Alas, NOT Cottonwood. I.D Please

[midwestcoast]

Well my next-door score turned out to defenitely not be Cottonwood
This will likely be the easiest I.D in history as the leaves & seeds are very unique. I just have never I.D'd this type of wood at all. Tell me what i wanna hear :coolsmile:
First attempt at posting pics, here goes

 

[smokinj]

Well my next-door score turned out to defenitely not be Cottonwood
This will likely be the easiest I.D in history as the leaves & seeds are very unique. I just have never I.D'd this type of wood at all. Tell me what i wanna hear :coolsmile:
First attempt at posting pics, here goes

locust

 

[midwestcoast]

Took you 3 mins? You're slipping Jay

 

[smokinj]

Took you 3 mins? You're slipping Jay

Ah I was on another site! lol good score I would take all you can hold.

 

[midwestcoast]

Took you 3 mins? You're slipping Jay

Ah I was on another site! lol good score I would take all you can hold.

Will do that. Wood you say Honey or Black or can't tell from the photos?

 

[smokinj]

Took you 3 mins? You're slipping Jay

Ah I was on another site! lol good score I would take all you can hold.

Will do that. Wood you say Honey or Black or can't tell from the photos?

I am on my lap top pic's are not very good on here, I would say honey on this computer.

 

[FLINT]

That is definitely HONEY locust

Honey locust has the long curly fruits (seed pods) and the leaves are twice compound whereas black locust only has singly compound leaves.

what that means in case you are interested is that in compound leaves, each single leaf is divided into several leaflets, in twice or doubly compound leaves, each leaflet is again divided into leaflets.

also, if you ever see the trunk - honey locust has the long wicked looking thorns growing out of the truck, while black locust only has the short stout thorns that only grow out of the trunk in very young trees, and out of the smaller branches in larger trees.

 

[Jags]

Any thorns?? If so - its honey. If not, its still locust. :lol:

 

[FLINT]

again, just in case anyone wants to know.

in the picture, the circle on the right is around a single doubly compound leaf

the circle on the left is around a singly compound leaf.

honey locust can have both types

black locust only has the singly compound leaves.

sorry, i can't help it, i'm a teacher

 

[oldspark]

That is definitely HONEY locust

Honey locust has the long curly fruits (seed pods) and the leaves are twice compound whereas black locust only has singly compound leaves.

what that means in case you are interested is that in compound leaves, each single leaf is divided into several leaflets, in twice or doubly compound leaves, each leaflet is again divided into leaflets.

also, if you ever see the trunk - honey locust has the long wicked looking thorns growing out of the truck, while black locust only has the short stout thorns that only grow out of the trunk in very young trees, and out of the smaller branches in larger trees.

My honey locust, sunburst locust and shademaster locust that I planted and are now 25 years old have no thorns on them what so ever. Is there a thorned honey locust and a thornless?

 

[smokinj]

again, just in case anyone wants to know.

in the picture, the circle on the right is around a single doubly compound leaf

the circle on the left is around a singly compound leaf.

honey locust can have both types

black locust only has the singly compound leaves.

sorry, i can't help it, i'm a teacher

Cool I am always trying to pick up something.

 

[Jags]

Is there a thorned honey locust and a thornless?

Yes.

And Flint - dang it...I wasn't looking to learn anything today. :coolsmirk:

 

[ChrisNJ]

again, just in case anyone wants to know.

in the picture, the circle on the right is around a single doubly compound leaf

the circle on the left is around a singly compound leaf.

honey locust can have both types

black locust only has the singly compound leaves.

sorry, i can't help it, i'm a teacher

Odly enough double compound leaves was never mentioned in my Dendrology class in college, then again it was about trees of New England and I dont recall any Locust either but that is something I would have expected to learn :-(

 

[Wood Duck]

Yeah, Honey Locust. The Honey Locust that are sold for landscaping are usually thornless varieties. If the wood came from a shade tree, it probably won't have thorns. As far as I know, all the named varieties of Honey Locust are thornless.

