Red Oak Thin Stock Lumber - Rift and Quarter Sawn
Discover the most beautiful red oak lumber available! North Castle Hardwoods’ rift and quartered red oak was developed to meet the standards of Japanese luxury furniture manufacturers. Now we’re delighted to offer this unique product to the US market, as a great alternative to white oak.
What You Need to Know About Our Red Oak Thin Stock Lumber
Our rift and quarter-sawn red oak lumber is available in thin-cut dimensioned boards – plus standard and thick stock lumber. The thin stock is surfaced on 4 sides and is ready to use in a variety of architectural and woodworking applications.
You can get our premium red oak wood boards surfaced to thicknesses of 1/8, 1/4", and 1/2" and dimensioned to lengths from 12” to 48”. These boards are kiln-dried to an exact moisture content to ensure the best possible performance.
Common Uses For Red Oak Thin Stock Lumber
Rift and quartered lumber is incredibly stable, and any movement happens along the thickness, not the width of the grain. This means that finished products made with it aren’t likely to cup or warp with humidity changes.
Our thin red oak boards are great for sign-making, scroll saw work, and crafts like box making and intarsia. It can be used for molding, thin veneer, stair parts, and furniture or cabinet repair. Red oak has an open grain, so it’s best for indoor applications. It machines very well and takes glue without issues.
Weighing about 3.7 pounds per board foot, kiln-dried red oak is moderately dense and heavy. It has a Janka hardness rating of 220-1290 pounds per square foot, making it one of the sturdiest North American hardwoods.
Other Names for Red Oak Lumber
Our red oak lumber comes from the Northern Red Oak tree (Quercus rubra). Big box stores may include southern red oak, pin oak, or black oak under the “red oak” label, but you won’t find anything but genuine Northern Red Oak sold at North Castle Hardwoods. In fact, only a small percentage of Northern Red Oak logs meet our meticulous grading standards. We call this signature product “TRQ oak.”
Where We Source Our Red Oak Thin Stock Lumber
The Northern red oak logs we select for our rift and quartered lumber come only from select growing regions in the Great Lakes region. We developed propriety sawing methods for this product, working closely with family-owned sawmills in the Midwest.
This careful selection and production process gives our red oak a light, bright color, and amazing color consistency. It looks stunning with a natural oil finish, rivaling white oak. But it also stains evenly.
Rift and quartered red oak has a distinct straight grain. It may show some ray patterns. We typically sell rift-sawn and quarter-sawn red oak lumber together, but if you have a preference for one sawing pattern over another, please contact us for a consultation.
