So I Found This Old Moss Covered Log.....

So while cutting some ash my neighbor gave me (see "Ask and Ye Shall Receive") I found this old log covered in green moss. Just for giggles and grins I cut it. Look what I found! I can't tell what it is but it's quite dense and most of it seems to be usable. Even the discolored wedge I cut out of it is rock solid. As soon as I can get a piece split I'll post for and i.d. You just never know!



Notice the left log; I've already marked it to cut.

Ralphie Boy, you have just discovered the secret gem of the woods. I, my little grasshopper, have embelished in its lovliness.
You have red elm ..................

Master, you are wise in the way of the woods! That dude will be in rounds and my pile tomorrow

With that beautiful grain, it would be put up a year or so in my woodshop awaiting the band saw. I'd like to see that milled up into slabs. Where is the drooling smiley face?

Looks like a bookcase or small toolchest to me there.....

When you split it, can you post a few pics of the grain. I just gotta see what it looks like.

Agreed, some type of box with a running grain on all sides.

Will Do!

Cut away that spalting (would've been better color before it set in 3-4 yrs ago IMO) & you could still salvage 75% at least of that 1 chunk...

It's amazing the conditions some wood will survive. A few months ago I answered a CL ad from a contractor who wanted to give away firewood that had been sitting in the yard of a burnt-out abandoned house he was rehabbing. When I got there I found a haphazard pile of rotten silver maple rounds, mushrooms growing everywhere. *Under* the maple, sitting directly in the dirt, were several large rounds of mulberry, the ends weathered black and the bark richly decorated with some odd orange mold. I split a few of the mulberry rounds open and they were perfect - not a hint of punkiness after who knows how many years in the mud.

Oh yeah,Mulberry is quite resistant to decay.Not like its cousin Osage Orange/Hedge,but well above average.Old times in lots of areas of the midwest & south would use Mulberry for fence posts on their land.I've used smaller long splits for various outdoor/garden stakes,will last like White Oak if its all heartwood.

Here you go, Jon.....

Just cut some red oak the other day that had been down for 5+yrs and although there was some outer punk the majority was/is great fire wood! Agreed - you never know until you dip the chain in there.

Regarding osage - It lasts longer than iron(potentially) I have dug osage logs out of a ditch that had been laying there for who knows how many years with annual complete submersion and laying 1/2 or more in mud that dried to cement later in the summer. After removing the outside of the logs it was golden and solid inside and made great longbows!! Not sure if anything will last in adverse conditions like osage(or burn hotter!!)

Hedge or Osage will last almost forever in the woods. I've cut some that looked like old black iron, but burned like coal. The good part about mullberry is that there are no hedge thorns.