Ever wondered what makes oak wood a favorite for furniture makers and homeowners alike? Dive in to unravel the secrets of its coveted strength and elegance!
Oak wood is commonly used in making furniture, cabinetry, and flooring because of its high durability and excellent workability. It is a popular wood among woodworkers.
When it comes to woodworking with Oakwood, I was curious about its strength when making heavy-duty furniture.
So, I did some research about it with the help of experts and professionals. Finally, I was able to find lots of useful info about the strength of oak wood.
So, let’s find out, Is Oak wood strong?
Yes, oak wood is strong, durable, and heavy, making it a popular choice for furniture and flooring. It boasts a high level of wear resistance, offering longevity in various applications. Oak’s strength is complemented by its aesthetic appeal, showcasing a prominent grain and attractive natural colors.
But there’s a lot more to know about the strength of Oak wood.
In this article, I’ll explore whether is Oak wood strong, how strong Oak wood is compared to other woods, whether is Oak strong for furniture, bending, and outdoor use, and much more.
Furthermore, I’ll answer some frequently asked questions as well.
Let’s dig in!
How Strong Is Oak Wood?
Oak is stronger, more durable, and resistant to wear and dent than many other kinds of wood. It is a quality hardwood you can buy for a cheap price point.
Oak is typically stronger than many softwoods and some hardwoods as well.
There’re main two variants of the Oak wood family. But they are quite different in terms of their strength.
White Oak is relatively stronger, harder, and more durable than Red Oak.
In order to get a better understanding about the Red Oak and White Oak, you should definitely need to watch some proven scientific values.
The compressive strength and bending strengths of White Oak and Red Oak are as follows.
| Wood Type | Compressive Strength | Bending Strength |
| White Oak | 7,440 psi | 15,200 psi |
| Red Oak | 6,760 psi | 14,300 psi |
As you can see both Red Oak and White Oak has some exceptional strengths in compression and bending which are quite useful for many different woodworking projects.
There’s around a 1000 psi difference in compression and bending strengths between White Oak and Red Oak.
Therefore, White Oak is a better choice for your projects in terms of its strength than Red Oak.
The strength of Oak not only depends on its compressive and bending strength. There’re some other factors as well.
Here are several factors that help you to decide how strong Oak wood is,
- Density
- Hardness
- Stiffness
So, let’s find out the values of each of the above factors to decide how strong is Oak.
| Wood Type | Density | Stiffness |
| White Oak | 0.68 kg/m3 | 1.78 Mpsi |
| Red Oak | 0.63 kg/m3 | 1.82 Mpsi |
As you can see Oak wood has significantly high densities and stiffness which makes it stronger, heavier, and more durable compared to other woods.
When we look at the compressive strengths of popular woods, Oak wood is stronger than Alder, Aspen, Beech, Butternut, Poplar, and Sweetgum.
When it comes to bending strengths, Oak wood is stronger than Alder, Aspen, Basswood, Chestnut, Elm, Cherry, Soft Maple, Poplar, Cypress, and Pine.
Overall Oak wood is a superior wood with excellent strength and dimensional stability which is helpful literally for any woodworking project.
Let’s have a look at whether Oak wood is strong enough for furniture,
Is Oak Wood Strong For Furniture?
Oak wood is strong enough for making furniture. You can use Oakwood to make large and small furniture as you wish without worrying about its strength.
Oak wood has excellent strength for furniture which is helpful to live a long time with great stability.
Even with little maintenance, Oak wood furniture will last forever.
But I highly recommend you finish Oak wood furniture with a proper sealant like lacquer or varnish.
Plus, Oak wood is considerably cheaper than other hardwoods in the family.
This makes the wood affordable, and you’ll be able to experience the excellent strength of Oak wood for a reasonable price.
Oak wood can be used for both indoor and outdoor furniture since it has excellent weather resistance that helps to withstand temperature fluctuations, moisture, and weather elements.
But applying a proper sealant is a must especially for Red Oak since it tends to rot under high moisture and harsh environment. White Oak has moderate resistance to rotting.
Read to know, How to finish oak wood with Danish oil.
But British and European Oak has excellent resistance to rotting and decaying.
White Oak is a stronger, and more durable wood for outdoor furniture since it has better weather resistance than Red Oak.
Oak wood has excellent workability apart from being hardwood and you can make furniture using both hand tools and power tools quite easily.
Therefore, even a beginner in woodworking can try to make strong furniture using Oak wood.
Oak wood is easy to shape, screw, nail, and drill. Therefore, it can be used for wood carving furniture projects as well.
Here’re some examples of Oak wood furniture,
- Cabinets
- Doors
- Tables
- Chairs
- Desktops
- Drawers
- Panels
- Bed frames
- Bookshelves
Here’re some advantages and disadvantages of using Oak wood for furniture.
