Help identifying this wood

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JRP3

Feeling the Heat
Sep 17, 2007
314
NYS
I have a lot of these trees and don't know what they are. They are heavy when fresh but light when dry, they rot easily, don't burn that well, leave a clumpy ash, and have a stringy inner bark layer that can be tough to pull apart if not cut all the way through when splitting. NY Finger Lakes region. Some type of Poplar maybe?

Bark.jpg Leaf.jpg Tree.jpg Splits.jpg
 
It looks like basswood to me.
That looks like a good call. This was interesting:

In addition to producing one of the most used soft lumbers in the wood processing industry, Basswood is also known for fibers that are hidden in the structure of its bark. Strong fibers can be extracted from basswood y peeling the outer layer of bark and keeping it in water for around the month. After that period of time, fibers will separate one from another, and they can be harvested and dried up. Archaeologists have found out that clothes made from this fiber were in use in the Bronze age , and lime tree fiber is also today used for the creation of clothing in Japan.

 
I agree , basswood .
 
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100% basswood. I have lots of it and cannot burn it fast enough
 
I kind of hate everything about it as firewood. Cutting it fresh it likes to squeeze around the bar and pinch it, it's heavy but not in a good way, it's not satisfying to split, doesn't burn hot, and leaves a dense, clumpy ash. It's annoying at every step of the process.
 
I'm also thinking basswood, especially the leaves.
 
I have a lot of these trees and don't know what they are. They are heavy when fresh but light when dry, they rot easily, don't burn that well, leave a clumpy ash, and have a stringy inner bark layer that can be tough to pull apart if not cut all the way through when splitting. NY Finger Lakes region. Some type of Poplar maybe?

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We don't have any on our house lot but our other lot has some big ones, we leave them up because of the bees.

 
Large heart-shaped leaves? Check.
Very white inner wood? Check.
A little stringiness of the inner bark? Check.
Light in weight for the size compared to other hardwood splits and rounds of a similar size? Check.

100% confidence . . . as others have said . . . basswood. Good for carving and if you've already cut a few down, OK for kindling or shoulder season burning. Not my first choice for burning.
 
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Yikes! Some terrible reviews. never heard of this stuff, glad it doesnt grow around here.
 
Yikes! Some terrible reviews. never heard of this stuff, glad it doesnt grow around here.
Very invasive. Good for tooth pics and guitars