Know your end grain? Wood ID please

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wahoowad

Minister of Fire
Dec 19, 2005
1,669
Virginia
Could use a little help getting an ID on this split. I cut the end off with my bandsaw to get a clean look at the end grain.

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Impossible without more information
 
Box Elder I believe.
 
Sorry, I meant to add this is in central Virginia.
 
Rather quick growing species...
 
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I'm no good at end grain. But my guess from the three photos is some type of maple. (Which would include box elder.)
 
it almost kinda looks like wild black cherry . i've encountered a few with some big rings on it

I cut the end off this split hoping it was cherry, but did not see the typical darker/cherry looking color. It did smell slightly sweet but guess that could also be from it being in the maple family. I looked up box elder and don’t really recall harvesting any wood from a tree like that, but doesn’t mean I didn’t get some without knowing it. But I 100% know I do have cherry mixed into my wood piles, but all of those are clearly cherry if I slice them open to check.

I was curious as I needed some wood for my smoker and initially grabbed this. But I didn’t use it as I was able to find some other cherry.
 
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you could try burning it. if it's cherry it will smell nice if it is box elder it will smell like dog poop. smolder it with a propane torch
 
With growth rings that big, my bet is on Black Locust.