Another Wood ID? What's this tree?

[Machria]

Man, hit the jackpot! Found 4 downed Locust tree's, not huge but decent size, along with a bunch (10 or 15) other tree's.

The top one is Locust, but what is the other tree? There are a few of these, nice fat(but not too fat!) , straight tree's downed.

 

[bmblank]

Looks like a poplar of some sort on my small screen. Nice straight grain, but burns like paper.

 

[StihlHead]

If it were here I would say cottonwood which gets that milky bark look after a while. Cottonwood is in the poplar family, but harder to split and smells bad when burned. Cut it open and see if there is grey-green or yellow heartwood. I would plunder the locust and leave the cottonwood/poplar.

 

[Machria]

Oh, the Locust is going, or coming home, whichever way you want to look at it! Even though I have nowhere to put it, and the wife is going to have a fit when she finds it laying in the middle of my yard!

Does Cottonwood end up getting white stuff that looks like "cotton" when it blossums/flowers in the spring? Is that where it gets it's name from? Cause there is alot of those tree's around my hosue that get that "cotton" white stuff when blossoming in spring. Almost looks like it's snowing when it starts coming off the tree... I wonder if this is one of those? I never payed any attention to the tree trunks/bark before.

 

[Applesister]

No its not cootonwood and yes the tree disperses its seeds in the " cotton."

 

[basod]

The alien looking bark tree in question looks like winged elm
Never seen one that size - this a total wild guess

 

[Applesister]

Sorry everyone. Sounded too sure of myself.
I really have never seen anything like it.
I hope someone can identify it.

 

[Applesister]

If its Winged Elm he should grab it. Im looking at a BTU chart from Woodheat.org that has Rock Elm as the top BTU wood. Dont know if Rock Elm and winged Elm is same. But.....

 

[Foragefarmer]

That is tree of heaven, Ailanthus. Not worth your time. If there is a tree with no redeeming value whatsoever it is Ailanthus.

 

[BEConklin]

That is tree of heaven, Ailanthus. Not worth your time. If there is a tree with no redeeming value whatsoever it is Ailanthus.

I'm with Foragefarmer....Ailanthus

 

[bmblank]

I figure its free... Even if it burns like crap, it still burns. You're looking at a return infinity btu per dollar.

 

[Jags]

It could be the Tree of Heaven, but I also see qualities of Elm in it, but my guess would be slippery elm.

 

[Machria]

Well, I needed to get out and get some excersize yesterday so that Black Locust, and 2 more next to it, are now cut into 36" lengths and laying in my backyard, soon to be converted to 18" large splits!

But I still don't know what the "mystery" tree is. And there are 3 or 4 of them similar to this one's size down for picking, so I'd like to find out if it is any good or not. I don't have anymore storage space, but if it's a good tree, I'll make space! I ran out of light/time yesterday finishing off the Locust, so I never got to cut open the mystery tree. I'll try to do that and split a piece and post a pic, maybe that will help identify.

 

[Woody Stover]

It could be the Tree of Heaven, but I also see qualities of Elm in it, but my guess would be slippery elm.

Lots of Slippery (Red) Elm here, none with bark like that...

I'd like to find out if it is any good or not. I don't have anymore storage space, but if it's a good tree, I'll make space!

If it's marginal even, and it sounds like it's gonna be below that, I would pass. Your wife is not going to be happy if she has to scrape off snow and ice because you filled the garage with iffy wood and parked her car on the lawn.

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

Man, hit the jackpot! Found 4 downed Locust tree's, not huge but decent size, along with a bunch (10 or 15) other tree's.

The top one is Locust, but what is the other tree? There are a few of these, nice fat(but not too fat!) , straight tree's downed.

View attachment 89721

Woo Hoo! You might have to crank that stove up to 225! Party time!

 

[Ralphie Boy]

I'm wth the others on the top, black locust. The bottom one, and its friends, aren't trees at all, they're shape shifters from deep with in the Gamma Quadrant, maybe Rigal 5, sent here to see if there is intelligent life on earth.
Scotty, beam us up!

 

[midwestcoast]

No idea wtf tree #2 is, but the bark looks nothing like the Cottonwood or (slippery) Red Elm we have here. Both are much deeper furrowed and darker.

 

[Machria]

Ok, cut the 3 Black Locusts up and hauled home today. So I cut a few pieces of the other tree, and split it open to take a few pics. Now can anyone identify it? It was night time with a lit on so the color is off. It is pretty light in color, an off white color wood with a tinge of yellowish color. It had one dark spot in the middle. Easy to cut with chainsaw, and split really easy. The pics are of a 5 or 6" round part of the tree.

Any ideas?

 

[weatherguy]

Is it light or heavy when you pick it up?

 

[weatherguy]

After looking through 100 different pictures of tree bark this one looks the closest to what you have, this is a picture of chinese elm

 

[mtneer]

Paulownia tree

 

[StihlHead]

That is tree of heaven, Ailanthus. Not worth your time. If there is a tree with no redeeming value whatsoever it is Ailanthus.

Tree of Heaven is about as bad as cottonwood... for poor heat. With that greenish-yellow center wood in those photos, I would still say cottonwood or poplar (same genus: Populus). Cottonwood here only gets furrowed when its a lot older. Smaller trees have a white smooth bark that turns a faded milky white like that when they are dead or seasoned.

 

[Wood Duck]

That unknown tree in the first picture looks like Ailanthus to me. I think it will be light wood, it will stink when cutting, but it will burn. If you have lots of other wood to cut, I'd cut the other wood. If you don't, I'd take the Ailanthus and see how it burns. You'll read lots of comments on this forum that are more or less "I'd never bother with X or Y wood. It is crap that won't burn, makes a pile of ashes, smells bad, wastes my time, causes warts,, ruins your stove, etc ..." I try to give each type of wood a try before I write it off.

On a more personal note, I wouldn't bother with ailanthus because it is crap.

 

[Machria]

I don't think it is that Chink Elm, but does have a similar look... I'd say it is medium weight, not light and not heavy. The tree has been down since Irene, a bit over a year ago, but it's not rotting or anything, still pretty solid. But it is fairly soft wood, as I said it cut real easy. But then again I was cutting Black Locust which is like cutting rock, so switching to this tree made it feel soft. It not seem to have much smell when cut, but it was 10* out, so maybe it was just too frozen.

Hmmmmmm. Mystery wood for sure.... Seems to be a varying opinion on it. How else can I find out?

Ps-Wood Duck, if its a low btu wood, that could be a good thing for me. I have lots of Red Oak, Maple and Black Locust, with just a tad of some Pine, so I could actually use some lighter wood for the warmer days....

 

[weatherguy]

It didnt look like any of the pictures of Ailanthus bark I looked at but at different stages of growth it could look different, if Wood Duck says thats what it is Id be inclined to go with his opinion as he seems to nail most of these mystery woods.