 

[JBinKC]

left pic of cut wood and leaves= slippery elm

right pic honey locust leaves

 

[CJRages]

left pic of cut wood and leaves= slippery elm

right pic honey locust leaves

I'm with you. Those leaves in the left pic do not match those in the right pic. Maybe there is some elm mixed in?

 

[midwestcoast]

Thanks for all the input. I just learned a ton. Yes these would have been planted as shade trees, so thornless is no suprise.
And again yes I found there is plenty of elm mixed in (at least half of the total). I'm okay with the Elm. I have a friend with a splitter & I'll be getting that over here for it. Not even gonna try with the Fiskars after all the spooky Elm stories on here.
I've been working away at it today & have most cut up & a nice big truckload in the yard now. Going back for another load here soon.

 

[midwestcoast]

just finished for the night. Put 6 tanks of gas through the 359 & found I am getting better at sharpening chains (still not great). I 'fixed' my neighbors MS250 for him. He went in to gas up, but came back out with his a Craftsman because the Stihl 'wasn't working'. Turns out he was trying to run it with the brake on, lol. He said he never messes around with the brake, so I showed him how & when to use it. The chain was completely dulled but i didn't have a .325 file so I got him to use the craftsman to finish up the limb he was working on. Real nice guy & very capable, but I stayed way over on the other side of the lot from him when his saw was running.
I got about 1.5 cord of Locust & Elm. There's a bunch more Elm over there that I will pick up sometime. The lot owner was really happy to get rid of the wood & he's a good guy to know around here, so I'll take the Elm even though I know it'll be a PITA to split.
To update the story from the other thread about the felling of these trees: I found today that there wasn't as much damage to my neighbors fence as I'd thought, just a few boards. They actually did tie the bull-rope off to the bumper of a pick-up out on the street for the 1 tree i saw come down, but it was so far away they needed 2 guys to relay the signal to pull & the truck ended-up being a little late. The guys also took out a power line to a streetlamp, smashed a section of fence to the prop behind me, left a ~10" tree cut-off & hung-up on another and cut all stumps at 4-6 feet above ground. I sure hope they were cheap.

 

[JBinKC]

Midwestcoast don't let the word elm scare you in tackling the task by hand. Slippery elm aka red elm is the only elm variety that isn't any more difficult to split than oak.

 

[oldspark]

What we called red elm here in Iowa did not split any better than the regular American elm but not sure if it is the Slippery elm you speak of.

 

[midwestcoast]

Okay, well I'll give the Fiskars a shot at it first then.
From now on I'll be starting a tree I.D thread on here before I so much as trim my bushes as I've a lot to learn :red:
I'm pretty humbled, by 16 I could I.D all the trees on the family farm quite well by bark alone. Moving to a new region & working with yard trees is a whole new ballgame. It'll be fun to learn.

 

[ramonbow]

Your cottonwood turned into Locust?! That is like a dream come true for most folks here.

I'll second the idea of trying to hand split the elm first. Some is a real bear, and some split relatively easy. A couple weeks ago I was about to pass up a load of elm but i thought i would give it a try with the ax first. It split a lot easier than i had anticipated so i left with almost a full load of split but smelly wood.

 

[midwestcoast]

Update. I just took a few whacks on the 'Elm' with the Fiskars and? This can't be Elm, it split like a dream. Really it was about as easy as my Oak & Mulberry. It's wet as can be. I did a better job of the photos here. Leaves and splits are definitely from the same wood. The leaves are really small. What do you all think now? Lemme know if any different pics would be helpful.

Edit: The bigger pieces are quite tough to split and the splits smell kinda like cow manure.

 

[JBinKC]

Shh don't let the news out to those who shun all elm like I said before slippery elm is easy to split by hand. Slippery elm can be identified from the other varieties by the dark heartwood in the limb wood with a leaf size smaller than American elm but larger than Siberian elm.


I score this wood on occasion and never had a problem splitting it in the straight sections of the trunk/limb

 

[midwestcoast]

Okay, slippery Elm it remains then. Checked the inner bark & I'd sure call it slippery. I am one lucky SOB. Good wood is practically falling in my lap lately, just have to be willing cut, haul S & S in the heat. Will soon be set for 2011/12