identifying hardwoods

[colophoto]

Hi everyone!
Around here it's varieties of pine. Any hardwoods come from the urban forrest and are generally not so available and very expensive. I'm sifting through craigslist and see tons of wood for sale, some for a pretty good deal (most not). BUT I also see tons of people selling cottonwood and trying to give it away. There are several good deals ($50-80 per 1/2 cord) for mixed hardwood. Here's my problem, I have virtually no experience with hardwood. I'm not 100% confident I can look at split logs and know the difference (I can tell pine). I don't suppose it matters so much the exact species, although if I buy from someone advertising maple i'd like for it to actually be maple.
So, if I'm buying a half cord of mixed hardwood are there any easy tells for me to be reasonably sure that it is indeed hardwood? I've looked at a ton of pictures on google and have brain overload.

thanks for helping a newbie.
Mark

 

[Jags]

Other than becoming familiar with trees (wood), there is no one statement that I am aware of that will assure you that a split is actually a "hard" wood.

This is a great field guide if you are willing to take the time to really evaluate what you are looking at:
http://www.amazon.com/National-Audubon-Society-American-Trees-W/dp/0394507614

 

[Applesister]

The hardwoods are just all the trees that go dormant and loose their leaves during dormancy.
The softwoods have needles or evergreen leaves that shed every three years or so.
IDing splits is the hardest way to try to ID species.
You are completely disadvantaged.
A shortcut solution would be to scrap a thin sliver of wood cells off with a knife and under a microscope look for pine resin capsules. lol...but Im only making that up. I have no shortcut answer. And dont know of any.
Im sure there IS something scientifically that can be studied.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Pine or evergreen will usually have a pine scent. Push a pen knife in the end of a piece.
Learning bark types is really beneficial. Seeing wood in person much better than on a computer screen.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hi everyone!
Around here it's varieties of pine. Any hardwoods come from the urban forrest and are generally not so available and very expensive. I'm sifting through craigslist and see tons of wood for sale, some for a pretty good deal (most not). BUT I also see tons of people selling cottonwood and trying to give it away. There are several good deals ($50-80 per 1/2 cord) for mixed hardwood. Here's my problem, I have virtually no experience with hardwood. I'm not 100% confident I can look at split logs and know the difference (I can tell pine). I don't suppose it matters so much the exact species, although if I buy from someone advertising maple i'd like for it to actually be maple.
So, if I'm buying a half cord of mixed hardwood are there any easy tells for me to be reasonably sure that it is indeed hardwood? I've looked at a ton of pictures on google and have brain overload.

thanks for helping a newbie.
Mark

Yes Mark. Any tree that has leaf drop is a hardwood. Hence, cottonwood or willow or aspen are still hardwoods although we tend to speak of them as soft woods. It is a technical thing.

Best thing is to try to learn 3 or 4 and learn them well. Next year add a couple to that. The following year, the same, etc. If you get really good you'll be like me and know 5 or 6 types.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I have good and bad news.

Good news... according to this site: http://www.westernexplorers.us/ColoradoTrees.html there aren't many trees native to Colorado.

Bad news... according to that site there aren't many trees native to Colorado.

This site paints the same picture. http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/major-tree-species.html

I think I'd start by walking through the forests and try to identify the trees that you see. You'll figure out which ones grow around your area and those are the ones you're likely to see being sold as firewood. Once you learn to ID the tree, you can get a better idea on how to id from bark. Bark is tough as it changes over the life of the tree.

Start with quaking aspen. It's easy to id from bark and from the wood itself.