What Kind of Wood is This?

[JotulOwner]

I have quite a bit of this wood, but I am not sure what it is.

Someone told me it's Ash, but I checked a book I have and it looks like Beech.

The book also says that Beech is one of the "finest fuel woods", but it is difficult to dry, split or machine because of it's interlocking grain.

I would like to know if this is Beech (or what it is if it isn't Beech). How quickly does this wood season (over a year like Oak)?

Thanks

 

[branchburner]

Not ash. Could be beech, appears more like maple to me. Either way, split and stacked now can burn 2010/11. (sooner than oak, which wants another year +)

 

[smokinj]

thats a limb of a silver maple

 

[gzecc]

Hard to tell from one piece. Do you have a piece of the trunk?

 

[JotulOwner]

The split wood in my photo looks like Maple to me, but the bark doesn't look like Silver Maple in the book I have (Identifying Trees by Michael Williams). The bark looks to me like Beech when comparing the book photo with the bark on the wood I have.

It's all split into pieces like the ones in the photo I posted so I can't show the whole trunk.

 

[smokinj]

The split wood in my photo looks like Maple to me, but the bark doesn't look like Silver Maple in the book I have (Identifying Trees by Michael Williams). The bark looks to me like Beech when comparing the book photo with the bark on the wood I have.

It's all split into pieces like the ones in the photo I posted so I can't show the whole trunk.

if you where looking at the trunk that would be right but thats a limb

 

[gzecc]

If you have the whole tree and all the bark looks like the one in the picture, I vote for beech. But could be silver maple.

 

[JotulOwner]

If you have the whole tree and all the bark looks like the one in the picture, I vote for beech. But could be silver maple.

I have about 3/4 cord of this and the bark is the same on all of it from what I can tell.

 

[smokinj]

If you have the whole tree and all the bark looks like the one in the picture, I vote for beech. But could be silver maple.

I have about 3/4 cord of this and the bark is the same on all of it from what I can tell.

3/4 cord wouldnt get you into the trunk of a large silver i have been wrong before. have done over 50 cords of silver maple wouldnt bet the farm on it, but sure would the truck. (its a 93 s-10 lol)

 

[JotulOwner]

If you have the whole tree and all the bark looks like the one in the picture, I vote for beech. But could be silver maple.

I have about 3/4 cord of this and the bark is the same on all of it from what I can tell.

3/4 cord wouldnt get you into the trunk of a large silver i have been wrong before. have done over 50 cords of silver maple wouldnt bet the farm on it, but sure would the truck. (its a 93 s-10 lol)

I am not sure how much of the tree I have because it was a small pile of rounds. I thought some of the rounds were 12" or more (before the guy I bought them from split them for me), but I am not sure. You may be right. I was looking at the pics in the book, but they show mostly trunks. If what I have is from limbs instead of the trunk, it could be Silver Maple. I looked at a picture of the trunk of a small Red Maple in the book and it also looks a lot like what I have. I guess there is no real way to be sure. Anyway, Maple is good wood.

 

[ikessky]

My first thought was soft maple

 

[JoeyD]

My first thought was red oak. Sometimes the limbs are smooth. But I seem to be in the minority here.

 

[savageactor7]

Looks like Maple to me too...should split pretty easy. Huh?

 

[JustWood]

I need a closer pic,,,, my eyes are glazed over with Keystone! :roll:

 

[smokinj]

I need a closer pic,,,, my eyes are glazed over with Keystone! :roll:

lol i still trust your judgment.

 

[Duetech]

Silver maple splits pretty easy and the grain your pieces show does not look like it is "interlocked". We have a silver maple in our front yard that is in excess of 60 years old and the bark on the branches lool a lot like the pictures you show. My neighbor has several beech and the bark does not match well with your pictures even thought there are some similarities. Silver maple is not bad but beech is better firewood.

 

[Wood Pirate]

I burn alot of maple from my property and it looks exactly like that. Do you have any leaves?

 

[Cluttermagnet]

My vote is also for some kind of Maple. The smooth bark and uniform white wood look just like the kind we have growing locally here. The main trunks eventually get some texture to the bark, but it stays smooth for a very long time. The branches are always smooth. That looks like a smaller branch. Or trunk.

 

[Hurricane]

I vote for maple. I have a few big and small beech trees on my property and they are different. Either way it looks like firewood to me.

 

[Ratman]

My mouth is watering just looking at that Beech.