A new view

Going to get a taste of something different ..........going to get some variety in my life. After experiencing ash, and now the cherry, I'm checking out other dead trees in the woods. Here's a leaf off a tree that has been 90% dead for awhile. It will be easy to get if it is worth it. Here is a leaf.......... .....need an ID

Looks like a birch leaf. What color bark on the wood?

weatherguy, I don't have any birch but plenty of beech. The bark is darker not grey
Birch is not common where I am ..........at least I don't think so.
See plenty in Michigan but not here
The leaf does look like it is from that family though

Looks just like beech to me.

Beech?

What's the rest of the leaf look like? Looks elmish to me.

jeff, your looking at 85% of the leaf
the leaf is kinda fuzzy and soft feeling

Looks like red elm, but hard to say because the base of the leaf is missing in the picture. The leaf base will identify it. You are in the right neck of the woods, so to speak, for red elm. Good stuff, splits well and burns hot and long. Here is a picture of a red elm leaf.

Thanks Ralph, it does look like it. I told a guy at work it might be an elm and he said you won't split that by hand. Sounds like I can take a maul to it and have success ?

Cut the rest of the cherry after taking a half day off from work. I can't believe how much easy good wood I got.
Before I left the woods I dropped the tree in question. Here is what it looks like inside

these new pics kinda seal the deal, thI'm gonna say elm too.

Elm i just got done splitting a lot of it...very stringy and nasty!

If it's red elm you won't have a problem splitting by hand unless it's got a lot of twists and knots. American elm is a different story. A real mean wood to split.!! Here is a picture of an American Elm leaf. Note the difference in the leaf shape and color compaired to the red elm.

score, ralph.

i was, um...stumped

That is american elm...under the bark will be real slippery and GOOD LUCK!

I'll be cutting a round or two tomorrow...............I'll let you know how it splits

Cut off a couple rounds off this tree this afternoon. Pretty nice straight piece and only about 10 inches in diameter, but it was dead for awhile so I am hoping to split it up and get it dry. Got 4 nice splits per round and it was fairly easy to split with the maul. Not like cherry but about as easy as ash. Here is a picture of a couple splits.

That's Red Elm no doubt. My kitchen cabinets, Island, dining table, bathroom vanities, bedroom dresser,and most of the mouldings in my home are in Red elm. When I had the sawmill I collected for seven years to acumulate enough for all these projects!

nrford, I see your credentials and I think I got to believe you

Yeah, they don't get real big before they die (Dutch Elm Disease?) I've got some stacked now and two more trees to get. Should be about 3/4 cord, all told. What I've split so far was not as easy as Ash but I think my stuff was drier...most of the bark was gone, no leaves. It may be hard to get it dry enough by this Fall. In that case, I would let it sit if possible. It's too good to burn before its time.

Ya think? With that many years looking at wood, he's probably seen every bark variation on every species...

I don't know if it's the color, the grain or what, but there is something I really like about that wood....and I haven't even seen a finished piece, just splits. I bet it is gorgeous.

I was thinking the same thing . . . a bit like beech, but without seeing the top part hard to tell . . . like you my gut feeling was elm.

Should have kept reading . . . fuzzy . . . almost positive it's elm.

red elm jake..........soon to be split

hand split the red elm up tonight...........got it done in about an hour

Those are nice splits, very uniform, you do it by hand?