identify this wood please

[misterprimus]

Need help identifying this wood. At least let me know if it's a softwood or a hardwood / acceptable for smoking meat.

 

[gzecc]

May sound crazy but very difficult identifying from close up pictures. Id guess they are all different.
Step back and take some pics,

 

[Simonkenton]

That is ash. Great firewood for the wood stove. I don't know if it is fit for smoking.

 

[Lakeside]

That is ash.

Dang it, I was very close to posting the same guess this morning. I have to learn to trust my instincts more and go-for-it !

For me the size of the grain & growth rings was why I think it is ash.

 

[MongoMongoson]

I agree with the ash assessment. I think ash smells pretty good when it burns, so it would probably be fine for smoking. I have never used it, as it is really easy for me to get black cherry and as far as I am concerned, that's hard to beat for smoking.

 

[misterprimus]

May sound crazy but very difficult identifying from close up pictures. Id guess they are all different.
Step back and take some pics,

 

[misterprimus]

I agree with the ash assessment. I think ash smells pretty good when it burns, so it would probably be fine for smoking. I have never used it, as it is really easy for me to get black cherry and as far as I am concerned, that's hard to beat for smoking.

In my area it's not so easy to get good quality wood like that. Someone threw this wood out and put it up on craigslist - I guess they were worried garbage men wouldn't haul it away. Lots of pine/spruce in my area: not very good for smoking!

Anyway, thanks for all the input. I posted some more pictures above as someone requested. Didn't realize how difficult it was to tell these species apart without the leaves just by looking at the resulting firewood.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Real outdoor barbecue restaurants I know use black cherry. In my stove I'd tend to agree with that -- by itself it doesn't kindle real easily or produce a lot of flame. (Combined with dense, hot woods like hickory and oak it flames real pretty.)

I have a bunch of black cherry chips right now from splitting logs from a friend's tree. I'm gonna experiment with them when I grill hamburgers.

 

[Simonkenton]

Lakeside, I cheated. An hour before I made the ID on this wood I was out in my yard sawing up and splitting a load of ash.
The bark is distinctive because as the tree dies from Emerald Ash Borer the bark takes on a pale grey color.
Also the wood has a distinctive look.