What kind of wood?

[babalu87]

My brother cut a tree down on his property early this summer and I finally went and loaded it up.
I have no idea what it is, the leaves almost look like a Cherry, longer than they are wide and softly toothed ( hard to tell, I have a leaf re-hydrating)

 

[jpl1nh]

Lets see, the toothed cherry leafed like trees I can think of here in the northeast would be elm, beech, the birches, (yellow, grey, black, and white), hickory, ash, walnut, hop hornbeam and cherry! Hop hornbeam virtually never gets that big. The bark and the split piece you have don't match any of the other of those. The color of the split wood and the texture of the bark together perhaps most suggests silver maple though the bark looks somewhat oak like. Their leaves don't resemble cherry at all. Buds are one of the key identifiers of trees but unfortunately are not well formed in late spring and early summer so you're unlikely to find any well developed ones on the twigs on that tree. Are there any other standing trees of the same species in the area that you could get a good up close twig picture of?

 

[DiscoInferno]

I was going to guess hickory based on the leaf description and split wood color, although the bark looks wrong.

 

[babalu87]

Here is a leaf.
They are alternating on the branches

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm thinking maybe sumac, though I'm sure the leaf tells the whole tale and will betray my ignorance. I cut a sumac earlier this summer, and it looked a lot like that. If it is, don't get the pitch on your clothes--it will never come out.

 

[babalu87]

Its all dried out as far as pitch goes, my brother also said it had little white balls on it??????????????
I walked near that tree many times getting MY BOAT from his backyard and never identified it. He is cutting down an ELM next, I am on the fence about taking that one.

Sumac leaves dont grow alternating though do they?

 

[Eric Johnson]

The wood and bark looks like the sumac I cut, but the leaves are compound, like a butternut or walnut.

 

[JustWood]

Hybrid Elm

 

[Burn-1]

I think it's a common buckthorn.

 

[babalu87]

I am leaning towards some type of Elm too, it did split fairly easy though.
Leaves are not close to a Buckthorn.

 

[Jags]

I think its one of them-thar firewood trees. Light a match to it and see if it burns, that'll tell ya fo sure. %-P

It does have an Elm look to it, but it seems to be more elongated than most Elm leaves that I see. Could it be a fancy hybrid "yard" tree like was said earlier, like a hybrid elm? Does it have that "not so good" smell, or is it a sweeter smell?

 

[babalu87]

It has a "sweeter" smell , almost like Maple.

I had it pegged as one of dem dar farwood trees when my brother told me to come pick it up, its killing me to not know exactly what it is. I think many here are the same way, wood burning makes one more interested in trees, especially the ones they burn.

 

[Jags]

Babs - been doing a little research, and everything I can find points back to some variety of Elm (slippery or white are my 2 best guesses).

 

[babalu87]

I was thinking Elm too, thanks.

I think all the horror stories I have read here about Elm are old wives tales, that piece split easy........... now onto the rest.

 

[wg_bent]

I was thinking Elm too, thanks.

I think all the horror stories I have read here about Elm are old wives tales, that piece split easy........... now onto the rest.

There are no old wives tales on how hard elm is to split. Now and then you'll get a piece that's easy to split, but the next one could take 15 minutes. If it's easy to split... it's not elm. Elm is evil. Natures cruel joke.

 

[n6crv]

Hope this is staying with the subject. We got some wood last year that was the hardest stuff to split. It was like it was full of water as it was very heavy and the grain was like it was twisted together. Also the sap that came out as we were trying to dry it was like a clear goo. Is that the way Elm is? I will say once it got burning it burnt hot.
Don

 

[jpl1nh]

I was thinking Elm too, thanks.

I think all the horror stories I have read here about Elm are old wives tales, that piece split easy........... now onto the rest.

I have to disagree that it is an elm. First, all elms have a very fibery wood structure, even when they are easy to split, which is not often, the fiberousness is obvious. Second, as you progress in size on the trunk, the bark gets progressively corded. Third, all elm variety leaves are sharpley serrated, not softly serrated as yours is, and the leaves all come to a point at the tip where your leaf is rounded. More questions; how tall was the tree, was it narrow or wide branching, were the white balls fruit, was it a wild grown tree or a planted tree, how long is the leaf you show, are there any others growing near, if so, can you get a bud sample? The leaf completely thows it off of anything I can key out. The leaf looks like serviceberry, latin "amelanchier" which is common around here but doesn't normally obtain the girth your nice wood has. It definately isn't sumac, cause sumac never gets that big! The leaf does look cherry like though again it's rounded, not pointed, and cherry wood is decidedly red. Is this a hoax? Are you mixing leaves, bark, and splits from different trees just to see what we come up with? :-/

 

[babalu87]

No Hoax and the tree could be a hybrid, the house is over 100 years old. I will split more of it to show the color in different parts of the trunk.
I can assure you that I am trying to figure out what it is too, I am stumped (no pun). All came from one stump.

 

[DiscoInferno]

Hope this is staying with the subject. We got some wood last year that was the hardest stuff to split. It was like it was full of water as it was very heavy and the grain was like it was twisted together. Also the sap that came out as we were trying to dry it was like a clear goo. Is that the way Elm is? I will say once it got burning it burnt hot.
Don

Sweet gum?

 

[tutu_sue]

Try this tree ID website: http://www.fw.vt.edu/dendro/forsite/key/intro.htm

 

[jpl1nh]

No Hoax and the tree could be a hybrid, the house is over 100 years old. I will split more of it to show the color in different parts of the trunk.
I can assure you that I am trying to figure out what it is too, I am stumped (no pun). All came from one stump.

I didn't really think you were kidding, but the clues you have do not seem to fit anything conventional. However, after saying it I really don't think it's an elm, it occurred to me that it might be Japanese Zelcova which has recently been used as a substitute for American elm since it is not susceptible to Dutch elm disease. Zelcova is in the elm family.. check out this link and see if it fits. http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hcs/TMI/Plantlist/ze_rrata.html and http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/z/zelser/zelser1.html. This tree is not uncommon though it would have been a planted tree not wild or escaped. As for the wood...I've never cut or split one so I can't say but as Jags says it certainly would qualify as one of them thar firewood trees! PS, did you leaf picture posting dissapear?

 

[JBinKC]

I tried to do an ID and couldn't come up with a match that satisfied me. All I can divulge is the leaf as presented looks obovate to me (the stem is on the narrow part of the leaf) and that is what I was trying to match.