Wood ID
- Thread starter bogydave
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Mr A
Minister of Fire
It looks like a hard wood grained variety. Is that a branch or a trunk? Is this a test? Birch, maybe? But if it was I'm guessing you would know that. Was it from a home yard, or in the forest? I would tend to think your climate in Alaska would be unique in what trees like to grow there.
Well it's my first ID question. I have birch & spruce for firewood.
Aspen & cottonwood but I stick with the birch & spruce.
Everyone else has wood IDs. Though I'd try one.
The dark bark is the top of the trunk of what I call red birch. Had an old timer call them red birch, hence, I call them that now.
Seems to me to be a little denser & harder.
Most of what I cut is paper / white/ Alaska birch.
#4 is the trunk. allot more redish color & they don't get quite as big as the white birch.
I see a few out in the forest area I cut in & some around home.
Maybe a sub species, minerals or lack of minerals.
I'll try to get a better pic of the main trunk next to a normal white one.
Aspen & cottonwood but I stick with the birch & spruce.
Everyone else has wood IDs. Though I'd try one.
The dark bark is the top of the trunk of what I call red birch. Had an old timer call them red birch, hence, I call them that now.
Seems to me to be a little denser & harder.
Most of what I cut is paper / white/ Alaska birch.
#4 is the trunk. allot more redish color & they don't get quite as big as the white birch.
I see a few out in the forest area I cut in & some around home.
Maybe a sub species, minerals or lack of minerals.
I'll try to get a better pic of the main trunk next to a normal white one.
Mr A
Minister of Fire
So, I guess, I made good guess. I am also guessing, being able to identify a hard or soft wood by grain is a valuable skill for a firewood hunter. The closer the rings, the harder the wood, the harder the wood the better it burns. Compare the rings to something you know, no need to know exactly what it is other than curiosity. Am I wrong?
Most of the wood I have been cutting is that. Not very much of the white bark birch. It gets big, I had a few trees that were easily 2 ft across.
Bacffin
Minister of Fire
WoodPorn
Minister of Fire
Wood Duck
Minister of Fire
I'd say that is a Paper Birch, same as all the other birches up there. There are, as far as I know, only two types of Birch in Alaska, and besides Paper Birch the other one is Dwarf Birch. Black Birch doesn't grow anywhere close to South Central Alaska.
Photo #1 looks like Pin Cherry .
I have some of these on my property
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=pin+...w=109&start=0&ndsp=33&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:91
I have some of these on my property
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=pin+...w=109&start=0&ndsp=33&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:91
onetracker
Minister of Fire
my first inclination was cherry but discounted it cuz of mr bogydave's bioregion. the lenticles look a little flatter than the pin cherry photo but i could well be wrong. a leaf scar would be a foolproof way to id the genus/species.
wood duck - you could be right. ever notice the young shoots coming out of a paper birch stump? and they are quite dark?
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
First pic my guess was either alder or cherry . . . but I figure cherry probably doesn't grow there and you would know alders I'm guessing.
WoodPorn
Minister of Fire
I think wood Duck has it, See pic
http://green.kingcounty.gov/gonative/PhotoFileDir/BetulapapyriferabarkFCKJG.jpg
http://green.kingcounty.gov/gonative/PhotoFileDir/BetulapapyriferabarkFCKJG.jpg
Not wrong
Know it's birch.
Maybe I should ask the local forestry dept.. gurus what the difference is
Jake: It's not alder. reddish colored bark, alder more gray.
I was thinking black birch too. But not on the list of trees in Alaska.
Camera broke (
) will try to get a pic with granddaughter's camera.
Will get a pic of the live tree.
I like the theory , "burns like oak". Maybe I can really be selective & score some birch-oak LOL
I was thinking black birch too. But not on the list of trees in Alaska.
Camera broke (
) will try to get a pic with granddaughter's camera. Will get a pic of the live tree.
I like the theory , "burns like oak". Maybe I can really be selective & score some birch-oak
LOL
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
ohlongarm
Minister of Fire
Dave my guess is black birch,I've got quite a bit of it in log form,shown on an earlier forum of locust woods,I've heard it burns nicely.
Charging batt on new camera, Costco special. fuji xp250. Says it's "freeze proof" so figured it's the one for me
Chain saw to get into the plastic packaging it came in. 15 languages later I figured out how to charge the batt.
Will get a better pic soon. I hope.
38°, sunny, 27 mph wind gusts.
Nate: Where was it cut?
Chain saw to get into the plastic packaging it came in. 15 languages later I figured out how to charge the batt.
Will get a better pic soon. I hope.
38°, sunny, 27 mph wind gusts.
Nate: Where was it cut?
new pictures.Maybe the red ones are closely related to black birch ?
Never looked close at the leaves, will try to remember next summer to see if there is a difference.
2 red & a 1 white birch rounds:
3 reds 3 white birch:
Never looked close at the leaves, will try to remember next summer to see if there is a difference.
2 red & a 1 white birch rounds:
3 reds 3 white birch:
I'm not sure, was in the load I had delivered. I think there might be more in the one pile I still have left, will get photos if I think of it.
The large lenticels on the bark say either birch or cherry to me. I see alder mentioned and it is a good candidate also. If is smells like crap it's a cherry. But I haven't seen bark like that on a cherry that size. But then again, there are many, many different types of cherry so one may keep bark like that for a long time. If it smells like wintergreen it's a black birch. Black birches get bark that looks like a cherry tree when older. I haven't cut any alder or enough of it to remember a smell associated with it. Most alders I see are small too.
Matt
Matt
I agree, it's all paper birch.
Interesting to me was the University of Fairbanks did a BTU calculation (in 1996) of it & it matches up with yellow birch BTU content.
23,600,000 BTUs/cord
But I don't believe they tested the red barked trees ? Might be 25 mil BTUs/cord.
I'm guessing they tested trees from the Fairbanks area, maybe 230 mile South, the BTU content is different.
I think the red or dark colored bark trees are "Mutants". Mutants with higher BTUs.
I'll go with it (red birch) having higher BTUs .
Bacffin
Minister of Fire
JOHN BOY
Minister of Fire
I agree, it's all paper birch.
Interesting to me was the University of Fairbanks did a BTU calculation (in 1996) of it & it matches up with yellow birch BTU content.
23,600,000 BTUs/cord
But I don't believe they tested the red barked trees ? Might be 25 mil BTUs/cord.
I'm guessing they tested trees from the Fairbanks area, maybe 230 mile South, the BTU content is different.
I think the red or dark colored bark trees are "Mutants". Mutants with higher BTUs.
I'll go with it (red birch) having higher BTUs .
View attachment 78037 View attachment 78039
Msybe its cherry birch ,Kinda has the bark of a very young black cherry...
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