Reply To: Sapwood for external door

Hello

I will give you my view on the matter from my perspective.
I am an apprentice in wooden boat building and before my apprenticeship I was 2 years in a wooden boat building school.

In boat building oak is considered to be very good, it is strong, rot resistant and is easy to steam bend.
However the sapwood is A LOT more prone to rot, much less stable, generally soft and it is not unusual that parts of it just pulverizes if you poke around in it. Therefore no sapwood of oak whatsoever is allowed in a boat.

From the 2 pictures of the end grain it looks like they consist of about 80% sapwood.

I am not a joiner or cabinet maker and thus do not have any experience in making doors for houses but if I had that material you showed I would certainly not use it for anything outside, in fact it would most likely end up in my firewood pile.

Sorry if I spoil it for you, good luck tho, I hope you can get some other better pieces

Just my 2 cents