by Professor Gene Wengert
Q.
What is the FlameSpread rating for Red Oak Lumber?
A.
The flame spread is a measure of the speed with which a fire will spread on the wood's surface in a specific test set-up. The test set-up is covered in ASTM (Amer. Soc. of Testing and Materials) E84. Red oak is the standard and given a rating of 100. For more information, you can contact the US Forest Products Lab, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53705. The topic is discussed briefly in the WOOD HANDBOOK (US Dept of Agr Handbook No. 72--in most libraries).
Professor Gene Wengert is Extension Specialist in Wood Processing at the Department of Forestry, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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