Wood id's

[b33p3r]

Hello everyone, Pretty new to this forum although I've been hovering in the boiler room for a couple years. Now that I have my boiler in I'm trying to get ahead with my wood piles. The first two years I was cutting wood off my property and I was well aware of what I was cutting. For the first time I bought a load of hardwood logs and have a few questions. I can ID a tree by it's leaves with the help of a book I have, but when logs are dropped off I don't have a clue what I'm dealing with. No limbs/leaves. Just partial bark and splitting characteristics. I'm good with ID'ing beech and maple as long as I have a piece of bark on it. I'm good with oak ID since I have alot of it on my property and have cut and split alot of it.
So my question is, does anyone have a good way of learning to ID a piece of timber without having any foilage on it? Grain patterns/odors and such? For instance, what would be the most foul smelling piece of hardwood from N.E.Pa once it is split. I'm not talking holding it up to you nose. I'm saying as soon as the splitter goes through it you would say "That smells horrible!
I want to learn if you guys can give me some resources?

 

[lukem]

IDing timber in log form is definitely possible. The best way to do it is find a tree ID book that has leaves, bark, and grain...then walk around and try to ID standing trees. When you can ID an entire tree you'll quickly learn to ID based on one or more parts. That's basically how I learned...I didn't use a book....I just asked my dad a bazillion questions when I was a kid.

Learning to ID just from a log using a book is going to be hard...best to start with a whole tree then break it down...you'll get it.

 

[b33p3r]

IDing timber in log form is definitely possible. The best way to do it is find a tree ID book that has leaves, bark, and grain...then walk around and try to ID standing trees. When you can ID an entire tree you'll quickly learn to ID based on one or more parts. That's basically how I learned...I didn't use a book....I just asked my dad a bazillion questions when I was a kid.

Learning to ID just from a log using a book is going to be hard...best to start with a whole tree then break it down...you'll get it.

Lukem, A standing tree with leaves I can ID with the book. Without leaves I can probably get it right with the book showing bark patterns/colors and such. But when the forester delivers a load of hard wood I'd like to be sure I'm paying for the right BTUs. I asked the driver to id the logs for me but he said some of them he wasn't good enough to ID. I'm OK with that because he is not the forester. Weight wise, while cutting and splitting, I knew I was dealing with hardwood but I want to learn to ID all of it. A lot of it had no bark on it so I need to learn grain/splitting/smell characteristics. I'm sure I will over time like you did with your Dad. I'm just looking for some learnings from people like you that know.

 

[lukem]

Lukem, A standing tree with leaves I can ID with the book. Without leaves I can probably get it right with the book showing bark patterns/colors and such. But when the forester delivers a load of hard wood I'd like to be sure I'm paying for the right BTUs. I asked the driver to id the logs for me but he said some of them he wasn't good enough to ID. I'm OK with that because he is not the forester. Weight wise, while cutting and splitting, I knew I was dealing with hardwood but I want to learn to ID all of it. A lot of it had no bark on it so I need to learn grain/splitting/smell characteristics. I'm sure I will over time like you did with your Dad. I'm just looking for some learnings from people like you that know.

It looks like you are looking for a quick way to learn what it takes most of us years and years to figure out how to do. Most of what you need to learn is going to be hard do by reading.

For example, red oak stinks....white oak smells good. Everyone's opinion of "stinks" and "smells good" are going to differ...some people think red oak smells good.

No species will split the same every time either. Cherry is usually pretty easy, but if the tree were twisted it is going to be a pain.

If the tree has no bark, it can get real hard to ID and you have to go by the grain...sometimes a fresh cut end is good enough...others you'll have to split a round....the book should help out with that too.

Most guys here are pretty good at ID's so use them as a reference when you get stuck...

 

[TimJ]

Alot of good advise from Lukem
That is what you are looking for

 

[Wood Duck]

You have to learn one wood at a time. At first it is slow going, but you'll build momentum. One sure way to learn is if you cut your own trees, you can ID the tree then become familiar with the wood. If you buy logs it is tougher. I'd start by learning how to recognize the medullary rays that all oaks have. You can see them in the cut end of an oak log (lots of pictures on this forum and elsewhere on the web). In PA oak will be a large percentage of the wood you see. Also learn some easy ones like Beech (the smooth bark is distinctive), Cherry, and Black Walnut. In addition to the bark pattern, look at the color of the wood, the color of the sapwood(outer wood) versus the heartwood(inner wood), and pay attention to odor (oak, black birch, cherry, pine all have distinctive odors that may be hard to describe online but are easy to tell apart in person).

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hello everyone, Pretty new to this forum although I've been hovering in the boiler room for a couple years. Now that I have my boiler in I'm trying to get ahead with my wood piles. The first two years I was cutting wood off my property and I was well aware of what I was cutting. For the first time I bought a load of hardwood logs and have a few questions. I can ID a tree by it's leaves with the help of a book I have, but when logs are dropped off I don't have a clue what I'm dealing with. No limbs/leaves. Just partial bark and splitting characteristics. I'm good with ID'ing beech and maple as long as I have a piece of bark on it. I'm good with oak ID since I have alot of it on my property and have cut and split alot of it.
So my question is, does anyone have a good way of learning to ID a piece of timber without having any foilage on it? Grain patterns/odors and such? For instance, what would be the most foul smelling piece of hardwood from N.E.Pa once it is split. I'm not talking holding it up to you nose. I'm saying as soon as the splitter goes through it you would say "That smells horrible!
I want to learn if you guys can give me some resources?

Glad to see you come to the Wood Shed.

Getting the log loads can be productive as you have no limbs to trim. That is a plus. The fellow selling or the trucker should have been able to ID those logs. Even then though you need to double check. You can take some pictures and fellows on here will assist in the ID.

As for learning, I think book learning is confusing. The best way to learn is by having someone right there telling you what it is. I recall as a young lad asking at different times what a certain tree was. Then when I went to work in the woods I learned much, much more because every time we fell a tree or cut one at the mill, I asked if I did not know. Many times if I thought I knew, I'd still ask to double check. Even with this (and I was head sawyer at a mill too) there are still many that I do not know. I've learned a few more just in the last year or so. Hope to keep learning too and I've been at this for a long, long time.

One of the most difficult sometimes is ID by the bark. We've seen it here on this forum where some think they have beech but when you look at the picture is is very apparent it is no birch.

As for the odors, that will also come with time.

 

[ScotO]

I think the two easiest ways to identify your wood without leaves on it are to look and learn the bark pattern, and when you cut and split it, learn the grains that different wood has. Also, almost every species of tree has a distinctive smell, so that is another way you can learn in time. For now, if you get some pics of the bark and of some splits and end grains, the guys on this forum will help you get started.

 

[firefighterjake]

When you're really good you'll be able to tell the species by the way it tastes.

 

[b33p3r]

When you're really good you'll be able to tell the species by the way it tastes.

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I know experience is gonna be the best teacher in ID'ing trees. In defense of the driver that dropped of a load of logs, He was a truck driver that hauled wood. I didn't expect him to id anything. I was hoping he could. Now if the forester was there I would have expected much more.
Now, out of all hardwoods in the N.E., what is the most pungeant(stinkiest) wood you ever smelled after the first split?