8 Amazing Facts About Oak Furniture

Oak furniture is a highly popular variety of hardwood furniture that is a staple in homes across the world. With oak all over our homes and workplaces, it is surprising then that most of us know very little about it, other than, of course, that it comes from venerable oak trees.

This page will tell you eight amazing (and interesting) facts about oak furniture that you may not have known. Oak furniture goes with absolutely everything, so if you are looking for a variety of wood to use in your home decorations, then oak may well be what you are looking for. Here are eight amazing facts about oak furniture that you may not have known.

Reclaimed

Many pieces of oak furniture, you may be surprised to find out, are reclaimed. Reclaimed wood is a timber that has been used for building structures in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-century being reused to create awesomely and one-of-a-kind pieces of custom furniture. The oak furniture manufacturers and retailers of www.onlyoakfurniture.co.uk are an example of a company who specializes in reclaimed wood furniture, and there are many others like them. Reclaimed wood is fantastic as it gives the wood a second chance and a second life as something that can be loved and cherished as part of a family home many, many years to come.

Density

Oak furniture is very dense, with a density of 0.75 g/cc, whereas comparatively, pinewood boasts a meager 0.43 g/cc. It is this density that makes it so durable, tough, and resistant to fungal spores and mold, thus why it is so popular in furniture making. It has been used for these reasons for thousands of years, as it can withstand virtually anything, and was the most often used wood for European furniture for many hundreds of years. Oak furniture is tough and durable and is definitely something you need in your home if you have rambunctious children and pets bounding around destroying everything!

Symbolism

The oak tree is symbolic across the world. It is the national tree of England and was used in the construction of its Houses of Parliament. The Conservative Party of the United Kingdom also uses it as a symbol, and it is significant all across Europe also. The oak tree has long been a sacred tree, going all the way back to ancient Greece, where it was Zeus’ favored plant and Jupiter’s from Roman mythology. It is said in folkloric tales that Zeus’s voice can be heard between the rustling of leaves in Dodona’s oak trees during stormy weather.

Location

The oak tree can be found everywhere, hence why it is so popular in furniture all across the globe. The oak tree grows in England and North Africa, to show the huge differences in location, and is a tree that is universally cherished and revered.

Location

The oak tree is a tree that is universally recognizable and associated with mysticism and esoteric religions all around the world and in every corner of it.

Age

The Jurupa Oak colony in California is said to be the world’s oldest living organism and plant, with an astounding age of thirteen-thousand years. This tree belongs to the Quercus Palmieri species of oak, which re-sprouts from damaged limbs and stems, meaning that it is in a state of constant regeneration.

Acorns

Oak furniture is so expensive because of the length of time it takes for an oak tree to produce an acorn. It can take up to fifty years for an oak tree to produce its first acorn, and only one in ten thousand acorns will develop into a large oak tree.

Lifespan

Oak trees are suggested to survive for a period of more than two hundred years. There is an oak tree in England that was planted during the reign of King John that lived for nearly a thousand years, and there is a tree in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, that is said to be over a thousand years old and once housed Robin Hood and his team of bandits. Oak trees grow to be insanely large, and owing to their size and length of life, are highly revered.

Price

Every homeowner knows that oak furniture is incredibly expensive. The most expensive oak tree, however, is the bog oak, which is the most salvaged species of oak and is in extremely short supply, as they are beginning to fossilize as you currently read this. Prices can go well into the thousands, sometimes far more than that.

Now you know eight interesting facts about the oak tree. The oak tree is one of our most favored and spoken of trees and is something we must revere and cherish. Hopefully, you have learned a little more about oak now!