Help with ID of my wood hunt please?

That looks just like the sassafras I have in my pile and in my stove at this very moment.

webby3650 said:

That looks just like the sassafras I have in my pile and in my stove at this very moment.

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used to drink that tea when i was a kid doesent look quite like that tree

Definitely sassafras. Got some in the back yard ... and have cut and burned it. The longer it seasons the more yellowish it will become.

It's good wood, although the bark tends to send quite a few sparks flying.

This may help if your into a little work. Just take a peice and chuck it up in a vise or something and shave a small section of the end grain nice and clean with a really sharp chisel, razor or I use a draw knife but not everyone has one of those lying around. Then just use a reasonable good magnifying glass or loop, around 8-10x magnification and compare the different factors.

Wow- great book! What book is that? Looks like you can ID a tree from the wood only. Most guys are saying "show me the leaves."

bucko64 said:

I found this tree down and cut it up can someone tell me what kind it may be?

Thank's bucko64

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Sasafras. if I am right it will weight 1/10th of what oak does. If you can expose the roots they will smell like root beer. It will be easy to split and will burn fast and hot. It will also snap and spark a lot. We used to call it dynamite wood. It is a lot of fun to burn.

Bucko your in Bear DE I'm right around you just outside Newark, in MD

bucko64 said:

Thank's to all Ill go with sassafrs that is next year's burn.Here is anther day of cutting just thout I would post it It is OAK Pin Oak I think oh shoot here we go again LOL..

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Kinda smooth grayish Bark. I think your right ! LOL

Cluttermagnet said:

Wow- great book! What book is that? Looks like you can ID a tree from the wood only. Most guys are saying "show me the leaves."

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Yes, you can ID the wood completely by looking at the end grain details, it's as accurate as a fingerprint. I have a few books like this, these images came from "Understanding wood" which was basically my way of understanding the science behind the material I worked with daily as a furnituremaker. It doesn't focus on identification but has 50 or so of the really common species (about 1/3 of those are tropicals from the rainforests) so it is a little limited in this area. For Oaks it only has Red Oak & White Oak, none of the ten or so others, of the dozen or so Hickories it only lists the Shagbark, Maples, just the Sugar Maple . Lots of other scientific data on wood densities, moisture charectorisitcs, movement, physical properties and such. I think they may even have a cheaper, paperback version now. It was an expensive book, only in hard cover back when I bought it.

My primary book for this an ancient guide to tree identification that has been out of print for decades can't even find another copy anymore unless your willing to pay a couple hundred at some exotic antique book store, if they have a copy, which is unlikely. But it has a few hundred species. I've given thought to digitizing the images and putting them in a stand alone database program and selling CD's on ebay or something for 20 bucks or so, not sure if it will be worth my time...

kjayhawk said:

Definitely sassafras. Got some in the back yard ... and have cut and burned it. The longer it seasons the more yellowish it will become.

It's good wood, although the bark tends to send quite a few sparks flying.

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If the leaves look like mittens it is sasafras.

Some kind of Oak, I'm in the same area as you. There are so many kinds of Oak the out side looks differant but wood looks the same.