Neighbor offered me a scrounge...

...they had a tree felled during Christmas week, and she offered me the wood.

Spent yesterday bucking & blocking it, loaded onto the trailer and brought home.

I really don't know what this is, and I didn't see the tree before it was taken down.

Any idea what it is?




Thanks for any input.

Cheers!

Firewood!

The bark is white oakish looking, what does it smell like?

I am the WRONG person to ask what the wood smells like.

Due to a sinus procedure several years ago, I have a very diminished sense of smell and taste.

The small blocks that I cut for loading north/south are splitting okay with a splitting axe, but the larger blocks will be a chore.

maple

Uh, no. Maple has neither dark heartwood nor huge medullary rays.

White oak is a good guess.

WHITE OAK! 3 years from now you're gonna love it! Lucky guy!

The bark looks like white oak, but I don't know about the size of those rings. I just finished up splitting a 36" white oak and the rings were nowhere near that fat, nor was the sap wood that thick either.

The smell of oak is a dead giveaway though. Too bad the OP's sense of smell is not what it used to be.

White oak splits pretty easily, but with a few strings here and there. Going to have to wait for the experts to chime in on this one.

Im with everybody about the bark looking like white oak but those rings are way to fat to be unless its radioactive white oak or some other mutant haha. I just split 3 white oaks, bark looks the same but the rings are very tight as it is a dense hard wood that grows very slow

The rings where also throwing me off, that's why I asked about the smell.

If you're married or have a girlfriend take a split in and ask her to smell your wood.

Sure looks like white oak to me, too.....one of my favorites.

Tramontana, sorry to hear about that sinus problem, as this is one of the best smelling firewoods there is. Nice, vanilla-ish scent when cutting and splitting, smells very good when burning.

Great score, bud!

I as well am going with the oak family.


KC

Well, we do live downwind from the old Rocky Flats; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Flats_Plant

Having just cut a swedish candle out of a block that is almost 20"dia and 28" long, I might be inclined to go with the white oak. It does smell a bit like some of my wood working. Haven't ever cut or burned oak, so I'm excited to get this seasoned. Winter 14-15 or 15-16? Colorado is blessed with very dry weather/low humidity, so hopefully sooner then later.

Cheers!

The tightness of the medulary rings are more relative to where the tree is growing. If the tree is growing in the open, the rings won't be as dense or tight. but if that tree is growing in a dense forest, those rings will get very tight because of the lack of sun in a dense forest.

I'm sticking with white oak.......

That swedish candle will be really cool...we made a couple of those up at the scout camp this past fall out of a barkless standing dead tree, they should be ready for later this month when the kids have their winter campout/Klondike competition.....

Here is some year old white oak splits to compare. They have been undercover and have never been wet so they haven't grayed. The only difference I see is the rings but if what scotty overkill said then I think it is white oak and will give you some good heat and a long burn a couple years down the road. Good score!! I have more oak than anything on my property and really around the area so I guess Im spoiled

The very obvious medullary rays in the wood make me think oak, but the wide growth rings make me think not oak. The tree shows fewer than 30 annual growth rings but is a fairly large tree. Oaks can grow pretty fast under ideal conditions (and an irrigated yard in Colorado might be ideal conditions) but I haven't seen any with growth rings like that one. The bark sort of resembles White Oak but could be a lot of trees.

This was a planted tree, not a wild or naturally occurring tree (there are no large oaks in Colorado as far as I know) so it could be almost anything. Maybe it was an oak of some species we don't see here in the east. My final answer is that I don't know what it is.

Nice score.

My guess is hickory.

I have not seen white oak split as cleanly as what is pictured. My stuff is always somewhat stringy or very stringy.

Pretty area over there, Jasper - My first teaching gig was in Lancaster county. Is that awesome German family diner still above you near the bridge?

You talkin about over in White Stone somewhere? Im not sure, I dont make it over there much. Might be worth riding over to check out. Do you remember the name of it. I love the area here.

Nice score there tramontana! Those are some mighty fine BTUs at just the right price.

Medullary rays always mean oak in my neck of woods... does any type of wood that is not oak have them ?

Every sort of wood has them. They're just bigger and more easily visible in oak.