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 was 

 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 experimenting the 

 first settlers did before they learned the 

 value of white oak as a container for 

 liquors is not known, but they were early 

 in possession of the knowledge and made 

 practical use of it. Various 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 

 experienced men declared years before 

 the beginning of the nineteenth century 

 that the supply could not last much 

 longer. A New York trade committee 

 in 1795 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. 

 In 1713 an export duty of $7.50 per 1,000 was laid on 

 pipes and $5 on hogsheads. Four years later the duty 

 v/as taken off, but was replaced in 1743 and remained 

 until the Revolution. 



Oak barrels at the present day frequently cross the 

 ocean more than once. Some go to Russia where they 

 are used as containers of oil, and these never come back. 

 Others carry liquors to France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, 

 and even Arabia. After they are emptied of their con- 

 tents, they are refilled with wines of those countries and 

 returned to America. When they have been emptied 

 of their wines in this country they are frequently filled 

 with vinegar and shipped once more. English ale is 

 often shipped in American barrels. 



White oak wood absorbs a considerable amount of the 

 spiritous liquors in the barrels. When they are emptied 

 it is found profitable to drive the alcohol from the wood 

 in a specially constructed distillery where hot steam is 

 the agent. The alcohol thus obtained is of high grade, 

 worth $100 a barrel. A single distillery in New Jersey 



VEHICLES AND VEHICLE PARTS 



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

 oak being employed in about equal proportion. 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. 



is said to pass 250 old whiskey barrels a day through the 

 hot steam process. 



Barrels for alcoholic liquors are not the only white 

 cak output of cooperage shops. Pork, oil. molasses, and 

 many other kinds of barrels are manufactured. Some of 

 these do not require the highest grade of oak, and staves 

 of other kinds of wood are in use. The principal 

 advantage of white oak over other woods, in addition to 

 its strength, is that the wood is dense and seepage through 

 the pores of the wood is very small. Barrels of a cer- 

 tain wood may hold one liquid with little leakage, and 

 be entirely unfit for others. The dense summer wood, 

 which forms a large part of the annual rings of growth 

 of white oak, is the part of the wood which makes it 

 exceptionally valuable for tight cooperage. The liquids 

 can not seep through. 



Small oak staves in early times were made into numer- 

 ous vessels other than barrels, such as tubs, kegs, churns, 

 and well buckets. The latter use was common. A 

 bucket of that kind dips easily on account of its weight. 

 "The Old Oaken Bucket," of Samuel Woodworth's well- 



