WOOD RESEARCH Volume 63, Number 6, 2018
Diaz-Maroto I.J. and Tahir S.

Testing of wood physical properties in oak species (Quercus robur L., Q. petraea (matts) liebl. and Q. pyrenaica willd.) for cooperage. Part II: Wood grain

Our research about wood physical properties of Quercus robur L., Q. petraea (Matts) Liebl., and Q. pyrenaica Willd., for cooperage was founded on the calculate of wood grain to estimate the change of this property in the Galician oaks. Overall, 45 trees were selected in 15 oak forests of the provinces of Lugo and Ourense (Galicia, NW Spain), of which we obtained 45 thin slices of wood at 60 cm tall on the trunk, and 194 wood samples parallelepipeds of 2 × 2 × 4 cm ± 1mm. The grain of Quercus pyrenaica and Q. robur are similar to oaks Limousin region, France. Quercus petraea is comparable to the Vosges oaks. Now, both regions are among the most important sources in quality oaks for manufacturing barrels. Our global objective was to realize a detailed description on the physical properties of wood of these species for its possible use in industry cooperage. For this, the aim of this second work was to continue with the study of wood grain.

WOOD RESEARCH Volume 64, Number 5, 2019
Ignacio Javier Diaz-Maroto and Sylvain Tahir

Test of wood properties in oak species (Quercus robur L., Quercus petraea (Matts) Liebl. and Quercus pyrenaica willd.) for wine aging. Part III: Porosity versus void ratio

The study on wood physical properties of Quercus robur L., Quercus petraea (Matts) Liebl., and Quercus pyrenaica Willd., to use in wine aging was also founded on the relationship between porosity and void ratio to assess its variation in the oak species under study. A total of 45 oak trees were chosen in 15 oak stands of the Lugo and Ourense provinces (Galicia, northwestern Iberian Peninsula). Altogether, were obtained forty-five fine slices of wood at 60 cm tall on the trunk, and 194 wood test specimens’ parallelepipeds of 20 × 20 × 40 mm ± 1mm. On average, oak species in Galicia have lower porosity than oaks of the French regions of Limousin and Vosges. With a width of growth ring and age similar, Quercus pyrenaica has porosity slightly lower than Q. robur and Q. petraea. Our objective is to carry out a complete description on the wood physical properties of the studied species for its possible use in the cooperage industry and wine aging. For that, the aim of this work was to estimate the porosity versus the void ratio.