5 interesting facts about oak beams

Here at Traditional Beams, our oak beams are our pride and joy. They were our first product range and helped us to build a solid brand, known for quality and style.

In celebration of our beautiful oak beams, we thought we’d share 5 fascinating facts with you about our oak beams and the wonderful wood they’re crafted from.

1) Oak beams are just one of hundreds of ways oak is used – did you know oak bark may have medicinal properties?

Oak bark has been used as an herbal remedy to treat a wide range of illnesses including eczema, fever and even arthritis.

A quick ‘google’ brings up lots of companies selling oak bark tea, claiming that it can be used for everything from the common cold to improving digestion.

However, before you go out and start scraping bark off an oak tree, it’s important to note that there don’t seem to be many (if any) human-based studies saying that using oak bark to treat illnesses is effective or safe.

2) That dry-mouth feel when you drink wine – some of that comes from oak

As well as the grape skin, seeds and stems, tannins (which give the wine a dry-mouth feel) can come from the oak barrels used in the ageing of some wines.

So next time you take a sip of your favourite wine, you could be experiencing some lovely oaky effects in your mouth.

3) Some people even eat the acorns – but they can be toxic if not properly prepared!

Acorns are essentially the nut of oak trees. While they can technically be roasted and eaten whole or ground and made into a flour, they contain lots of bitter tannins that can make you very ill, so they must be prepared properly – best to leave this one to the experts!

4) Oak has been used to build everything from houses to ships

Oak is an extremely durable and hard-wearing wood. In fact, in Latin, oak is known as ‘quercus robur’, meaning strength. This means that if you want to build something to last (like our oak beams), you use oak.

Houses built with oak in the 16th century are still going strong all these years later. Interestingly, as oak ages, it gets even stronger.

5) Our oak beams come from sustainable, managed woodland

We feel very passionately that all of our oak beams should only come from sustainable woodland, so much so that we source and import the timber ourselves.

Taking this extra time ensures that the oak beams our customers receive are both sustainable and of excellent quality.

We are processing orders as normal during the coronavirus pandemic, so you can order oak beams from the comfort of your own home.

Until next time, stay safe and stay home.