Wood ID Please

The OP may wanna go back and see if some of the members here that claim it's Cottonwood have been raiding the pile!

I'm no expert on Black Locust, but . ..

While Chestnut Oak around here has deep furrows to the bark, those pics are NOT Chestnut Oak.

I would go get a P/U load, split it, take more pics and check MC and weight. Then burn it.

How does it do for it's MC? How dense is it. If you can't tell the difference between Cottonwood and any Oak/BL when you burn it, you have no business burning good wood

I will go back and grab a load cut/split and take more photos. I'm afraid it is cottonwood. One of the guys who works for us lives kinda by this site and he said he thinks it's cottonwood. Unfortunately the stuff won't be ready to burn anytime soon regardless if its oak or CW so I cant find out that way. But I will cut and split some as well as take some photos of the surrounding tree line and update this post...

You'll know by the grain if it is oak or cottonwood when you split it. I have around 6 cord of BL and I can guarantee you that is not what you have there. Could be cottonwood, but I'm sticking with rock oak. I wanna see a close-up of a split.

The bark does look like Bur Oak,tons of it around here,within a couple blocks of me & acres more in pure stands within 2 to 100 miles. I dont see any medullary rays that's prominent with any oaks however,a closeup pic of end grain and/or split piece would really help. When he said "some of its 40-48" diameter",thats when I originally thought Eastern Cottonwood,very few Bur Oaks over 36" here,most are 24" to 36" max.

I cut a lot of Bur Oak here in Southern MN and it sure looks like that to me. Probably the best oak there is. Splits as easy as pie but is in the white oak family, so high BTU's.

...and Bur oaks get huge here...275 inches in circumference is the state record (87.5 in in diameter)...

I'm not sure what it is, but it should be very easy to tell if it's cottonwood vs. oak/locust just by picking it up.

Smell of cotton is pretty nasty!

Cotton wood I believe, but tho the bark looks like rock oak 40/48" is a little much.

And a fresh-cut end grain...

I am going to guess cottonwood. Bark does look like chestnut oak some but with the size of that tree probably not. The wood must have alot of water. It sure is cracking. Split it and look for the oak grain!

Wait a Cotton-Pickin minute!!

Let's get Sherlock on it . . .

There are 10 cord () sitting in a pile behind the fire house. Many firemen have trucks and burn wood. Why have they not taken it?

Sherlock might also wonder if this explains why some members bi+ch about trying to burn Oak. He might deduce that some of you think you're burning Oak when it's actually Willow or some other wood.

Let the flaming begin

Good point, I cant see oak or locust lasting long around a firehouse. Knock on the firehouse door and ask them, Im sure they know.

Ive never heard of Bur Oak, probably not much around here so I looked it up, it does look like it could be Bur Oak

+1 ....easiest way to tell. Unfortunately I'm leaning cottonwood. I'd take some of it anyway and split it small. Burns nice in the shoulder season and will eventually make good ultra dry kindling

My new saw (555) won't be here til friday so I'm gonna wait 'til then and kill two birds with one stone. I'll post some better pics Friday night. I appreciate all the input.

"Oak...yeah, it's Oak, that's the ticket!"

But if there's ten cords maybe it's not all Cottonwood...

Does it smell like cat pee when split?

Yea thats one way to smell it. Lots of jucie flying too!

Chestnut Oak and Black Locust, get confused in pictures, to me it looks like Chestnut Oak, When you cut B L with chainsaw the chips will remind you of treated lumber, kind of green. I have no idea what cottonwood looks like, but there is alot of it in your area. I would say someone in that firehall could I D the wood.


Here is a Chestnut Oak in my front yard And some B L in the truck

I processed about 6 cords of BL last year and while your wood is similar, I d not think it is BL. I have nothing to add about what it might be though,

I amstill thinking I to may not have Black Locust.too. See link to my earlier wood ID quest. Link

Anybody care to contrubute a thought or two , please follow up on my thread , I do not want to hijack this one.

This dag Black Locust seems to be difficult to ID, at least for me.

Ye old cottonwood.