Wood ID ??

[ANeat]

Got some assorted wood from a guy that had some trees down a couple years ago. Mostly oak but had some of this in there as well.

I didnt get a chance to talk to him and was splitting some up the other day and got to wondering.

At first I thought it was pine of some type, it is fairly heavy and I thought it was still green but a fresh split checks at 17% moisture.

Grain looks funky like poplar but the weight/density really has me puzzled. Probably close to the weight of oak just by picking up a couple of similar sized pieces.

Any ideas?

 

[smokinj]

Got some assorted wood from a guy that had some trees down a couple years ago. Mostly oak but had some of this in there as well.

I didnt get a chance to talk to him and was splitting some up the other day and got to wondering.

At first I thought it was pine of some type, it is fairly heavy and I thought it was still green but a fresh split checks at 17% moisture.

Grain looks funky like poplar but the weight/density really has me puzzled. Probably close to the weight of oak just by picking up a couple of similar sized pieces.

Any ideas?

Silver Maple!

 

[Battenkiller]

Looks like cherry that's on the way out to me.

 

[wooddope]

+1 silver maple

 

[bsearcey]

Bark looks cherry like, but with the spalting taking place I'll vote for silver maple. Funny it's so heavy though. Silver and red maple tend to get pretty light when seasoned.

 

[ANeat]

Thanks guys, Im still not sure but I think Smokin Jay may be on to it, or at least close. There are a few Maples that are in the same weight range as Oak. I finally looked up a weight chart and the stuff certainly has some heft to it.... I was actually a little suprised to see several Maples in the 40 pound sq ft range... http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/weigt-wood-d_821.html

The bark is a little beat up from being tossed around and seasoning so it may be tough to get exact

More than likely not cherry as the wood is the same color as the split shown all the way thru. I wish it was cherry though.

I think the odd coloring may be the begining of a little punkiness setting in, Im not sure. Its dry enough, Ill be sending it up the chimney before too long

 

[oaksmoke2]

Ponderosa Pine

 

[muncybob]

Ponderosa Pine

I was thinking pine also.....we have some silvers here and I don't see bark like that?

 

[Wood Duck]

It looks like maybe maple to me. Could be Red Maple. one thing I am sure of is that the bark on this piece has been significantly damaged and looks different than it did originally. You can see that the tops of the ridges in the bark are rubbed off. i think the reddish color you see is mostly due to newly exposed material where ridges have rubbed off. Looks to me like the bark was originally a lot greyer in color than it appears now.

 

[FLINT]

I also think Jay is right on,

looks like silver maple to me as well

 

[Jags]

I'm gonna call Maple on the splits, but the wood behind the splits is PINE, that I know for sure. ;-)

 

[Battenkiller]

More than likely not cherry as the wood is the same color as the split shown all the way thru. I wish it was cherry though.

I think the odd coloring may be the begining of a little punkiness setting in, Im not sure. Its dry enough, Ill be sending it up the chimney before too long

The edges of the split on top show a much lighter colored wood next to the bark. Is this an illusion? I'm going with cherry until I see that there is no light colored sapwood at all.

As far as punkiness, that's what I meant when I said it was "on the way out". Punky look and some discoloration going on there. Doesn't look like true spalting to me, just stained from whatever fungus is in it. I admit that the bark is pretty beat up, but it doesn't seem to have those long furrows like in the silver maple around here. Plus, I doubt silver maple at 17% MC would feel dense.

Try burning some and smelling it. ;-)

 

[FLINT]

silver maple is pretty heavy wet, but pretty light when dry.

maybe your moisture meter was wrong or not working properly. did you check several pieces?

 

[ANeat]

Alright, here is some more info. I have a good bit of Cherry on hand so its easy to do a side by side comparison.

First pic is another piece of the mystery wood on the left, the orignal piece and a piece of Cherry, pretty tough to tell :lol:

The same pieces flipped over

A piece of Cherry on the left and a piece of the mystery wood on the right

The meter checks good on my assorted tests, 5% to 7% on various kiln dried lumber


A fresh split on the cherry

And the same with the mystery wood

 

[Jags]

Your mystery 17.7% wood is maple.

 

[smokinj]

Thanks guys, Im still not sure but I think Smokin Jay may be on to it, or at least close. There are a few Maples that are in the same weight range as Oak. I finally looked up a weight chart and the stuff certainly has some heft to it.... I was actually a little suprised to see several Maples in the 40 pound sq ft range... http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/weigt-wood-d_821.html

The bark is a little beat up from being tossed around and seasoning so it may be tough to get exact

More than likely not cherry as the wood is the same color as the split shown all the way thru. I wish it was cherry though.

I think the odd coloring may be the begining of a little punkiness setting in, Im not sure. Its dry enough, Ill be sending it up the chimney before too long

Not close dead on...lol Its 60 percent of what I do. Our city is over ran by them and they have different looks depending of the tree.
I even mill the good ones.

 

[ANeat]

I think it is Maple as well.

Threw a couple pieces on some hot coals this morning just to verify any doubts to the moisture and it was flaming in about 20 seconds.

Smells like Heat

 

[ANeat]

Jay do you see much with the color like that ? We cut up a bunch of maple when I was younger and I cant recall ever seeing any with that coloring.

Like BK mentioned earlier, is that the onset of some punkiness thats causing the color??

 

[smokinj]

Jay do you see much with the color like that ? We cut up a bunch of maple when I was younger and I cant recall ever seeing any with that coloring.

Like BK mentioned earlier, is that the onset of some punkiness thats causing the color??

Yes and there is even splating going on as well, very common its starting to rot but still good wood. Burn it this year though.

 

[Battenkiller]

OK, I concede. Definitely a maple of some sort.

[/quote]

 

[ANeat]

Yes and there is even splating going on as well, very common its starting to rot but still good wood. Burn it this year though.

Will do, Thanks again everyone ...

 

[firefighterjake]

I wouldn't stake my life on it . . . but those splits look a lot like red maple to me . . . I handled a lot of red maple last summer and the bark/wood grain looks a lot like the red maple I took down this past weekend.

 

[smokinj]

I wouldn't stake my life on it . . . but those splits look a lot like red maple to me . . . I handled a lot of red maple last summer and the bark/wood grain looks a lot like the red maple I took down this past weekend.

piece of wood is just that! Not throwing any lifes around here...lol

 

[Battenkiller]

piece of wood is just that! Not throwing any lifes around here...lol

Right! It and several of its brothers will be somewhere in the atmosphere tomorrow. Every split is different. Within a species, even within a specific tree there will be differences. I have had cherry that was so light I didn't even want to waste the space in the stove, another piece as hard as ash. It's all about averages IMHO. That said, if my average wood was like the average silver maple, I think I would be less happy than with the hickory, ash, locust, and cherry mix I will be burning this season. ;-)

 

[NH_Wood]

I wouldn't stake my life on it . . . but those splits look a lot like red maple to me . . . I handled a lot of red maple last summer and the bark/wood grain looks a lot like the red maple I took down this past weekend.

+1 - looks like the red maple I've worked on - I don't think it's silver maple. Cheers!