Help! Please help me identify this wood.

[thecarver61]

Today I cut up a tree that fell in my friends yard. They said I could have all I wanted. The wood is yellowish in color. After cutting, it gives off a white sap that is not sticky. Here's a picture of a log I brought home to identify. I'm trying to save myself a lot of work hauling, splitting and burning crappy wood.

 

[Wood Duck]

I don't recognize the wood, but the growth rings are really close together, suggesting it is a slow growing and dense wood. I see no reason to think it isn't worth taking, besides, you can't beat free wood.

 

[lexybird]

at first glance red oak but the bark points me toward red elm ,either way both excellent firewood once seasoned

 

[Corriewf]

Does it smell good? Looks kind of like hickory.

 

[Battenkiller]

Does it smell good? Looks kind of like hickory.

Not hickory, hickory has lots more sapwood. Looks like black locust. Is is heavy as hell?

 

[tfdchief]

The yellow color and the white sap says Hedge. However, hedge sap is sticky. At first it isn't but when it drys a little it will be. The bark doesn't look quite right but I can't really see it very well.

 

[TROY COOK]

Sure looks like Elm..Leaf in second pic bottom looks like an Elm leaf... rings look too wide to be hickory>

 

[Corriewf]

Only reason I said hickory is due to a find today. Wood looked just like that and when split, found it to be hickory.

 

[Tony H]

Have you tried to split a round , you will know if its elm for sure then. Most of the red elm I have is darker and does not have the lighter ring on the out side.

I has the look of a dense wood if this is true it should be worth keeping whatever is turns out to be.

 

[Battenkiller]

I'm giving it another look, and come to think of it, I never saw locust with much sapwood at all. The rest looks exactly like locust we have around here. That deep, corky bark and yellowish heartwood with that tinge of green in places. Never saw hedge except already cut into lumber, but I can see where it could be.

 

[thecarver61]

Thankyou for your replies. I will split this piece and take more pictures and put them on this post. Again, thankyou.

 

[Wood Duck]

The yellowish wood looks like hedge (Osage Orange) or Mulberry. I am not familiar enough with the bark on those trees to say if the bark looks ok or not. Black Locust can be sort of yellowish, but somehow the bark doesn't look exactly right for Black Locust. Do the small branches have thorns? Whatever it is I am sure I would take all I could get.

 

[thecarver61]

Here's the splits.

 

[smokinj]

Here's the splits.

mulberry

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It's firewood. Finish splitting and stack it for next year.

Matt

 

[thecarver61]

Thankyou all!

 

[tfdchief]

Looks like Hedge to me.

 

[stint9]

Sure looks like all the mulberry I have cut over the years

Your friend can verify the 'berries' ??

Good burn, but watch out for the sparks when you open door

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Here's the splits.

mulberry

Correct

 

[wood spliter]

Looks like mulberry but I could not see the leaf picture

 

[Appleby]

Yep, 2nd set of picks look to be Mulberry. Should have a ncie sweet smell and a super burning wood. I would have said hedge but it is usually orange all the way to the outer bark.

 

[thecarver61]

Awesome help! Thankyou everyone! I now have a lot of mulberry wood to season and split. Pretty happy with the prospect of burning mulberry. Plus, it was all free.

 

[tfdchief]

Yep, 2nd set of picks look to be Mulberry. Should have a ncie sweet smell and a super burning wood. I would have said hedge but it is usually orange all the way to the outer bark.

Appleby, I have been sitting back just reading the thread after I posted "hedge" and thinking it is not Mulberry BECAUSE of the white outside. I cut nothing but hedge for many years and what I remember is the yellow/orange wood with the distinct white outer ring. Now I am wondering if my memory is going with everything else :-S I gotta find some hedge to cut!

 

[Battenkiller]

Yep, 2nd set of picks look to be Mulberry. Should have a ncie sweet smell and a super burning wood. I would have said hedge but it is usually orange all the way to the outer bark.

Appleby, I have been sitting back just reading the thread after I posted "hedge" and thinking it is not Mulberry BECAUSE of the white outside. I cut nothing but hedge for many years and what I remember is the yellow/orange wood with the distinct white outer ring. Now I am wondering if my memory is going with everything else :-S I gotta find some hedge to cut!

I have one small plank of hedge in my wood shop that was given to me by a guy to make drumsticks for my son. I dug it out today to take a look. It still has potions of the sapwood on the edges and it is definitely quite light by comparison to the heartwood. The same guy gave me a chunk of mulberry, but I covered the ends with lots of wax to stop the checking so I can't see them. Maybe I'll take a peak later and take a few pics. This guy knows his wood better than anybody I ever met.

Hedge is not a common wood around here, so I never thought of it as a firewood, but handling that piece from my wood stash, I can't help but notice how dense and hard it is. I'd love to get a couple cord of that stuff to see what it does in my stove.

 

[tfdchief]

Yep, 2nd set of picks look to be Mulberry. Should have a ncie sweet smell and a super burning wood. I would have said hedge but it is usually orange all the way to the outer bark.

Appleby, I have been sitting back just reading the thread after I posted "hedge" and thinking it is not Mulberry BECAUSE of the white outside. I cut nothing but hedge for many years and what I remember is the yellow/orange wood with the distinct white outer ring. Now I am wondering if my memory is going with everything else :-S I gotta find some hedge to cut!

I have one small plank of hedge in my wood shop that was given to me by a guy to make drumsticks for my son. I dug it out today to take a look. It still has potions of the sapwood on the edges and it is definitely quite light by comparison to the heartwood. The same guy gave me a chunk of mulberry, but I covered the ends with lots of wax to stop the checking so I can't see them. Maybe I'll take a peak later and take a few pics. This guy knows his wood better than anybody I ever met.

Hedge is not a common wood around here, so I never thought of it as a firewood, but handling that piece from my wood stash, I can't help but notice how dense and hard it is. I'd love to get a couple cord of that stuff to see what it does in my stove.

Well you will like it a lot. I still have some very old hedge in my end stacks that I save for overnight burns when it is really cold. The stuff burns like coal :exclaim: Let me know what you find out. I still think it is hedge but mulberry does look a lot like hedge so I may be wrong.