Bark ID?

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Wingman

Member
Feb 18, 2010
139
St. Louis
My neighbor had this tree that fell and he doesn't mind if I take it. However, I looked through my book of trees and I can't find a matching bark. There are no leaves as this was standing dead for probably a few years. The bark on the base peeled right off. I'v compared it to the elms I have and doesn't quite look the same. He had some swamp oaks(according to the leaves using the book) but doesn't seem to match that either.
Any ideas on what I am going to get into?

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Thanks
Joe
 
I've never been really good at IDing trees solely by their bark and in this case I think there are way too many possibilities as to what it could be . . . my suggestion . . . buck it up, split it, stack it and burn it after letting it season . . . and then let us know how good this mystery wood burns. ;)
 
In addition to the bark, if you can post pics of the wood, especially end of a round, that would help. I think this could be Black locust, or many other possibilities. My guess is Black Locust. I have about 10% confidence that I am correct.
 
Based on that small section of bark, 2 trees came to mind. 1. White oak - which is excellent firewood. 2. Cottonwood - which is not.

A cross section of a round as well as a section of the split would certianly help narrow it down.
 
man, that could be a million things

some white oaks do have bark kind of like that,

also young locust does

i think cottonwood should have deeper furrows than that

hmmm, walnut? elm? mulberry,

i dont think you can tell from just a little piece like that
 
Need a pic a little furter back?
 
It will probably be next week till I can get another pic. Its a flippin jungle on his property and works been running me ragged.
 
I'll guess maple.
 
That bark is similar to white oak but methinks perhaps it is not oak. Looking at the wood will help to identify it. How big is that tree?
 
Here's a closeup of some of that black locust from my stacks. Could be a match, but there are a lot of barks that look similar to this. Curious to see the actual split faces and end grain of the wood in question.
 

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It was say 2 ft in diameter and when I looked at a few months ago(when it was standing) it was say 30-40 tall. Just not as tall as the oaks and the sycamores that surrounded it. I will try to get back there this weekend and try to cut a piece.
Thanks
Joe
 
I finally got back in the woods today and started cutting it up. The root ball on this tree was not very deep. The remaining hole was about 12-18" deep. The tree had a vine wrapped around it toe to head. It was about the diameter of a softball in places.
Here are the pics of the wood of the above bark.
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It looks very similar to another oak I cut up from my neighbor's yard.
 
Definitely NOT cottonwood. Lucky duck, I got stuck with a huge cottonwood. :ahhh:
 
Give us a picture of a stack of it split. Locust is obvious when its split and stacked. Your pictures are too close up.
 
It will be awhile before I get it split and stacked. This is a little bit at project.
Crazy thing about this wood, When I walked into my dark garage, one of the splits that was off the bottom round (just above the root) was GLOWING! I googled glowing wood and found mostly bark that glew(??) from some type of fungi.
 
pics and monitor display variations make IDs tough but that bark doesn't look like white oak to me, at least by color.
The splits rings appear a bit too thick and red, too.

Course the white oaks here have bark that tend more towards white ( maybe beige) than grey.
They are all shorter than the predominant red oaks, too. Go figure. Not 'by the book' at all.
 
The color of the wood in the pictures he has is exactly the same as the Black Locust I have cut here in Iowa.
 
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