Autumn Score + Wood ID

[Caw]

With the crazy warm weather we are having here I decided to take down an old standing dead tree on the side of my property. Its been dead quite a while from extensive insect damage and I was worried it would hit my deck in a bad storm. It was a very straight tree but the bottom 8 feet of the trunk was this janky S shape. I was a little nervous but we got it down. I wasn't expecting to be able to salvage much but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality:

I was expecting a lot more rot but most of the tree was salvageable. We had some immediate family over for an impromptu socially distant fire pit splitting session. I threw in some uglies/rotten pieces and we got to work:

And the most beautiful part of all:

My Osburn 1600 is kicking her lips.

So my original thought was ash based on the insect damage, the way the bark looked, and the grain looked. When I was felling and bucking it ate my freshly sharpened chain for breakfast...it was very hard. I thought it had a slight tinge to the sawdust. Splitting it was incredibly easy.

I have both Oak and Ash on my property near where this tree was. It was so long dead I have no branches or leaves left to help. What do you think it is?

My final guess is Ash but either answer is great news

 

[mcdougy]

Ash

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I second the ash.. the size of the holes looks like EAB.. I could be wrong.. Im not an expert..

 

[Simonkenton]

I think it is ash.

 

[Caw]

I second the ash.. the size of the holes looks like EAB.. zip could be wrong.. Im not an expert..

We definitely have EAB here. The county to our west has a wood transport restriction. I cannot take wood from my sisters house (two towns over) to my house because of it. I actually think it's more because of ALB to protect maples but it exists. Thats why I was thinking ash before I even cut it down. Sadly there are sots of dying ash trees when you drive around if you look closely.

I also don't think I've ever seen an oak tree with insect damage. We have gypsy moths sometimes but they eat the leaves not the wood.

 

[ChadMc]

Looks like ash to me. My neighbor and I just took a dead one down in his yard and split it right away and it was the same! All under 20%.

 

[qwee]

I just got some ash - and that wood looks the same.

 

[NickW]

Agree with ash.

Seasoned wood is harder and will eat chains faster than green wood. I have ash tree's that the 8" dry branches take almost as long to go through as the 16" wet trunk. I find branches that are under 20% yet the trunk is 35%... Logically usually progressively getting wetter the closer to the trunk I get.

 

[Caw]

With all this new ready to go ash I decided to redo one of my stacks. Took off the poplar to get the ash and some other maple/oak I have on the bottom. Ill plow through the poplar first before getting to the good stuff. Kind of a pain but I prefer being organized and able to get what I want easily rather then fishing in the winter.

Also the wife says I'm not allowed any more stacks lol. I have 7 cords in our back yard already!

 

[NickW]

Don't know how old/dry the oak and maple are, but remember hard maple is 2 yrs drying time and oak is 3 yrs (both depending upon conditions...). I struggled with some less than ideal hard maple end of season last year. Nothing like iffy ash which will burn & heat ok if not perfectly seasoned.

 

[Simonkenton]

That's what my girlfriend keeps telling me. "But, we don't need another wood pile."

 

[Caw]

We always need more wood!

Don't know how old/dry the oak and maple are, but remember hard maple is 2 yrs drying time and oak is 3 yrs (both depending upon conditions...). I struggled with some less than ideal hard maple end of season last year. Nothing like iffy ash which will burn & heat ok if not perfectly seasoned.

Agreed. Ive got 1 cord of 15% maple, 1.5 cords of mixed oak, cherry, and ash thats all sub 20% then half a cord of questionable ash thats 23% ish now. If I have to dip into that in February it'll be fine. Our house is small and well insulated so 2-3 cords should be enough. The rest of my stash is all red/white oak for next year.

I managed to finish stacking it after doing leaves and mowing the lawn! Wife said I had to finish the yard first lol:

Bottom left: red oak
Bottom right: hard maple
Middle: ash
Top: Poplar splits, rounds, and uglies.

This stack was the final one prepped for the year so it's kind of a smorgasbord.