Green foul smelling bark peels off easy ID

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

SolarAndWood

Minister of Fire
Feb 3, 2008
6,788
Syracuse NY
Scored the better part of a cord of this this morning but not sure what it is. Not much has made it through my sinuses lately and that probably wasn't a bad thing this morning. It split fairly easy and was moderate in weight.
 

Attachments

  • 100110 split.jpg
    100110 split.jpg
    142.6 KB · Views: 537
  • 100110 score.jpg
    100110 score.jpg
    141.8 KB · Views: 482
I can't tell what type of wood it is. It's hard to see what the bark originally looked like, since it seems to have lain around until the bark rotted a little. The smell and the easy peeling bark might be explained by a little rot in the bark. The inner bark layers have more moisture and sugar that the wood or the outer bark, and can rot faster, causing the bark to fall off. A cord of free wood, no matter what type, is a nice score.
 
Tough with those photos. Bark looks like a maple a little, but the split wood looks too grainy.
 
This one is a little better. Everything is a little soggy this morning given how much rain we just got.
 

Attachments

  • 100110 split2.jpg
    100110 split2.jpg
    151.3 KB · Views: 513
the bark on your first pic. looked a little funny,

but the combination of the smell and the greenish tint to the wood and the bark that comes off easy, and the second set of pictures..

I think its tulip poplar.

i cut a tulip poplar this year that smelled terrible and the bark came off real easy - and your second set of pictures the wood and the bark look like tulip poplar. thats my guess.

Liriodendron tulipifera
 
I also would guess tulip. The wood looks like tulip, not the bark.
 
When I read "smelly" and saw the first pictures with a light colored wood I thought tulip poplar. Then after looking at the next picture I'm pretty sure its tulip poplar.
 
I'll go with tulip poplar. I cut one a while back for a customer, it was the first time I had done that. Even when fresh it was kinda gross smelling!
 
Cool thanks. I was pretty sure when I was loading it that it wasn't going in my primo stash.
 
I am not so sure it's tulip , I have one in the front yard and the bark looks nothing like that. The bark on mine looks alot like ash only with smaller ridges .
 
that bit of yellow and the fact that the bark peels off easily makes me think of tulip poplar. the bark doesn't look like classic tulip bark but the bark on tulips change alot depending on the age and size of the tree and based on where on a tree the bark is, like whether it is on the base of the trunk or out on limbs.
 
I am inclined to agree with the tulip poplar consensus after searching and reading the ids of it here and at AS. It was growing as scrub along a railroad right-of-way as opposed to nice trees in the woods. They were maybe 12" at the base but went to 8" pretty quick. Here is what it looked like after it was split.
 

Attachments

  • 100110 score after split.jpg
    100110 score after split.jpg
    210.8 KB · Views: 277
I have burned a lot of wood looking like that and with those qualities...its tulip poplar. Most hate it....I got mine free...so though not my first choice, the price was right.
 
It was free, 4 miles from my house and split easy. I have my typical 4 hours and 15 bucks in a cord. Can't complain about that even if its not the beech, sugar maple and ash I've been spoiled with this year.
 
Just to play advocate for the tulip poplar - while it might not have a ton of BTUs its definitely not a scrub or trash tree. Actually, if given time, grows to be the tallest tree in the eastern US - and will live quite a long time. When they logged the appalachians, they cut tulip trees that were so large that only a chunk of one log would fit on each rail car. I have pictures somewhere. There is still one virgin stand in North Carolina somewhere. Absolutely huge, beautiful trees.

Remember tulip poplars are not real poplars and are not related to cottonwoods or aspen or any of the other poplars that tend to be shorter lived and of lower quality wood.

for burning the wood is fine and just mix it in with some denser stuff or cut it real small and use for kindling. makes great lumber - its actually quite strong for its weight.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.