Pros And Cons Of Oak wood For Furniture
| Pros | Cons |
| High strength | Need light sanding |
| High dimensional stability | Dent and scratch easily |
| High durability | Darkens with age |
| High weather resistance | Susceptible to insect attacks |
| Easy to work with | |
| Easy to finish | |
| Need little maintenance | |
| Inexpensive |
As you can see, you’ll be able to get lots of benefits from using Oak wood for making furniture with great strength.
Is Oak Wood Strong Enough to Bend?
Yes, Oak wood is strong enough to bend. Oak wood has high bending strength which can bend easily by steaming or by softening . It won’t crack or break quite easily.
Oak wood has excellent hardness and flexibility. Therefore, it won’t tear, crack, warp or split upon bending.
The bending strengths of Red Oak and White Oak are as follows,
- Red Oak has bending strength of 14,300 psi
- White Oak has bending strength of 15,200 psi
First, you need to steam Oak wood for 75 to 90 minutes per inch and do the bending using the correct techniques.
When you’re bending the wood, you’ll notice Oak wood is remarkably strong and won’t crack. Better to go for woods with fewer knots when bending.
Bended Oak wood has great strength which can be used for many applications such as,
- Making boats
- Making hockey sticks
- Musical instruments
- Tools
- Athletic sticks
- Furniture making
With proper staining and sealing Oak wood bending applications will last forever.
Is Oak Strong Enough For Cutting Boards?
Oak wood is strong enough for cutting boards since it is strong, dense, and hard. You can make strong cutting boards using Oak wood.
Because of being a hardwood with high density and hardness Oakwood can withstand sharp knife edges without damaging the wood surface.
Cutting boards made with Oak wood are significantly more durable and heavier than softwood cutting boards.
But because of having an open porous grain structure, there is a possibility of bacterial growth inside Oakwood cutting boards.
Food particles can trap inside the open porous structure of Oak wood and eventually bacteria tend to grow inside those pores.
In order to prevent that, you should seal Oakwood cutting boards before using a food-safe oil like linseed oil or walnut oil to seal the Oakwood surface by preventing foot particles from trapping inside of the wood.
Other than that, Oak wood is great for making cutting boards. You can use them in moisture conditions with no issues due to the excellent water resistance of Oak wood.
Plus, Oak wood cutting boards will last for so long due to their excellent strength and dimensional stability.
Is Oak Wood Strong For Outdoors?
Both Red Oak and White Oak are strong enough for outdoor applications.
Oakwood can withstand outdoor elements such as moisture, temperature fluctuations, and weather elements.
Read to know how to protect oak wood furniture from outdoor elements.
But applying a proper stain and sealant before keeping Oak wood outside is a must since under extreme weather conditions moisture may penetrate inside of the wood and cause wood to rot.
Don’t worry! Oak wood is easy to stain and finish.
Once the wood starts to rot, there’s no point in applying a sealer above the surface since the rotting process will continue from the wood inside.
In those cases, you should restore wood by removing the rotted area and applying a quality product like Flex Seal to stop the wood from rotting further.
Generally, White Oak is stronger than Red Oak for outdoors since it is denser, tougher, stiffer, and heavier.
Plus, White Oak has a tighter grain and lack of pores which is great to get protected from moisture and water damage. These qualities make White Oak strong enough for outdoor use.
Both Red Oak and White Oak cannot withstand UV light which can damage the wood and cause wood splitting and cracking.
By applying a sealant with anti-UV agents, they’ll absorb UV light and stop them from damaging the wood, and protects the wood for a long time.
The other drawback of using Oak wood outdoors is they tend to darken with age, especially under direct sunlight.
Sunlight turns Oakwood into darker color. You can minimize this effect by applying a proper sealer. Or by placing Oak wood outdoor furniture under a shade.
Overall, Oak wood is one of the best and strongest wood for any outdoor use.
Just need a quality sealant and good maintenance to keep the outdoor furniture forever.
What Is the Strongest Oak Wood?
White Oak is the strongest Oak wood. It is stronger, heavier, denser, more durable, and more stable than the Red Oak.
White Oak is strong in terms of,
- Compressive strength with 7,440 psi
- Bending strength with 15,200 psi
- Stiffness with 1.78 Mpsi
- Hardness with 1,360 lbf (6,050 N)
So, that’s it, folks! Hope you have gained a clear understanding of, whether is Oak wood strong and how its strength is important in various woodworking projects.
Let’s compare strength of oak wood with some other popular wood types.
Is Oak Stronger Than Poplar?
Yes, Oak is stronger than Poplar. Both White Oak and Red Oak are stronger, denser, and harder than Poplar.
Even though Poplar and Oak both come from the same hardwood family, Poplar can be easily replaced by Oak wood in terms of their strength and durability.
The compressive strength of Poplar is 5,540 psi and the compressive strength of Red Oak is 6,760 psi and 7,440 psi which are significantly higher than the strength of Poplar.
