Wood id

[brian89gp]

Can anyone help ID this wood? Turns the red/brown after exposed for about a year, fresh cut is the yellow. Heavy/solid wood, on par if not heavier then oak.

 

[Wood Duck]

I think it is either Osage Orange or Mulberry. I rarely cut either one so I am not sure which. I also never cut Red Elm which is the other possibility that comes to mind.

 

[Brewmonster]

Mulberry.

 

[basod]

bark looks like hickory, end grain not so much.

 

[Thistle]

Wood looks like either Mulberry or Osage/Hedge,they are botanical cousins so to speak.But bark looks more like Osage.Mulberry is roughly the same weight/density as Red/Black Oak,bit less than the various White Oaks.Osage/Hedge is almost 20% heavier than the Oaks.

Whichever one it is,you got some great wood there.Especially for those bitterly cold mid winter nights.

 

[swagler85]

agreed looks like Mulberry, I have a bunch c/s/s but havent burned any yet. Looking forward to burning it this year when it gets cold!

 

[The Beagler]

I think it's hedge apple (Osage). It's a darker yellow than mulberry. That looks like the bark as well. I got a decent load of both hedge & mulberry last week. Hedge is a very dense & heavy wood. Mulberry is too, but hedge is heavier.

 

[brian89gp]

I was thinking mulberry too, but I had never cut it before nor is it very common in the area I picked it up from. The tree was cut 1-2 years ago and left in the woods, that could be partially to blame for the different coloring.

I know it is not hedge, wrong bark.

 

[gzecc]

First guess was mulberry, although I have no experience with osage.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

I think mulberry because the bark doesn't look like any of ther hedge I've got growing around me. But it doesn't matter if its osage orange, a.k.a. hedge, or mulberry they are both great BTU producing woods. Neither of which you would want to burn in an open fireplace or fire pit cause both can spit burning further than cousin Nate can spit watermellon seeds!

 

[osagebow]

This is the bark from a hedge (aka osage) stave on my porch - sorry, kinda blurry. But mine is a much younger tree. That might be hedge ya got. bark doesn't look quite like the older trees, but could be. If the leaves were kinda oval with points, and the thorns made limbing a PITA, it's osage. Three fingered "Mittens" for leaves would be mulberry. Have a mulberry CSS in my stacks,pretty sure bark is similar but more flakey. I'm guessin' mulbery but "hedging" that....hahaha

 

[JOHN BOY]

Ive burned plenty of mullberry , Looks like mullberry to me excellent firewood. Hav'nt burned much hedge. Like others have said there both great btu woods. enjoy

 

[Woody Stover]

I think mulberry because the bark doesn't look like any of ther hedge I've got growing around me.

Same here, so my guess would be Mulberry. Can you split one and get a pic? Hedge I've seen is neon yellow-green on a fresh split.

 

[chvymn99]

Definately Hedge, evens got the the fungus that my Hedge gets.

Did you get that out of my stacks? I see your from KC area too. Great wood you have on your hands.

 

[Thistle]

Mulberry & Hedge will start to lose that yellowish or yellowish orange in a few days once its exposed to light & air.I have some Mulberry in the stack that's 2yrs old now & its a dark chocolate on the ends,like Black Walnut.And some green Mulberry that's barely 6 weeks old that's the typical golden brown,the color changes rapidly at first,then slows down.

 

[brian89gp]

Sorry chvymn99, came from down in the ozarks. Was collecting firewood for my dad and ran across it, in KC mulberry tree's are a dime a dozen but down there they are hardly ever found. I usually ID them by the purple stained ground, never really paid much attention to the bark/wood before.

I actually grabbed it from the pile in hopes it was mulberry, gonna chop it up and dry it to be used as smoking wood. Have a few 8' sections of wild cherry that can be seen in the picture that are going to meet the same fate.

...I got over 2 cord of hedge and 2 cord of locust to burn this year anyways... Just throwing that out there for the jealousy factor.

Thank you for the help all.

 

[chvymn99]

Yea, all my hedge is bucked just waiting for the splitter and time. I just saw that your from this area, figured I'd throw that out there.

The cherry should make some excellent smoking wood. I've heard that you can use hedge, but use it sparely as too much can taint the palate. But Thistle got me started on smoking with Mulberry. I started moving some I've my mulberry from firewood to smoking wood.

 

[brian89gp]

Any smoking tips? Strong/overpowering or pretty much foolproof? (being a fool myself, I gotta ask). I've heard you can even smoke with black walnut, just have to use it very very sparingly.

I am probably going to be collecting around a cord of mulberry this winter, its all 8-10" trunk base but at least its free.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Smoke food with low heat and lots of smoke. Some folks use a separate container to have the fire in and pipe the smoke in to remove as much heat as possible. Looking at the flue of butcher shops that are actively smoking meats you will see real thick black tar creosote dripping from it.

Matt