Well this is my take on it--White Oak in this case is my preferred type of wood to use--it doesn't mind the wet environment, in fact water and oak work good together, water seems to lubricate it, and seems to last a really long time before replacement is necessary
Hard maple and Beach--both good bearing material--hard maple in my mind is the superior one--gets real glassy when used for a dry area bearing it is important that you overheat it a bit by tightening it down and lots of lubrication until you can notice a little heat being generated-- then loosen back until it runs cool--great for line bearings in most mills when a babbeted bearing is not available--of course this type is superior to wood, our woollen and grist mill at UCV has all babbet bearings, with some brass bearings mixed in
the 1867 vertical blade saw mill is another animal so to speak--seemingly very crude at first glance, but in reality quite a complicated machine--we will discuss some of these features as we move along