When it comes to hardness, the Janka hardness ratings of Oak and Poplar are as follows,
| Wood Type | Hardness |
| Popular | 540 lbf |
| Red Oak | 1,290 lbf |
| White Oak | 1,360 lbf |
As you can see Oak wood is more than two times harder than Poplar which makes it extra special for any project.
Is Oak Stronger Than Pine?
Oak wood is stronger, harder, and denser than Pinewood. But Yellow Pine is stronger than Oak wood. Sugar Pine and White Pine are weaker and softer than both Red Oak and White Oak.
Pine is a softwood and Oak wood is a hardwood with a tight grain fiber structure which makes it more stable and more durable than Pine. But Yellow Pine is exceptional.
The compressive strengths of Oakwood and Pine wood are as follows,
- Red Oak – 6,760 psi
- White Oak – 7,440 psi
- Sugar Pine – 4,460 psi
- White Pine – 4,800 psi
- Yellow Pine – 8,470 psi
As you can see yellow Pine is excellent in terms of its strength. But Oak woods are hardwoods with overall higher qualities than yellow Pine.
Is Oak Stronger Than Maple
Oak and Maple both have similar strengths. Hard Maple and Soft Maple have an almost similar hardness to Red Oak and White Oak it is hard to tell which one is stronger.
The compressive strengths of Oak wood and Pine wood are as follows,
- Red Oak – 6,760 psi
- White Oak – 7,440 psi
- Hard Maple – 7,830 psi
- Soft Maple – 6,540 psi
Is Oak Stronger Than Birch?
Birch is slightly stronger than Oak. Both Red Oak and White Oak are slightly softer but have an almost similar hardness to Birch.
Oak and Birch both come from the hardwood family.
The compressive strengths of Oak wood and Birch wood are as follows,
- Red Oak – 6,760 psi
- White Oak – 7,440 psi
- Birch – 8,170 psi
Is Oak Stronger Than Hickory?
Hickory is stronger than Oak. Hickory is considered one of the strongest hardwoods on the planet.
Even though both Oak and Hickory come from the same hardwood family, you can easily replace Oak wood with Hickory in terms of their strength and hardness.
The compressive strengths of Oak wood and Pine wood are as follows,
- Red Oak – 6,760 psi
- White Oak – 7,440 psi
- Hickory – 9,210 psi
Let’s answer some frequently asked questions.
FAQs
Is oak wood durable?
Yes, oak wood is known for its durability. It’s a strong, heavy, and long-lasting material that resists wear and tear, making it suitable for furniture, flooring, and various other applications.
Can oak wood resist water and moisture?
White oak has small pores making it more water-resistant than red oak, which has larger pores that absorb water. Therefore, white oak is often the preferred choice for applications involving contact with water.
Is oak wood prone to termite attacks?
Both red and white oak have less resistance to termites. To mitigate this, preventive treatments and regular inspections are recommended to keep these pests at bay.
How does oak wood fare against fungal attacks?
Oak wood is resistant to fungal attacks due to its dense constitution. This natural resistance is one of the factors contributing to its popularity in furniture and construction.
Does oak wood require a lot of maintenance?
Oak wood requires low maintenance and is easy to clean. Regular dusting and occasional wiping with a wet cloth can help maintain its appearance and durability.
Is oak wood expensive?
Oak is generally less expensive compared to other hardwoods, making it a popular choice for those seeking durability and strength without breaking the bank.
Can oak wood be used in modern interior designs?
Oak wood is often associated with traditional or rustic styles, and may not seamlessly fit into modern contemporary interior styles.
Does oak wood have a distinct odor?
Yes, oak wood has a peculiar smell, common to all oak species, adding to the sensory experience of the material.
Is oak wood easy to work with for carpenters?
Oak wood is valued for its workability. Carpenters can easily shape and carve it, and it also responds well to both hand tools and machinery.
How does oak wood compare to other woods like maple and pine in terms of strength?
Oak wood is generally stronger than pine but can be slightly weaker than hard maple and birch, and less strong than hickory, offering a balance of strength and workability.
Did I cover all you wanted to know about: Is Oak Wood Strong?
In this article, I have deeply discussed, whether is Oak wood strong, how strong Oak wood is compared to other popular wood types, how the strength of Oak wood is useful in various projects, and a lot more.
Oak wood is a strong wood with a compressive strength of 7,440 lbf and a bending strength of 15,200 lbf. Oak wood is a tighter grain hardwood with high density and high durability. Because of having good strength Oak wood can carry a lot of weight and stress without losing its stability.
Furthermore, I’ve answered some frequently asked questions as well.
Hope you have gained good knowledge about, whether is Oak wood strong with lots of details.
Try to use Oak wood for your next woodworking project and experience how strong it is. Happy woodworking with Oak!
