ID This Wood

[NYSB]

I've been cutting and stacking wood from our property. Mostly dead standing for probably 5 years or more and several medium size trees which were dead and on the ground. Nothing rotten as far as I can tell, but I'm not sure what species they are. I am guessing oak.

The larger piece is from a very large tree my neighbor cut down 4-5 years ago. It was left in 16-18" long rounds right on our the property line we share, in the grass. He was happy to get rid of it, since they would have to pay someone else to come take it away - they are not wood burners. It is very hard to split - even smallish pieces are immune to my 12lb splitting maul... MC is about 20-25%. Planning to burn it next winter.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

You'd really do better with a splitter. I do a fair amount of hand splitting, but sure am
glad I bought my little 5 ton electric. It's handling much of what I give it; in fact, there's
not that much it can't do. Those tougher rounds I noodle with the saws. I've also used
a decent gas hydraulic splitter, and they are awesome. Not in my budget right now,
however.

Sorry I can't help with the wood ID, but some of the guys here can nail it for sure.
It certainly looks worth your effort to split and stack it.

 

[Ncountry]

Here are my wags with confidence levels .

#1 hickory 10%
#2 cherry 30%
#3&4 maple 80%(leaning towards red maple)
#5 red oak 20%

Lol. I enjoy trying to identify these pictures on here. Having been a logger and working with wood most of my life I can identify most any tree native to my area if I can see it and examine it in person. Picture are a whole new level. there are all sorts of subtle clues missing.

 

[claydogg84]

Pictures 1 & 2 are the same split, correct? It's old, and the main identification clues are pretty much shot (bark, wood grain), so I won't guess. The 3,4,5 are also just 3 angles of the same tree? Soft Maple.

 

[Jags]

If all from the same tree, it is maple. I do see some variations in a couple of pics that if it is from more than one tree, I would say maple and Oak.

 

[NYSB]

Yes, there are only two pieces of wood here - the larger piece has two pics and the smaller piece has three pics. I think they are different species because the bark is quite different and the larger piece with the 'red' discoloration is so much harder to split. Maple and Oak are good possibilities as we do have a lot of both in the area.

Our house is on a small lot in a densly populated urban area - I just have no room for an electric or gas log splitter. After this year I won't have any more trees on our property to harvest so from here on out I will be ordering "seasoned" wood from a local supplier. If I get an occasional tree from a neighbor, I can handle a wedge and hammer for those...

I did burn a couple of pieces of each this season with an MC of 20-23% and it seemed to burn great in my catalytic stove.

 

[Wood Duck]

The smaller tree is definitely maple - Red Maple - and the larger is probably maple too. I am not too sure about the big one.

Keep at it with the maul. You'll eventually get the wood split and you'll get fit in the process. There is some skill to splitting, including maul speed, placement of the strike on the wood, deciding where to strike, and I think you'll get better at it.

 

[Applesister]

The wood all looks like maple with that satiny sheen. I think soft maples would be way more decomposed by now or show spalting and more rot than what you are seeing. So Im saying Sugar maple.
The bottom bark shot doesnt look like any maple I see here but the splits look very maple. The ray flecks are so maple.