Castle Howard Arboretum Trust - Furniture Makers Trees

Botanical name: Quercus robur

Family: Fagaceae

Common Name: English Oak, Pedunculate Oak

Habitat and Distribution

A lowland British woodland native found throughout Europe, from N.E. Russia, S.W. Asia, Spain and North Africa. Oak is often the dominant tree on loam and clay soils.

Description

A deciduous tree to 35 metres (115 ft) tall, some ancient specimens have achieved a trunk thickness in excess of 4 metres (13 ft).

A broad, irregularly domed crown above a fissured, often burred trunk. The leaves are dark green, divided into 4-5 wavy lobes on either side of the midrib and with ear like appendages (auricles) at the base. Male flowers, yellow green catkins, are borne in early May; insignificant female flowers give rise to stalked acorns which fall in October.

Timber

Oak is an exceptionally durable, both rot and timber-beetle resistant, by virtue of the tannins (natural disinfectant chemicals) it contains. Tannins react with iron to cause ‘ink stains’, so oak is worked with wooden pegs and brass or non-iron fittings.

The wood is pale yellow to warm, light brown, with translucent, silvery, light reflecting ray markings that are a primary distinguishing feature of oak.

Although trees may live for 1000 years, oak is best harvested at 90-120 years.

Location within the arboretum:

Two mature specimens can be found on the Furniture Makers Walk, you can not miss them, just look for the biggest trees on the walk. Many other mature oaks are to be found throughout the arboretum, many of these are about 300 years old and were planted when the arboretum was part of the original deer park.

Furniture Makers Trees at The Arboretum - Kew at Castle Howard

Uses

For centuries, oak was the most widely used timber for construction, especially where exposed to the ground or the elements (our visors centre and Cruck House have frames made of green oak) and shipbuilding. The Mary Rose (the flagship of Henry VIII) was oak built and the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to America in the oak framed Mayflower.

Before the 1700s, adzed boards were used for chests, tables, benches, chairs and dressers. Later oak was the most commonly used wood for fine and country furniture – often heavily carved. After the 18^th century it was more common ‘in solid’ in country furniture and for the carcasses of veneered cabinet work

‘Brown’ and ‘tiger’ oak, stained or striped brown respectively are used for veneers and inlay, as in 19^th century Tunbridge Ware. Pippy oak is patterned with ‘cat’s paws’ of tiny knots and, if the pipping is excessive, it is called burr oak; both are very valuable as rotary cut veneers.

Oak has traditionally been used to make casks in which wines and spirits are matured.

Oak was often coppiced and the shoots used for stakes or in the production of charcoal.

The bark was valued by the leather tanning industry for its high tannin content. The bark would also yield a brown dye, and oak galls gave the strong black dye from which ink was made.

A tonic, derived from boiling the bark, was used to treat harness sores on horses.

Acorns were formerly used to feed pigs.