Wood/Tree ID

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Cold Is Dumb

Cold Is Dumb

New Member
Jul 28, 2013
32
Annapolis Maryland
tree.jpg

leaf.jpg

What say you, junkies?

I'd guess beech or hornbeam, but I don't the difference when they are this size.

Also, is "blue beech" the same thing as hornbeam? If it's beech, is this the American or the Blue variety? Virginia Tech's Tree ID site doesn't convince me either way.

The time of year is tough, nothing beyond the bark and the leaf that was dead on the tree before I pulled it off for a pic.

I can get more pics tomorrow if these aren't definitive.
 
That is Ironwood/Hornbeam. The twisted, muscular look of the trunks is a giveaway. Beech are generally straighter, and typically there are lots of seedling or root sprout beech in a beech grove that hold their leaves in the winter.
 
Yup, Hornbeam. I've also heard it called Blue Beech. Not to be confused by American Beech... or Hop-Hornbeam which is also called Ironwood.

What you have there is a nice piece of firewood!

Matt
 
Carpinus caroliniana,
You are right, blue beech, alot of shared names here.
Your woods looks like mine, I have the ironwoods as an understory tree. Ive been making trails in the woods and these poor guys are the ones that get culled. But I save the "poles" for other projects, not firewood anymore.
I saw an old barn over the weekend constructed with poles and pegged beams. It had some ironwood poles in the mix.
 
Wonderful, thanks for the information folks!

This is a wood lot clean-up situation. They are cool looking trees, so I'll try to avoid the good ones. The one in the background of the first pic that is bent over like a rainbow, however...

I'm gonna have to just learn the latin names of trees, these colloquial names get too confusing :p
 
I used to know the latin, but most people look at you like you're crazy when you spout it out. It'll get you crazy discounts at tree nurseries through! I'd just find a name you're happy with and realize that others exist for the same tree.

Matt
 
Definitely blue beech. Very hard and burns nicely. The surprising thing about this wood though is that it does not keep well. Keep it in the stack a year and then burn it; don't wait longer.
 
When seasoned it burns great. There's not a lot of it around me. What's here never gets very big.
That's nice size there.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
The surprising thing about this wood though is that it does not keep well. Keep it in the stack a year and then burn it; don't wait longer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I looked up the BTU rating/ranking and was going to put it in the 2017 Black Locust pile to keep similar heat values together. I definitely will not do that now, instead I'll top off some 2 year old red oak stacks with it instead.
 
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Paulywalnut said:
When seasoned it burns great. There's not a lot of it around me. What's here never gets very big.
That's nice size there.
Click to expand...

Same goes here. It also tends to grow in a clump.
 
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