What's this?

This wood looks like it will be soft and light, but it is actually pretty hard, and heavy! This tree was down in Irene (over a year ago), and I just cut it up yesterday. That's Black Loucst behind it, is this "Tree of Heaven", or something else?

Its yellow so its going to be great firewood. My guess mulberry.

Bark looks like young ginko.

Could very well be ailanthus (tree of heaven) or the other thought that comes to mind is aspen.

Did it smell like butt when cutting it?

I say Ginko

Didn't seem to smell at all when cutting it. But I do have a bit of a cold... BUT, it was difficult to cut! The saw kept getting caught up in it. It was pinching the saw, yet there was no pressure on it as would occur if the tree had weight on it... It was laying flat and/or I was cutting on the side with no load... Was kinda weird, I stopped and sharpened the chain thinking the chain was dull, but it made no difference.

It was a decent size tree, 14" or so at base, so it wasn't real young.

Don't think it's mulberry. Mulberry has a reddish cast.

Only tree that I've had trouble cutting through with a sharp chain was dogwood. Have cut mulberry plenty as a kid and it didn't look like that. Not overly familiar with the tree of heaven when mature. Cut the hell out of saplings and poison the stumps to prevent their crappy tree bush hybrids

Ailanthus or Tree Of Hell. I recognize that effing nasty stuff anywhere.Seems heavy now but is light when dry,left more ashes than anything I've ever burned.And it stinks too.Removed a 26" & 18" one (biggest I ever seen) & 12" ones off the property in March 2000.Was still chopping out & mowing over sprouts in the yard in 2004 before they finally stopped.

Doesn't look like gringo bark that I just googled...

Yep, just google that bark, and found this pic. Perfect match. Dang, to bad doesn't burn good, there are a bunch of these down by me. Guess I'll leave them for now.

Check this out, got to page 10, where it says Firewood. It says it has same btu as other hardwoods ( lists red oak, maple...) and has no smell. ?

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/health/resources/pub_Ailanthus-Control-and-Utilization.pdf

The BTUs listed for those are out of whack compared to other sites. Given the reality that actual burners here can tell you definitively that there is a huge difference in a lot of those should tell you all you need to know about the comparisons from that site.

Regardless...you've got the wood, might as well process it further and make use of it. I've got at least two cords of willow out back quartered. When it warms back up a tad, but not enough to thaw that sloppy wet hunk of wood, I'll go split it up and use it eventually....or give it away to anyone who enjoys fire for ambiance. Maybe just bundle it up for when I take my girl camping. It is what it is and you've got it 80% of the way there. Don't let some chart dictate your wood choice unless you're short on space.

Just look at Europe...willow is a coveted wood for coppicing for sustainable firewood. If it burns, it makes heat. Make use of it.

Oh, I'm going to burn the stuff I cut, don't worry! . But there is a lot more where it came from, that I'll leave till I can't find anything else, which will be around 2020 minimum.

But I see why those numbers looked screwed, they are comparing BTU's per pound of wood. It might take twice the volume to make the same weight, which then has the same BTU's. normally it goes by volume of wood I think, not weight.

Definitely not aspen....

The mulberry common in my area is bright yellow when fresh-cut, and turns reddish as it seasons. This is definitely not that.

The only attributes that stuff had (if you could call that a plus) was it dried fairly quickly & split easily.Still I'd rather have Silver Maple any day of the week -dries even faster,normally splits OK & smells wonderful.I actually seek that out when I get the chance.

Main reason I kept & burned that Ailanthus is having 6-7 p/u loads of the stuff & not wanting to have to pay to dump it at county landfill or watch it sit on my front curb next to street all summer cause no one wanting it.Plus sure didnt want to take it to parent's property & risk there being any seeds in the truck bed to start sprouting later.That would make me enemies with the entire county if that crap got started out in the woods there....