According to the book...

There are 19 different species of oak growing in Arkansas according to the book Trees of Arkansas written by Dwight Moore and published by the Arkansas Forestry Commission. Among these are two distinct families divided according to the types of wood inside and grain patterns revealed by the leaves: Red and White. Both are valuable lumber types with the reds being quickly emergent in a disturbed forest, and the whites associated with old growth and a more mature forest. You can tell uncut trees apart by the patterns of the leaf, with the reds being associated with pointy leaf shapes and the whites generally more rounded.

When you get inside the tree, at its heart, in the wood that's when things tend to matter most. Both red and white are strong, but because of the open grain, the red oak species are less likely to endure under exterior circumstances.  It doesn't age as well and that's why white oak lasts so well in the making of barrels for whiskey and wine. That and its slow growth led it to have been stripped from our local forests. A good white oak log cut into lumber is so good for so many things. It's the closed grain and lovely color that seem to count.

We have been losing a few trees of late. Their leaves and branches seek the light and they've grown large into the empty sky above the house. We're on a tree a year plan in their removal with more lumber than I'll ever have time for waiting and drying in stacks in the barn. I'm a lucky man, for if you have a much wood as you can ever use, you'll not run out. And what more can I say? The walnut and white oak box is one I made last week and will be featured in an article in Popular Woodworking.

Make, fix and create.