Dead standing tree id

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claytonboyle

New Member
Nov 20, 2021
16
Ontario
Wondering if anyone can Id this tree. I think ash or elm.
It has been dead standing for some time and is missing lots of bark. Seems super dry could it be too dry?
I can take it down and burn it or is it not worth the trouble.. could it be too dry

E8EBB5F2-C368-4642-AABB-E434F1ACF483.jpeg
 

stoveliker

Minister of Fire
Nov 17, 2019
7,261
Long Island NY
No such thing as too dry.

Be careful for falling branches when you take it down.
A bore cut first to see if it's rotten inside?

Bark looks like ash time but I don't know elm.
 

Simonkenton

Minister of Fire
Feb 27, 2014
2,360
Marshall NC
Could be ash. I cut down a dead standing ash and ir was 27 percent moisture, nearly ready to burn.
 

johneh

Minister of Fire
Dec 19, 2009
4,670
Eastern Ontario
Likes like Elm to me
Take it down buck it and split a peace
you will know for sure what it is
If it is Ash it will split (in most cases) easily straight grain
If it is American Elm when it splits it looks like a bad hair day
Hope you have a splitter or lots of wedges and time
 

Simonkenton

Minister of Fire
Feb 27, 2014
2,360
Marshall NC
I love to work with ash. Easy to split, and it is pretty firewood. Unfortunately, only hat a dozen ash trees on my 48 acres and now they are all dead.
 

Garbanzo62

Feeling the Heat
Aug 25, 2022
383
Connecticut
Hard to tell. I have at least 5 dead standing ash trees standing in my 'Swamp'. Some of those will be designate to be CSS next year.
 

Takenname_7

New Member
Mar 28, 2022
15
NC
Cut a thick branch and look at the concentric rings. Elm the growth rings will look wavy, like a colidascope look. Atleast elm here in NC.
 

KDubU

Member
Dec 16, 2022
197
Maine
Elm all the way. The long trunk and top branches give it away plus you are in Ontario where I used to live and this is a classic Dutch Elm disease example. Great wood to cut and will be hot burning. Just get your splitter ready as although it will be less stringy than wet elm, your maul may bounce off the big pieces.
 

CincyBurner

Minister of Fire
Mar 10, 2015
766
SW Ohio
Look at branching habit (opposite v. alternate):
If not opposite, then it can't be ash.
Tough to definitively tell from pics but first impression looks like American elm from its form, and bark (from what I can make out).
 
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Woody Stover

Minister of Fire
Dec 25, 2010
13,071
Southern IN
Not sure what it is but as Cincy said, form doesn't look like the White Ash we have here.
But that one next to it appears to be a Bodark, dark master of BTU output. I'd probably end up just admiring it, as they rarely die, and I don't cut a live tree unless it has suffered a mortal injury.