeply fissured when old, brownish, corky and scaling 

 off in flakes. Of Q. sessiliflora hard, blackish or yellowish to 

 brown, deeply fissured when thick. 



Uses, etc. Ship-building and all purposes where strength, 

 rigidity and durability are needed. All other European woods 

 are mere substitutes (69). Cannot be used in contact with 

 iron as it quickly sets up corrosion. 



Authorities. Mathieu (69), pp. 345, 353. Nordlinger (87), 

 p. 535. Ditto (86), vol. iii, p. 80. Schwartz (106), p. 478. Las- 

 lett (60), pp. 92, 124, 127. Boppe (n), p. 56. Ward (124), p. 136 

 (much information). Westermeier (129), pp. 24, 26. Holtz- 

 apffel (48), p. 95. Hartig(42). Stevenson (113). Wiesner (131). 



Colour. Heart-wood brown, well defined from the light-brown 

 sap-wood, which is from 9-35 rings wide (69). 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. Conspicuous, size i, coarse, much regular variation, 

 diminishing in size to the outer side of the ring. The large 

 pores in a prominent pore-ring 1-4 rows deep, crowded. Small 

 pores arranged in a tree-like manner, or in radial or branched 

 lines or in club-like masses compacted by soft-tissue and even 

 widening to rejoin adjacent masses. Very numerous in the 

 autumn wood. Usually contain thyloses. 



Rays. Conspicuous : of two sizes. The larger, size 2, broad, 

 long, rarely less than i mm. apart : apparently swelling at their 

 junction with the ring-boundaries : tapering both ways event- 

 ually, brown : dense. The small rays very fine, size 6, need 

 lens : avoid the pores slightly : many between each of the larger 

 rays. 



Rings. Very prominent. Boundary, the conspicuous, boldly- 

 contrasted pore-ring against the small-pored, dense Autumn 

 zone : contour undulating. 



Soft-tissue. Imbedding and compacting the pores into 

 the radial or tree-like groups : also in concentric lines alxmt 



225 



