Trying to ID the trees I cut down

[wattdogg]

ok I have been cutting wood with my dad since I was 10. I never really cared what the type of tree it was all I wanted to do is get it cut and get out of the woods. Now that I have started to cut my own wood ( I love it by the way and my young sons enjoy it as well) I want to teach them what woods to cut and not cut so I need to find the best way to ID the trees. I know the basics, real basics, like a walnut and sycamore see I told you I know basics Is there a website out there to look at the bark or leaves to decide this? I cut one the other day thinking it was a nice hard wood and the dang thing turned out to be a cotton wood. I just found this site and absolutely love it thanks for the help in advance.

 

[DougA]

This should be posted in the Wood Shed.

 

[wattdogg]

This should be posted in the Wood Shed.

thank you

 

[Wood Duck]

I'd buy a book and use it to ID your trees. Most books are based on leaves. I use a Peterson Guide to Eastern Trees, and I have heard the new tree guide by David Sibley is good. Start with a common tree and use the guide to learn the key features that you can use to separate it from similar trees. When you're out in the woods, pick some trees you think are that species and find the important characteristics, which are usually some feature of the leaves, twigs, buds, etc. Soon you'll know that tree even without checking the characteristic. Then learn another. Then another. It won't take long before you can ID all the common trees in your area and you'll also be able to tell which trees are not the common ones. There are probably no more than10 or 15 trees that make up 95% of the trees in your local area.

At first this is a drag, but soon you'll look forward to finding a new tree and using the book. I don't know another way to learn to ID anything in the natural world - trees, birds, mushrooms, whatever. There might be an app for this, but I doubt it would work well. I know websites won't work well.

 

[aansorge]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/links-to-tree-id-and-other-links.46259/