is often associated with solid and massive, dark stained furniture from the 1970s? Furniture factory Oisterwijk has become a household name in the Netherlands.
Treated with natural oil or wax, oak gets a beautiful golden yellow color. I used oak for the seats of my bar stools.
Oak can be recognized by the “flames” that appear when you cut an oak log precisely in half lengthwise. The trade term for this is “mirrors” . These are found in all wood species, but in oak they are large and highly visible.
Oak, like walnut and chestnut, naturally contains tannic acid as a protection against fungi and insects. This makes it suitable for outdoor applications. But you have to be careful with nails and screws. When these start to rust, black spots appear in the wood that are very difficult to remove. Therefor it is better to use stainless steel or specially coated screws when mounting oak wood.
You can also make use of oak discoloration. With 0000-steel wool and kitchen vinegar you prepare an iron(III)acetate solution. When you smear this on oak it reacts with tannic acid and as a consequence the wood color changes from light brown to blue-black before your eyes. This process is called ebonizing. In earlier days it was done to make the cheaper aok like the precious ebony.
I made the frame around this painting from ebonized oak.