Firewood ID help needed...

[ColoradoJim]

Hey all, I'm new here and looking for some assistance in identifying some firewood that I was fortunate enough to obtain. I'm thinking maybe cottonwood or possibly ash, but really have no idea. I never got to see branches or leaves, it was all cut to 6 ft logs when I got to it. Thanks much!

 

[ScottLewis]

The bark does look like ash. The ash around here does not have the dark heartwood. Was it dead standing?

The only ash left around here is dead standing.

 

[ColoradoJim]

The bark does look like ash. The ash around here does not have the dark heartwood. Was it dead standing?

The only ash left around here is dead standing.

Not really sure if it was dead standing or not. By the time I got it, it had been bucked up into 6 ft logs.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

It looks a little stringy how was it to split?

 

[ColoradoJim]

I have a hydraulic splitter, so it all split pretty easy. It is a little stringy, but the only time the splitter hesitated was if I was splitting a forked round.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

I have a hydraulic splitter, so it all split pretty easy. It is a little stringy, but the only time the splitter hesitated was if I was splitting a forked round.

Ok for a second with the darker heart wood and stringy splits my mind wandered towards elm, but then again I have been going to war with some the whole summer so its sort of at the front of my mind.

 

[ColoradoJim]

I feel your pain with the Elm! I split plenty of it in the past (by hand). Made me take my profanity to a whole new level, lol

 

[patrickk222]

I wanna say it looks kinda like a young cottonwood would be my swag guess

 

[hickoryhoarder]

I live in Indiana, so we don't get a lot of cottonwood to split, and I'm not good at telling ash from cottonwood. I think those are the two best guesses. As your name is ColoradoJim, I'll hazard a guess it's cottonwood.

Especially if it was stringy. Ash is super easy to split by hand (if the rounds are stacked 3 months), and not usually stringy.

 

[ScottLewis]

I'll vouch for that. Ash is easy to split. Thanks to the emerald ash borer, 2 years ago, we had lots of ash firewood in the NC mountains.

Thanks to the emerald ash borer, the ash is now gone with the wind.

 

[gzecc]

If that was in N.East Id say ash. In Colorado Id guess cottonwood.
Ash would have D shaped holes in the bark and worm like trails on the wood under the bark.

 

[ColoradoJim]

Thanks for all the replies!
I asked our city forester (Longmont, CO), and he said that it was definitely Green Ash. Don't know why I didn't think to ask him earlier. Anyway, thanks for your input everyone; much appreciated!

 

[begreen]

I feel your pain with the Elm! I split plenty of it in the past (by hand). Made me take my profanity to a whole new level, lol

In the early days of Hearth.com the joy of splitting elm was often discussed. It's often known as the curse of firewood. Nice to burn but hell to split. @Jags had some fun with it.

Elm - The Other White Meat

For those of you that have never had the pleasure of splitting elm. This is the stuff that will curdle the oil of a 20 ton splitter, it will bounce a mall like a rubber ball, it will stick all but the meanest of splitters and tempt you with its defiance. The mother of all that is bad in wood...

www.hearth.com

 

[ColoradoJim]

Couldn't said it any better!

 

[bigealta]

The x bark pattern say's it's Ash.

 

[CincyBurner]

coming in late but +1 for ash.