Mystery hardwood, got an ID anyone?

[Big Scott]

Don't know what it is, but it's beyond hardwood. Stuff is like concrete! Actually had the splitting maul bounce off it quite a few times and it's at least twice as heavy as anything else I've worked on. I figure the heavier and harder it is the better, once it dries, but it'd be nice to know what I've got. Definitely going back to see if there's more of it accessible.

 

[gzecc]

I'd guess some kind of young maple

 

[Big Scott]

I was thinking that was a possibility since there were some red maples growing nearby, except that it's so much heavier than what I've gotten from a definite red maple before and this looks different enough to make me question it. The other I cut was 16" - 18" thick and this is only about 10", so maybe the difference is just from being a younger tree? Or maybe it's heavier because it was in a swampy area and is just holding more moisture - too cold here to check with a meter for a while yet, and too hard to tell from just looking because to me it looks half dry where fresh cut but I'm new to this and not so good at judging that way.

Actually, my judgment can be off a tad anyway. This was made very clear to me when I thought myself clever for balancing a smallish tire up on three rounds around my chopping block to keep the split pieces from flying all over the place. It was working for a while, and then I split a nice dry piece of ash that came apart with a crack and one half took out the plastic birdfeeder while the other flew a good six feet and nailed my glass of soda where I'd placed it "safely" out of the way. Was a good heavy glass too... I'd read about the tire thing in an older post, but now I'm guessing that a somewhat smaller tire is needed, with less launching room available!

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Can you make some splits and post a pic....

 

[gzecc]

I was thinking that was a possibility since there were some red maples growing nearby, except that it's so much heavier than what I've gotten from a definite red maple before and this looks different enough to make me question it. The other I cut was 16" - 18" thick and this is only about 10", so maybe the difference is just from being a younger tree? Or maybe it's heavier because it was in a swampy area and is just holding more moisture - too cold here to check with a meter for a while yet, and too hard to tell from just looking because to me it looks half dry where fresh cut but I'm new to this and not so good at judging that way.

Actually, my judgment can be off a tad anyway. This was made very clear to me when I thought myself clever for balancing a smallish tire up on three rounds around my chopping block to keep the split pieces from flying all over the place. It was working for a while, and then I split a nice dry piece of ash that came apart with a crack and one half took out the plastic birdfeeder while the other flew a good six feet and nailed my glass of soda where I'd placed it "safely" out of the way. Was a good heavy glass too... I'd read about the tire thing in an older post, but now I'm guessing that a somewhat smaller tire is needed, with less launching room available!

Sounds like tire was too small. Here's a good video of the tire technique.

 

[Big Scott]

Just had a thought, and here I'll show my inexperience for sure Where I'm located they tap a lot of maples for syrup, and the live ones where I was scrounging don't look like the same tree. The red maple I've cut up before was from a neighbor's property and was 100% positive a red maple, bought from a nursery and put in with the landscaping. Thing is, the leaves are only red for a short time most years and then go to orange, which is what the leaves look like on all the other maples in the area. Is there a trick to telling the difference between the red maples and the sugar maples when you don't have leaves or seeds to look at? I guess it's not a huge difference, since it'll all burn better than the pine and should dry faster than oak.

Here's what it looks like split

 

[gzecc]

Just had a thought, and here I'll show my inexperience for sure Where I'm located they tap a lot of maples for syrup, and the live ones where I was scrounging don't look like the same tree. The red maple I've cut up before was from a neighbor's property and was 100% positive a red maple, bought from a nursery and put in with the landscaping. Thing is, the leaves are only red for a short time most years and then go to orange, which is what the leaves look like on all the other maples in the area. Is there a trick to telling the difference between the red maples and the sugar maples when you don't have leaves or seeds to look at? I guess it's not a huge difference, since it'll all burn better than the pine and should dry faster than oak.

Here's what it looks like split

There are quite a few maples. There are no tricks just experience like you have with the reds you know.
Here is more info on maples.
http://www.maple-trees.com/pages/maple-tree-identification.php

 

[Big Scott]

Sounds like tire was too small. Here's a good video of the tire technique.

Thanks! That looks much better than how I was doing it - I'll have to try nailing some scrap boards to the block to hold the tire up instead of balancing it on rounds

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Don't know what it is, but it's beyond hardwood. Stuff is like concrete! Actually had the splitting maul bounce off it quite a few times and it's at least twice as heavy as anything else I've worked on. I figure the heavier and harder it is the better, once it dries, but it'd be nice to know what I've got. Definitely going back to see if there's more of it accessible.

That is either popple or cottonwood. Wait 6 months to a year and it will be a whole lot lighter.

 

[bigbarf48]

I think BS is right on poplar. I dont think its cottonwood because the bark is too smooth, and it doesn't have the characteristic orange sapwood but it does look like some kind of poplar

 

[Chimney Smoke]

The bark and straight white grain look like poplar to me.

 

[bigbarf48]

Alot of the smaller poplars around me have that same U-shaped "scar" where small branches grow as well

 

[mark cline]

That is either popple or cottonwood. Wait 6 months to a year and it will be a whole lot lighter.

X2 that was my first thought

 

[firefighterjake]

First thought was poplar ... usually they're lighter weight and relatively easy to split but once in awhile you can run across one like this. One good way to determine if it is a poplar or in that family is to rub your hand along the bark ... typically the bark will feel waxy to the touch and your hand may look like it has talcum powder on it. You can also scratch the bark .... poplar will often have a greenish hue below the first thin layer of bark.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

One thing I've noticed with splitting poplar - when it's a straight, green tree it splits extremely easy but if you get a tree with branches or a standing dead one they are much more difficult to split.

 

[Razo]

I came across a similar wood a month ago and posted a request for I.D. and consensus was Aspen/Popple.
I found this as a deadfall and it was beyond heavy when I was first bucking it in the woods. I CSS it and it has already dried some to the point where it far lighter than it was. When it is fully dry it will probably be extremely light just like Aspen/Popple.

So I vote Aspen/Popple

 

[Wood Duck]

I'll second or third the identification of this wood as some sort of poplar. I'd guess Cottonwood or something unusual like Balm-of-Gilead rather than aspen, but who cares? They are all pretty similar.

I think the reason it is heavy is because it is full of water, and that water is frozen, making it seem like a very hard wood.

 

[Big Scott]

Razo, that looks identical so I'm good with calling it poplar/aspen/popple . . . . I had some of that before but it looked different, probably because that bunch was from a tree that had been down a while and up on top of another downed tree, so it was pretty dry stuff. I'm learning that it's mighty tough to ID downed and dead trees since you can't look at leaves or seeds/nuts/fruits to help. I've looked at a few tree ID books small enough to carry with me but a lot of the bark pics look the same for tons of unrelated trees, so that'd be of limited help. Seems like I'd be best off trying to find matching live trees nearby to compare too when they leaf out. Thanks for the ID once again everyone!

 

[nrford]

Aspen.