Hi, I love this place, lot's of good information.

Anyway, in January I'm starting my first flooring project. I'm buying 3/4" solid rift cut oak from a local mill. I was going to get red oak because you see it a lot, but started wondering about white oak.

Can anybody tell me why the predominance of red over white, or maybe it's my imagination? And which do you prefer and why?

My choice for the rift cut is because I want a more contemporary look and definitely not a "country" look with all that cathedral grain.

Thanks! Carole

The predominence of red over white is mostly a combination of regional preference, and supply.
The major diference between the two woods as far as flooring is concerned is when the lumber is being kiln dried, the pores of red oak drain, leaving microscopic holes which subsequently get filled during finishing. White oak on the other hand has a resin that stays in the wood during the drying process. A very minor difference at the end of the day, although traditionally the furniture industry preferred white oak since it does present a slightly smoother appearance.
Be aware however, that white oak should not be finished with a clear coat if using water-based urethanes. The resin will react and give the floor a slightly greenish cast. This is not an issue if staining the floor, however.
Choosing rift sawn material is a good choice, especially in areas with large humidity swings; since it is more stable than flain (plain) sawn.

Gotta love a white oak floor with an oil based sealer/finish. It just becomes a gorgeous golden color over time. Red oak ....too common, just my preference.

....and Dennis if I haven't mentioned it. Thanks for participating. Happy to have your knowledge on board

Wow, didn't know that. My plan is to use Waterlox Satin finish. But I'm going to do a test to see how it looks first.

Any opinions on Waterlox?

clg7067,

Here is a white oak floor we recently installed, sanded and finished. White oak is still very popular around here and we like finishing it. We ordered this flooring in extra long lengths.

This finish is one coat of Polo Plaz Fast Dry sanding sealer and two coats of Polo Plaz oil poly.

Your rift sawn flooring will look great and Waterlox does look good on white oak.

Wow, that's beautiful, even though it's not rift cut. Yep, I definitely what that now.

White oak is very slightly harder and around here, slightly less money than red oak. Quartersawn white oak was the wood of choice at the turn of the 1900's. High end Craftsman styled homes used it and furniture designers fumed it. Stickley furniture used it quite a bit. The art deco movement saw it slowly fall out of favor. It was used quite a lot in flooring in the early 1900's. But with track housing after WW11, red oak was used much more. I suspect it was due to red oak being more plentiful. Those early track builders rarely cared which it was, they only cared about cost. I find that in quarter and rift sawn, the "fleck" is more pronounced in white oak then in red. Dennis is right about the color and one usually needs to stain white oak or at least, use a solvent sealer to get an acceptable color. Personally, I do not care for the greenish-grey cast of white oak done in a natural solvent based finish. I prefer to warm up the wood with a thinned out stain mix of cherry and golden. I cut the mixture quite a bit so as not to color the wood too much. But it neutralizes the greenish gray color somewhat. BTW, Waterlox is just ok in my book. Easy to apply and repair, looks pretty good as well. However, it is expensive, not very durable and smells really bad.

I've been reading old messages about Waterlox and found out about the smell factor. I do see on their website there's a special VOC version for a LOT more money. But Waterlox seems to be a popular option with DIYers currently, for some reason.

I'm open to other options. I saw a recommendation for Sutherland Welles and started reading about that stuff. I don't want to just use a plastic coating and want something that I can easily touch up traffic areas.

I'll start reading more old posts if nobody has an opinion.

Carole

The VOC version smells WORSE. I know, I'm using it on a job right now. You will need a respirator.

Here is a good finish system that has no plastic coating. It has very low sheen, very little smell, buffs on and off. With some woods it can be finished with one coat. It can be used to touch up worn areas by just wipeing more oil on and off and larger worn areas just buff it on and off again.

We have not used it on white oak. We have used it on antique heart pine, old growth new pine, brizilian cherry and brizilian walnut.
It's called Woodcare high solids master oil and is from Denmark. It was once called Trip Trap.

Here is a link for info:
www.specialhardwood.com

The photo below shows an old growth new pine floor finished with this oil.

All white oak select shown in these showroom pics. Product was Owens engineered with an oil sealer and two water based coat finishes.

http://www.bonitafloors.com/showroom.htm

Beautiful sanding job on that pine, Buddy. Wish I could do that, lol.
And thanks for your earlier comment Ken.

I think the suggestions about using a oil sealer on top of the white oak, followed by water-based urethane will acheive the desired results without a plastic look. My own preference is to use a laquer sealer followed by two coats of Street-shoe.
Our usual procedure is two coats of emulsion followed by the street-shoe, for all other woods than white oak.