NY State Tree ID - Need Help !

Going on just the bark, kinda looks like it might be Red Oak but you say too light.... End grain and pictures would help nail it down.

lloks like poplar to me

Bark looked like it could be red oak but the wood color says otherwise...and the bark is not white oak. Looks like you have a poplar species there, especially if it is light wood.

Unfortunatly for you, Mauler is correct. Probably Aspen. Many of them fell last summer/fall here in NY due to wet ground (remember Irene/Lee?) and frequent high winds. Get it cut and split and off the ground. Doesn't take too long to dry, but it's not too high on the BTUs. It works for shoulder season (a/k/a winter 11-12). It will tend to leave alot of fluffy ash which you will want to get out of your WBA on a regular basis.

+1 on aspen - bark on older trees can look a lot like red oak if you look quick, but you can certainly tell for sure one you cut them. Cheers!

Looks like the Quaking Aspen I cut on our property. We burned over a cord for the shoulder season last year, I could push the stovetop temps 675 + if I wanted.

zap

At first glance with the bark, interior wood color and mention that it is less dense than maple makes me think poplar (aka aspen, popple). Poplar is not popular with many folks, but while I will not go out of my way to cut it, I feel it is a good shoulder season fire wood or good wood to go with if you are sitting home around the house and don't necessarily mind feeding the stove more often.

Try looking around at the base of the tree and see if you cannot find a lot of the similar shaped leaf which of course will be dead and brown . . . while leafs can and will blow around on the ground come fall oftentimes most of the leaves around a tree belong to that tree.

Another thing you can do is to take a look at the top of the tree or branches . . . oftentimes the bark of a poplar at the top or on the branches or on a young tree is smooth and if you rub it with your hand a talcum-like powder will rub off.

Cutterman said:

Thank you all for your input. Its definitely not any type of oak. I'm leaning towards the Aspen/Poplar family. I have two of these trees down from Hurricane Lee last year and it cuts / splits up very easily. No signs of decay yet so I'll get is cut/split and stacked soon. Are there any other issues with burning this wood outside it's low BTU content ? Thanks Again ! Joe

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Another hint . . . splits easily. I find that poplar splits pretty easily as long as there are no knots.

Any other issues . . . it doesn't coal up very well. Some folks feel that it produces more ash.

Aspen final answer!