Help me ID This Wood Load

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ddemmith

Member
Oct 2, 2009
19
MI
Got a free load of wood. Not sure what it is, there is some pine mixed in. It appears to be a soft wood though it looks like dead ash! First thought it is some form of pine, but I have no idea. It is not heavy. Please help!

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Poplar, the water in it is making it heavy.
 
It is not pine. This wood has large branches growing at an angle that creates a Y with the trunk. Pines generally have branches at nearly a right angle to the trunk. I guess rdust could be right, it could be poplar. However, if it is nice and dry any wood might seem lighter than you'd expect scrounged wood (as opposed to seasoned splits) to be. I don't have any guess, but it isn't pine and not oak.
 
My guess is some type of maple maybe sycamore. It has those ripples under the limbs that maples have. Can't recall what other trees have them but I notice it most with maples. Plus the branches in the bottom of the last pic are opposite. Also fresh cut sycamore is very heavy, lots of water there.
 
Thanks guys. I gave 2 truck loads away while I thought it was pine. I will buck and process the rest and put it into the shoulder season wood pile. The lightweight still confuses me. I have seen popular that has no bark and it is usually stringy under the bark. Mabe a standing dead silver maple? I cut down a sycamore last year in the yard, that was some heavy wet wood.
 
Kind of looks like a maple to me, but the split piece in a pic looks like poplar. Look for a colored streak in the splits, 2/3 the way to the core. Any sign of that means tulip polar. Light vs. heavy is hard to explain in word too. If it is really light, it's poplar. Small splits will almost ring when smacked together if it's poplar. I think maple would have a dead sound.
 
Could be soft maple which is very light when dry..

Ray
 
OK, thanks guys. Another weird trait is that the core of those big pieces is very hard to split and have knots in them like pine does. Sides fall off easily.
 
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