wrote in message
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On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 09:44:09 -0400, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 09:38:20 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

It's hard to explain your experience. There is a thousand years of
boatbuilding experience behind the preference for white oak.
And about the same length of Cooperage experience.

Freshly cut storm-downed live red oak develops fungus on the sapwood
of the cut end within two or three days unless I leave it open to the
breeze to dry. White oak doesn't seem as bad, though I don't have
nearly as much experience with it.

Once the red oak log has dried it's very resistant to rot on the
outside. The cut ends are still somewhat susceptible if they stay wet
for a few days.

Old red oak pallets that I get from the garden center usually have
little or no decay. They stay outdoors in the weather, but stacks of
them dry quickly in the sun.

After standing dead red oaks have shed their bark and dried for a year
or so they remain dry enough inside to split and burn immediately,
even after long storms. Only the first few feet above the ground will
be wet. Perhaps I see the cases where water doesn't have enough time
to soak back in after the wood has dried.

jsw