Help with wood ID

[cmonSTART]

Ok, so it's definitely not oak. So, what is it? I took some better pictures today after I split one round up a bit. It's really stringy stuff. I grabbed a plain from my shop and exposed some of the grain better. What do you think? I'm banking on Cherry now, although that's one BIG cherry tree.

 

[Todd]

The bark looks like Cherry.

 

[asmith1]

Looks like cherry to me as well. I have split a lot of it over the last few years.

 

[cmonSTART]

Granted, it burns better than nothing, but how well does it burn?

 

[JustWood]

100% CHERRY

 

[billb3]

Looks like cherry to me , too.
Especially the red and white split standing on edge on the upper right in the first (left) pic.

Has a very distinctive smell.

Any pieces have a wound (from last year)oozing clear sap ? Usually just sits there like a big semi-solid semi-round glue-sticky snot.


Burns OK.

I'd rather have it in my firebox than say, white pine or cedar.

I'm going to guess from the size of the pieces you had in your pickup that that tree was growing in the open. Near a house with lawn around it or at the edge of a farm field or along a road where it didn't have to compete for a lot of sun.




What's that white stuff ?

 

[jpl1nh]

Hemlock, distinct outer ring, brown, roughly but evenly textured bark, whitish yellowish wood, smells nice. Cherry would be redder throughout.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Granted, it burns better than nothing, but how well does it burn?

Cherry burns great. We use some of it every year and I rate it as medium to medium high on the heat list. Nice thing about cherry is that it doesn't take long to season. When we used to have a deer camp we burned a lot of cherry simply because you can burn it green. Naturally it is much better when seasoned but in a pinch...

Also realize that even with a picture it can be difficult to identify 100%. Just look at the difference of opinions. I agree it looks somewhat both like hemlock and like cherry. But right now I'd vote for cherry.

 

[FatttFire]

A better picture of the bark, would help but I think it is Cherry! Thats an average size cherry around here! Burns okay! I would agree it would be a good medium burn!

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Yeah thats cherry alright, just hacked some up myself last week. My Father calls it "stink wood"
It has a very odd smell and very common here in CT. You'll always see swamp maple and cherry competing for forest space. Many times growing into or right next to each other.
I save wood like that for early or late burning.

WoodButcher

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Here is a couple pics from my yard of some cherry, notice how the maple and cherry are growing right next to each other. The last picture is of a big old one growing near my property line.

WoodButcher

 

[gpcollen1]

Cherry smells a bit like almonds - strong and musty and almost burned and bitter almonds. The bark should be flaky like the latter pics of the tree. That would may just be hemlock but cannot really tell from the pics.

 

[Ncountry]

Definitely looks like cherry to me.Its not hemlock .See the darker ring from sap stain on the one standing block. Think that is a big cherry , check out Eric J.s avatar .

 

[billb3]

Is that poison ivy growing up the tree in the right-most pic ?


Cherry is a target for my saw here because of being a tent caterpillar host and also a host for a fungus/growth that killed all my plum trees.
Cherry will try to grow pretty much anywhere like a weed except I haven't seen it survive in a swamp.
I don't see any valuable straight ones. They're all crooked as can be here.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Is that poison ivy growing up the tree in the right-most pic ?


Cherry is a target for my saw here because of being a tent caterpillar host and also a host for a fungus/growth that killed all my plum trees.
Cherry will try to grow pretty much anywhere like a weed except I haven't seen it survive in a swamp.
I don't see any valuable straight ones. They're all crooked as can be here.

Yes thats poison ivy, speaking of crooked as can be.......this one is located near my driveway.

 

[Henz]

Black Cherry. burns nice. I ahve tons of it that is scrubby like that on my property

 

[jpl1nh]

WoodButcher has great pics of cherry showing the bark. Compare that to the bark in cmonSTART's pic in this other thread https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php?ACT=24&fid=2&aid=10786_1xFumN2LGrwGNxdAFEkp&board_id=1. Too brown and too fine for cherry. For all those of you who cut cherry all the time, you would also know its a beautiful red wood, not light colored like this wood and cherry splits very clean, unless it's all gnarled, heck even then it splits nice, it's not kind of checked down the grain like these pics. I'll get some pics this eve of bark, cut ends and splits of both hemlock and cherry. Good news is that there is only a few thousand BTU difference per cord between the two. Either way, that's a nice load of wood and nice chunks for easy splitting too.

 

[Henz]

and I also might add, one of the highest paying if you have any tall straight ones! I think that other pic is Cherry too

 

[Ncountry]

Still 98% sure it is cherry. Note the white outer layer [sapwood] on the split piece lying on the ground to left. Cherry usually does not get its real pretty red color until it has been sawed or split, exposing it to the air. That is why the end of the blocks are much darker than the freshly split wood.

 

[Henz]

yeah, its 100% black cherry

 

[billb3]

Wish I could write a definitive description of the smell of cherry. It's quite distinct.

 

[Henz]

are we still talking about trees here

 

[jpl1nh]

are we still talking about trees here

:lol: :lol: :lol: Looking closer at the pictures in this thread, I guess I have switch to the cherry bandwagon too.