Oak Tree Down @ Church - Need ID...

Gents,

This tree is from the Church I attend in Orange County NY. The wood looks just like a while oak but its leaf is something I'm not familiar with... I don't have any pics to post of the tree itself but I pulled this leaf from it today. Any any rate its a large tree and its mine if I want it. The questions is, what is it ?

Thanks !

Joe

looks like a chestnut oak or rock oak. Does it have thick bark and a 2" white sapwood band?
That's my guess, without having any close-up pictures of the tree itself.

Scotty, thanks for the quick response. I dont think this is a Chestnut Oak, leaves are way too big. I have never heard of a Rock Oak though.... I'll have to look that one up. Bark is indeed thick and light gray in color. Tree is about 36 in diameter, about 4 inches of that is sap wood. Its in a swampy area next to a large pond. Heartwood looks just like white Oak. Any other ideas ? I'll post a pic of the tree once I get back to Church next week.

What ever the type of Oak it is, I'm going for it. Should be good in about 2 years to burn...

Joe

Rock oaks grow on the mountains here around my place, they have very thick bark with deep ridges and it is a dark bark. So I am not sure what to tell you. Either way you look at it, if it's oak, it's worth gathering up!

Here is a pic of some common oaks in the northeast, that leaf kinda looks like a swamp white oak according to this pic. You say it's in a wet area and the heartwood looks like white oak , I would lean towards that...By the way, Joe, welcome to Hearth.com!

Welcome to the forum Joe.

I agree on the swamp oak. That will make you some fine firewood. Not too sure about the 2 years though. I'd probably wait 3 years before burning it.

It looks to me like Swamp Oak, Quercus bicolor. The large lobes on the leaves and the wavy leaf edge are typical of Swamp Oak.This tree is also known as Swamp White Oak. My field guide says the lumber is not distinguished from White Oak, so I would expect firewood to be very similar to White Oak.

Regardless of what type of oak it is, you want it. There are no bad oaks. They all take a long time to season, but the wood is all good.

Yeah, you want it.
Oak may take a while to season, but it's premium BTU wood.
Be careful at the base, possible nails hidden in there. Don't use a new chain when working that area.

Swamp white oak, Quercus bicolor.

Hey, Scotty, what exactly is Rock Oak? Never heard that before.

That's the nickname we give chestnut oaks around here. They grow all over the mountains here around the house. You always find them growing in the rockslides!

Scott, I like the picture you posted there of your local oak leaves!

We get mostly the traditional English Oak here (Quercus robur), I've never seen a Northern Pin Oak.

Never seen a Swamp White Oak either, learn something every day here!!

And Joe, welcome to the forum from over here too.........

Woodchip, here is a pin oak that died. Notice all the limbs and many of them growing down rather than up or straight out.

5 of those are at parents acreage 1 hr west of me,all except the Swamp White.Also same 5 are very widespread around here,over most the state in rural & urban areas.Swamp White is in well,swamps & bottomlands scattered around the state,but I've never seen any upclose.

My Peterson's field guide concurs; Swamp Oak. The leaf could also be a basket oak, but the range for that tree is much further south than New York. I've scored big on our church property too. A big sugar maple dropped 1 branch, about 1/5 of the tree and netted me 90% of a cord. Hoo Ha!

Thanks Dennis, that's a lot of wood standing there!

We don't get many old oaks on our churchyards here, they traditionally have an old Yew tree near a church.

That's the nickname we give chestnut oaks around here. They grow all over the mountains here around the house. You always find them growing in the rockslides!

Thanks, Scotty, that's interesting. I used to live in a part of South Jersey where Chestnut Oak was the dominant tree. The soil was sandy, though, and you'd be hard pressed to find a single rock of any kind. Nobody there would think to call it Rock Oak!

the soil on the mountains around here is very sandy and a lot of clay, probably why they grow on the mountains too.

Thanks Gents, I agree, White Swamp Oak for sure. Thanks for the pic Scotty ! I'm going to grab the rest of it up !

Joe