Sash windows; what wood are they made from?

[jamiecrawford]

I have a load of old sash windows, taken from a couple of Victorian houses, and I was wondering what wood these tend to be made from. I'm rubbish at identifying timber! I'm guessing pine, but am open to more knowledgable answers. Thanks.

 

[Alex H]

Found this;

"Although early sash windows were mainly constructed of oak, imported Baltic softwoods became widely used for sash windows. However oak and, later, mahogany, continued to be used up until recent times. In most work, oak was used for window sills, the rest of the window being constructed of soft wood, which remained the common practice from the mid-18th Century until the Second World War."

from here http://www.boxsash.com/history-of-the-sash-window/

So, could be anything really :? Can you post a pic?

 

[Jacob]

Nearly all made of redwood (north european scots pine). Oak sills fairly common but not that durable (oak doesn't take paint too well).
Pitch pines used, but less often.

 

[AndyT]

Like Jacob said.
Also worth noting that the grade of house will be an indicator of how good the wood might be. There were many subtle or not so subtle differences between a grand six bedroom mansion and a common two-up two-down terrace. A cheap house for rent to the working classes would not have had the best timber, but even so it could still be well be worth salvaging.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Some years ago the local council tried to make a friend of mine take out some newly fitted uPVC windows. In court he was told that the originals would have been oak. He replied that he had been a decorator for 35yrs and he had painted thousands but he had never seen an oak one. Certainly in my part of the world you won't find many oak ones.

 

[blackrodd]

No oak sash windows down here in sunny devon either, all softwood.
Rodders

 

[plug]

Refurbishing aload at the moment in some farm cottage's (kent), all are softwood except cills which are oak.

 

[Jacob]

That's extremely unusual. Are they new? The wood looks a bit clean!
A few years on and they will pick up water stains etc and will need paint. But paint doesn't stick too well to oak. So they will need even more paint!
PS this was a reply to a deleted post. A lot of editing going on above - roger posted up some pictures of some unusual oak windows. Not only the wood, the design was odd too. Don't know why he has taken them down.