I finally got neighbors unused wood B4 it rots, ID help?

[WiscWoody]

A neighbor and his wife moved into a assisted living home but have kept Their country home where a pile of wood was left in the elements for the last few years and I think it sat for a few years before he got it too. I have been asking about it since before they moved since he couldn't handle the work of bucking and splitting it any longer so I helped when I saw him trying to work the load until they left. Anyways I finally got it now, it's a little punky but much of it is still good. He said it was Hickory, I'm not sure. I talked to a logger up here and he said there are pockets of Hickory up here but it's not the same kind they have in the south. It's straight grained and it hand splits very easily. Just a half hearted swing and it splits. Here are some pictures. I don't know why two of them are upside down??

 

[Woody Stover]

I think phone pics can come out upside down...
Here's a pic of some Hickory(?) I got a couple days ago...little dead-stander. Bark looks similar, butt didn't want to split at all, even this 6" straight one.

 

[Soundchasm]

Some of that bark does have a bitternut or pignut hickory type vibe.

 

[nrford]

Looks like Basswood, but I can't stand on my head very long.

 

[Woody Stover]

Looks like Basswood, but I can't stand on my head very long.

Not great firewood but I would try it as bait...there's gotta be some reason they call it Basswood.

 

[Jags]

Correcting image 1 and 2:


That doesn't look like any hickory that I know of.

 

[bassJAM]

That looks eerily similar to a tree I got 2 years ago that had been sitting on the ground for years. The outer few inches was spongy soft until it dried, then it was super light. The wood in the center was very heavy and split clean like that. Looks like the same bark too. I took some to a couple local tree experts who thought it was hickory, but they weren't 100% sure.

I feel like there was a thread back in the winter with wood that looked the same as this, and the consensus on here was that it was oak. Whatever it was, the wood I had burned good!

 

[WiscWoody]

Looks like Basswood, but I can't stand on my head very long.

No, we do have a lot of Basswood up here so I can ID that pretty easily and our Basswood doesn't have a darker heartwood. This wood has a thin bark for its age if that helps. I'm thinking it's a northern type of Hickory. After it's all sorted, split and stacked I'll come back with the total amount.

 

[Soundchasm]

Correcting image 1 and 2:
View attachment 132821 View attachment 132822

That doesn't look like any hickory that I know of.

I'm starting to backtrack on image 1, but image 2 still gives me the hickory bark vibe. Is this some kind of Rorschach bark?

Here are 4-5 bitternut hickory rounds in this shot.

 

[WiscWoody]

They look similar. And I see I got a round of Maple in picture 1, It's not in the wheelbarrow but on the ground, just to confuse everyone!

 

[WiscWoody]

Here's a update on the scrounge. So far I've filled two racks like those pictured plus I have the pile pictured and the load in the trailer plus a few more trailer loads. So far so good!

 

[Woody Stover]

Lookin' good, WW! Whatever it is, it looks like good-burning wood to me. Have you metered it for moisture content, or can you tell how wet it might still be? If it's dry, yet heavy, that's a good sign.

 

[WiscWoody]

I haven't metered it but I do have a meter. Some stuff is punky but still has good wood in it. Some of the family came up from Michigan and saw I was taking the wood so they piled more on from the houses stores. That was real dry. On your post above about splitting it, I've noticed that this stuff can split somewhat hard too but I can remember splitting it with ease a few up years ago when he first got it. Sometimes my splitter stops and thinks about it before popping it open. It does look much like your pictures above.

 

[Woody Stover]

It does look much like your pictures above.

The bark is a dead ringer. Still haven't gotten a look inside mine, since I couldn't 'maul it,' and haven't fired up the splitter yet. I guess I could pop one open with a wedge, just for curiosity's sake. I got some dead stuff that I ended up giving to my SIL where the rounds looked almost identical but I think that's some Red Elm...quite a bit lighter. Alright, alright, I'll try to get some pics today...

 

[Woody Stover]

On your post above about splitting it, I've noticed that this stuff can split somewhat hard too but I can remember splitting it with ease a few up years ago when he first got it. Sometimes my splitter stops and thinks about it before popping it open. It does look much like your pictures above.

These pics are splits from a 6" round. This one was a small double-trunk in a wet area. This one wasn't too stringy but I had to drive the Wood Grenade way down into the round before it would split. It has a slightly darker heart. Moisture was about 23%, wood felt pretty heavy. Like I said, the bark is a ringer for your stuff, but the texture of the split surface is smooth on this one, whereas some of your splits have a rougher texture...kind of like Ash can be. Also, mine looks less punky so that could be a factor (?) Rings on mine look wide...not sure if Hickory would grow that fast in the woods here.

