I find red oak to be very pretty 'in the raw'. The normally do not show pink. It's only when you add WHITE to RED that you get PINK (sigh...remember Kindergarten and the great PAINT experiments??? yah...red + white still = pink).

It also comes down to the GRADE of red oak. A high-grade wood will have evenly coloured planks. The grain will be less. Which is where a lot of the 'red' comes from = mineral rays...what most people refer to as 'grain'.

Red Oak looks like dried wheat stalks. Very pale. Blonde. Some hints of cinnamon...but very little if the grade of red oak is high enough.