Wood ID

[Egghead]

a friend of my uncle has a downed tree and wants it gone. I started cutting on it but am not sure what it is exactly. It has leaves similar to hickory or ash. What say you experts?

 

[Applesister]

Chestnut Oak

 

[Applesister]

Do you see the pale thin lines that radiate out from the center of the tree to the bark? I can clearly see it in your photo. All trees have these but Oaks are very pronounced. You can see them easily with the naked eye. Its what makes the wood ideal for oak barrels and ship building. The radiating wood grain that passes thru the vertical wood grain. This is a very strong and easy way to ID oak. Chestnut oak is easy because of that very thick easy to spot thick ridged bark. Once you cut that tree up you will never have trouble IDing that tree again. I can do it blindfolded, the wood smells very strongly of dijon mustard.

 

[Egghead]

Another "tool" for my belt- thanks!

 

[Pellet_Pete]

Yep, an oak. If you want to be picky, given your locale, I'd say swamp chestnut oak, Quercus michauxii.

 

[Paulywalnut]

That's really good firewood. Get it before they find out

 

[Richie]

Chestnut oak is in my top three favorite dead of winter firewoods next to locust and black birch. Burns so good smells so good and just burns like a champ.

 

[Mischa Shashumshkavich]

i think i had some chestnut oak last year, there was a very large outer ring, and it was bright yellow and pretty slimy, but i'm not totally sure what tree it was....i do remember that the bark had a very acrid and bitter smell when burned.....and when dried the wood could give some hellish little splunters

 

[Darbycrash]

I wouldn't say the leaf looks anything like hickory or ash, But it is def. oak and it is def. a great burning wood. It just takes a good 2 years to season.. only problem.

 

[Applesister]

i think i had some chestnut oak last year, there was a very large inner ring, and it was bright yellow and pretty slimy, but i'm not totally sure what tree it was....i do remember that the bark had a very acrid and bitter smell when burned.....and when dried the wood could give some hellish little splunters

You might have had Black Oak, the inner bark yields a yellow dye.

 

[Applesister]

probably not though, maybe locust. Locust can look yellow, the wood itself, I mean. And the bark is Nasty when it burns, nasty.

 

[Mischa Shashumshkavich]

probably not though, maybe locust. Locust can look yellow, the wood itself, I mean. And the bark is Nasty when it burns, nasty.

the leaf looked very much like the one posted, and the wood was a darker brown/orange when dried.....split very easily....and the bark was very irregular and pointy/jagged....loading logs onto the truck i only had a short sleeve shirt and my arms got scraped up pretty good...

 

[Mischa Shashumshkavich]

probably not though, maybe locust. Locust can look yellow, the wood itself, I mean. And the bark is Nasty when it burns, nasty.

....the only yellow part was a ring between the wood and the bark...but it was a very thick ring

 

[Mischa Shashumshkavich]

You might have had Black Oak, the inner bark yields a yellow dye.

....i must have gotten the leaves of a differnt tree mixed up with the one i thought was chestnut,( i found a leave under the tree during the winter) but because half the tree is still standing, i went to look at it yesterday and took a sample of the leaves.....and the closest thing i can find is ''hackberry''... have you vere seen one of those trees?

 

[Applesister]

....i must have gotten the leaves of a differnt tree mixed up with the one i thought was chestnut,( i found a leave under the tree during the winter) but because half the tree is still standing, i went to look at it yesterday and took a sample of the leaves.....and the closest thing i can find is ''hackberry''... have you vere seen one of those trees?

Take some clear pics of the tree leaves and bark and post them here for all us wood voyeurs to amuse ourselves with. What people describe and what finally appears are rarely even in the same ballpark.

 

[Mischa Shashumshkavich]

Take some clear pics of the tree leaves and bark and post them here for all us wood voyeurs to amuse ourselves with. What people describe and what finally appears are rarely even in the same ballpark.

.....unfortunately i am so old skool that i have neither phone w/camera, nor a digital camera......but i will try and borrow somebody's and get some pics. of the different woods i want i.d.'d.....but i think i've got this one,because the leaves and the bark look identical to online pics.....and people say the bark can smell bitter/acrid/nasty when burned...

 

[Mischa Shashumshkavich]

Chestnut oak is in my top three favorite dead of winter firewoods next to locust and black birch. Burns so good smells so good and just burns like a champ.

....cherry is quite nice too...the little bit i had i loved it...freshly split and on the rack in the house,waiting in line for the woodstove... smells so nice

 

[Mischa Shashumshkavich]

.....unfortunately i am so old skool that i have neither phone w/camera, nor a digital camera......but i will try and borrow somebody's and get some pics. of the different woods i want i.d.'d.....but i think i've got this one,because the leaves and the bark look identical to online pics.....and people say the bark can smell bitter/acrid/nasty when burned...

.....i have narrowed it down to hackberry,or slippery elm, or some type of hickory...haha