Wood Identification Help

[scott_vt]

Good Evenin Guys,
As you can see by the picture we are preparing for, uhmm winter allready ! I snapped this shot today, Im wondering if anyone has a clue as to what the wood is with all the pecker holes on the outside bark is ? The wood is straight grained for the most part, its not very dense/ heavy but it burns with a very nice aroma. I cut the tree on my Vt property and trucked some down to my Ct home, just thought someone may have seen it before. The tree was pretty much dead when I brought it down and am curious what this stuff really is. The wood is also lighter in color if that helps at all !

 

[JDeerekid]

looks like ash to me

 

[TedLaRue]

The orange-ish color of the bark makes me want to agree with Scott that it's an ash, but Sassafras also has that orange color and around here they grow that big.

There's a small diameter log in the upper left corner of your photo, and some others in the background, which don't look at all like ash or elm or sassafras and don't seem consistent with the other larger log pieces. The smaller logs look more like cherry, but the larger logs are definitely not cherry.

 

[srjones]

Looks like ash. What does is smell like when it's not burning? (after a fresh split)

 

[scott_vt]

Good Mornin Guys,
Its not ash, I have some of that and ash is heavier and the bark is a bit deeper. Possibly sassafras as it has a nice odor when it burns. Thanks for your help, I will try and get some more pics of that tree.

Btw the smaller pieces are birch.

 

[gotrocks]

OK, gotta tell this one, true story...
Had a fellow with degree in Forestry out to look at small pine grove to see if control burn was recommended.

Ask about ID of several other trees, he said that was not his strong suit.
He worked for a large well known pulp/paper company.
Then he said;" That's what I like about my job, all I have to know is ..it's pine or it's not pine."

 

[plowking]

It is advisble to use the wood right away if it comes from another state. In,NH the forestry service has a warning of transporting fire wood to another location, the beetles,bugs can get into the local trees and spread. This applies mostly to camps up north when campers bring wood from home. plowking

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

i can't really tell but sassafras would have a great smell as soon as you cut it, not just when you are burning it......smells so good you want to eat it or keep smelling it...

 

[atgreene]

I would guess it to be Basswood. Hard to tell from the photo.

 

[studor]

I'd guess basswood as well --- or one of poplar family -- can't tell easily from bark on the lower tree but was bark higher up smooth or like this?

 

[Thomas]

Hello Scotty.
I cut couple white oaks w/the same markings not to long ago...white oak kinda has the bark plus grain.

 

[Egon]

It surely looks like split wood to me!

 

[scott_vt]

It surely looks like split wood to me!

Good Afternoon Egon,
It surely is !!! It heated me once allready, and Im hoping for a repeat performance this winter !

Im thinkin sassafras.

Thomas,
Good to hear you back on old buddy, I was gettin a little worried you dissapeared on us !

 

[dsgsr]

It's Oak. Unsure if white or red, but it is Oak.

David

 

[atgreene]

It's not red oak, I'm positive of that. White, maybe, but it doesn't have some of the usual characteristics of white oak, with the exception of one edge of one piece that has the tell-tale checkering like oak would, yet the bark is not what I would usually expect from white oak.

Do you have any leaves from where the tree was cut?

 

[studor]

"it is not very dense or heavy" -- probably not white or red oak then
Also oak tends to lose its bark fairly quickly when dead -- this tree did not seem to One thing is for sure -- it is firewood now

 

[TedLaRue]

The more I stare at that photo, the more I think you've got two different kinds of wood shown there.

Those woodpecker holes were made by a Sapsucker, and around here, sassafras is one of their favorites.

 

[Thomas]

Thank you Scotty.
Last months you might say been a real eye opener.

Hope life been good to you and your family.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Evenin Guys,
A couple more closeups of my mystery wood ! I have been working with red and white oak for years in my workshop and this is not oak ! Its similar to ash but not as dense and the wood is more yellow and the bark is different, maybe some kind of poplar perhaps, but it does smell nice when burning !

BTW ash is on the right amd the mystery wood is on the left !

 

[Egon]

The bark is similar to some species of poplar. But that as far as I would commit myself.