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Then I went to my SIL's to split one from another tree, which looked very much like the one pictured above. I was mistaken in saying it was lighter...felt about the same today. The end looks similar to the log on the right in your log pic, with a darker center. This was about an 8" round. Wood Grenade is still buried in the round, I'll probably need a real grenade to get it out. Based on this, I'm thinking I may have American Elm but I'm not sure we have the same thing. You haven't had anything this stringy, I don't think. But there was a lot of difference in stringiness between the two trees I have, and I'm pretty sure they are the same species, so who knows? This is the first stuff like this I've run into; It's been Red Elm until now. Red splits easier than this, for sure.
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[WiscWoody]

Yeah that last split sure looks like a Elm I've had to split here. I think it was American Elm since those are around here. The guy I got the wood from called it Piss Elm. I'll take a couple more shots of my wood tomorrow. Some closer ends of rounds and splits without any punkyness.

 

[Woody Stover]

called it Piss Elm

Yeah....when you try to split it, you'll be pissed. On the plus side, it has it's own built-in kindling.

 

[bluedogz]

These pics are splits from a 6" round. This one was a small double-trunk in a wet area. This one wasn't too stringy but I had to drive the Wood Grenade way down into the round before it would split. It has a slightly darker heart. Moisture was about 23%, wood felt pretty heavy. Like I said, the bark is a ringer for your stuff, but the texture of the split surface is smooth on this one, whereas some of your splits have a rougher texture...kind of like Ash can be. Also, mine looks less punky so that could be a factor (?) Rings on mine look wide...not sure if Hickory would grow that fast in the woods here.

(broken image removed)

(broken image removed)


Then I went to my SIL's to split one from another tree, which looked very much like the one pictured above. I was mistaken in saying it was lighter...felt about the same today. The end looks similar to the log on the right in your log pic, with a darker center. This was about an 8" round. Wood Grenade is still buried in the round, I'll probably need a real grenade to get it out. Based on this, I'm thinking I may have American Elm but I'm not sure we have the same thing. You haven't had anything this stringy, I don't think. But there was a lot of difference in stringiness between the two trees I have, and I'm pretty sure they are the same species, so who knows? This is the first stuff like this I've run into; It's been Red Elm until now. Red splits easier than this, for sure.
(broken image removed)

This is how I learned not to put my Wood Grenade in the center of a round... and to keep a second wedge around just in case.

 

[Woody Stover]

This is how I learned not to put my Wood Grenade in the center of a round... and to keep a second wedge around just in case.

I had another wedge with me, but I was tired. I hauled that thing home, and will put it on the chopping block and see if I can just maul the sides apart without hitting the grenade...I'll remember the off-center tip. I use that with the maul, and sometimes regular wedges, but I still have that picture in my mind of the Grenade being able to 'blow apart' anything, even though that hasn't always been the case, even on easier-splitting stuff than this Elm. I'm a little slow on the uptake once in a while...

 

[WiscWoody]

Here are a few more pictures. I sure have run into a lot of black ants while splitting this wood! Hundreds and hundreds of them. I guess they got pretty comfy in this old wood! So far I have almost 4 10x6' racks filled.

 

[nrford]

Last pics look like ASH

 

[Woody Stover]

So far I have almost 4 10x6' racks filled.

Awesome! I guess that, as a rule, it's been easy to split then?

Last pics look like ASH

Sure does. Maybe Green Ash? Bark sure doesn't look like White to me, and that is some big, dark heart...

 

[WiscWoody]

The bark isn't White Ash looking at all. The splitting is going good with my splitter of course. After I get done with this wood I have a big pile of Maple and Black Ash rounds to split and find room for. I'll have to make some more racks! I add more every year even though I say, that's enough!! Lol. I just can't seem to turn down free scrounge....

 

[WiscWoody]

I've never even heard of Green Ash. I'll have to Google some images of it.

 

[WiscWoody]

I ran across this in a Google search, this looks like the wood that I'm working with now. Pignut Hickory.


EDIT: But, that kind of Hickory supposedly doesn't grow in this area, we are about 250 miles north of it's northern range. It's some kind if Hickory though.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/help-needed-identifying-this-tree-hickory-maybe.42841/