Is there any reason I should not use red oak pegs. I have a local source for red oak, which is being air dried and is probably still a bit on the green side.

Red oak is a fine choice. Plenty strong. We use it for most of our frames.

Red oak it is then. Thanks for the response. Better get my shaving horse built!

If you're thinking of a 'powered' shaving horse, you might consider the "Logman Tenon Maker" available at Baileys an some other places. Making dowels is a bonus use of the tool.

When selecting stock avoid oak with close growth rings, rapidly grown oak will have greater density.

That seems to run counter to my experience with wood in general. Slow growth often produces a heavier more dense wood. OTOH mabye it's just me thats dense. I'll have to check the "Wood handbook".

Oak is different from softwoods in regards to dense grain (ie close grain) versus density (dry weight/volume) or specific gravity. The annual growth of oak produces a solid dense early wood ring and a porous,less dense late wood ring. So wide early wood bands, in oak, produce a higher specific gravity hard strong wood. The early wood rings in softwood are less dense than late wood rings so the stronger softwood has a higher ring per inch count.

So dense grain does not always imply better denser wood. Language sets up the misunderstnding