Nice score and a wood ID

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briv

New Member
Oct 25, 2010
34
Connecticut
I was driving out to lunch the other day and I passed a local tree company truck hauling a full dump body pickup and trailer loaded to the max with wood. Did the typical slow, envious drive by and continued up the road to 5 guys for lunch. I was waiting outside for the rest of my party and the truck pulls into the parking lot. I figured what the heck and asked the guy what he was doing with the wood. He said going to the local dump, why? do you want to throw a few pieces in your truck. I told him I would take the whole load if he didn't mind following me 2 more miles to my house. They ended up leaving the trailer in front of my house so that I could unload it when I got off of work and proceeded to dump the rest of what was in the truck in my backyard. Slipped the guys 20 bucks for their trouble.

This is what was unloaded from the trailer. Any idea on what it is? Splits easy like the oak I split last year but the bark doesn't match.
 

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Don't have any experience with it but the bark looks like Cottonwood according to the book I use...
 
Uh oh, maybe not so nice score then.
 
the cottonwood around here will make you cuss using a hydraulic splitter. If it split that easy then it is not cottonwood, although the bark looks like it??
 
briv said:
Uh oh, maybe not so nice score then.
Click to expand...

Don't worry too much over this. Cottonwood is the only wood some have to burn and they get along just fine. It is not great for holding a long fire but will burn hot and give you good heat. Burn it spring, fall and during the daytime in winter. It will heat your house just fine. It has a tendency to stink a bit when first cut or while splitting but that goes away quickly as it dries.

I say count your blessings and then if not certain, ask before you take more wood. You probably have enough of this type right now.
 
I'm not too worried about it. Wood is wood. I'm at about 2 years ahead with oak and maple, it would have been nice to get some more of the same but a $20 load delivered can't be beat.
 
kestrel said:
Couldn't be chestnut oak could it? It has bark like that too. Does it smell "oakey"?
Click to expand...

NO. 100% cottonwood!
 
Great story & a good score.
Cottonwood is BTUs, & it dries pretty fast when split. Light weight & burns good.
I get some now & then, it's great for shoulder season & outdoor cook out fires.
 
I'm not good with id's but the bark looks like my cottonwood. I know alot of people don't like cottonwood but I like it for shoulder season. In fact I wish I had another cord or two this year since it's been like 5 months of shoulder season this year. The only things I don't like is it will punk fast and some of it can be a pain to split. Some splits fine and some looks like it was shredded coming out of the splitter. Get it split/stacked and it should be dry for next season. It will keep longer than a year if you get it dried out and keep it dry. It makes great quick and hot fires for shoulder season when it is bone dry and for start ups. I would not want to have to heat with it when it is 0* out though. I think I could burn a cord a week.
 
I have burned cottonwood this year. Burns nice, kind of quick.
I like it on cold startups, gets things going nice.
Big splits last a bit.

I brought 2 truck loads home last weekend. Same stuff.
 
Since you are in the north east like me, I believe based on my experience that is LOCUST. A ton of it fell over during Hurricane Irene.
I scored alot of that. I also have a bunch of it in my back yard still standing and about five 40 footers that were leaning after the storm that I felled and need to buck.
Just to much work to pull it out of the back when I am getting FREE red oak, bucked and dropped in my driveway.
 
Most of it is splitting nicely. A couple of pieces have branches growing through the round. I buried 2 wedges in a round, flipped it on it side and wedged it open with a piece of oak. I was able to open it enough to get the splitting axe in there and split apart the branch that was holding it all together (I had to take a break after that one).
 
briv said:
I was driving out to lunch the other day and I passed a local tree company truck hauling a full dump body pickup and trailer loaded to the max with wood. Did the typical slow, envious drive by and continued up the road to 5 guys for lunch. I was waiting outside for the rest of my party and the truck pulls into the parking lot. I figured what the heck and asked the guy what he was doing with the wood. He said going to the local dump, why? do you want to throw a few pieces in your truck. I told him I would take the whole load if he didn't mind following me 2 more miles to my house. They ended up leaving the trailer in front of my house so that I could unload it when I got off of work and proceeded to dump the rest of what was in the truck in my backyard. Slipped the guys 20 bucks for their trouble.

This is what was unloaded from the trailer. Any idea on what it is? Splits easy like the oak I split last year but the bark doesn't match.
Click to expand...

This was the first year we had any shoulder season wood ready to burn (bigtooth aspen) saved on our better wood so nice deal. Looks like this weekend I'll be cutting more shoulder season wood (downed hemlock & pine) so we have close to double (four true cord) what we did last year, some for the fall & spring.


zap
 
First thoughts were cottonwood from bark and color of insides. Like others have said maybe chestnut oak, but i dont think so, and i dont think its locust either.
 
Probably already thought of this but be sure to mention to the guys that own the trailer that you are willing to take more if they are cutting in your area - can't hurt and saves them the trip and trouble of hauling and unloading. When I lived in East Lansing(pre-woodstove) I would have the city trimmers dump a couple loads of chipped wood in the driveway every spring and use them in my landscape. Not quite a pretty as the dark, all bark, stuff but the price was real good!!
 
tfdchief said:
The bark sure looks like Cotton Wood, but the split doesn't.
Click to expand...
And then again, here is the bark of the Cotton Wood, Chestnut oak, and Tulip tree bark....you decide.
 

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infinitymike said:
Since you are in the north east like me, I believe based on my experience that is LOCUST. A ton of it fell over during Hurricane Irene.
I scored alot of that. I also have a bunch of it in my back yard still standing and about five 40 footers that were leaning after the storm that I felled and need to buck.
Just to much work to pull it out of the back when I am getting FREE red oak, bucked and dropped in my driveway.
Click to expand...
100 % that is not locust.
 
Left pic cotton wood, right pic looks like poplar so I guess that makes the middle pic chestnut .
 
The color of the cut ends, and the bark look like tulip poplar to me. Great firestarter, easy to split, no splinters in your fingers. Stack it as soon as it's split, tulip poplar can rot very fast if left on the ground.

TE
 
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