Need Help Identifying Wood

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Brianjones

New Member
Mar 23, 2022
4
Missouri
I just got my Buck 74 and have begun stockpiling wood, but I haven’t been very picky in selecting. I would like some help identifying some of the wood that is in my pile. I live in Missouri just outside of Kansas City. Any resources on identifying firewood you might be able
send my way would be helpful too!

Wood #1
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Wood #2
EA1E9BBA-26E9-4F5E-AAFE-A44F1F8622A3.jpeg

8162BF2F-2850-4DE6-AAE6-D616313F3677.jpeg

Wood #3
6DE09C3E-A5A4-46B9-8FFF-FD0A66251081.jpeg

3267CC20-31D2-4DED-BD7E-55E67B6E23D1.jpeg


Wood #4
0013B3B6-57DC-4EFA-A0A9-45139F2A70CC.jpeg


Wood #5
FEF95207-0630-4E48-960F-013B97973563.jpeg


Wood #6
32CE8F2E-5F91-4FCB-92F7-4CA0C2CEEA78.jpeg

047B3523-94F0-4BC3-8AC7-0630E814C049.jpeg
 
1. Ash, 2. beech or limb silver maple, 3,4,& box elder or sassafras, 5. back to silver maple limbs or beech.
 
My guess
1 ash definitely
2 poplar
3 definitely walnut
4 I would need to see a fresh cut end to guess
5 silver maple or pear
6 drawing a blank
 
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Here are my WAG's. I think it is pretty easy to be 'thrown off' because a lot of these pics seem to be branches. Branches don't necessarily produce the same bark pattern as trunks. So what is easily identifiable on a trunk may be totally different on a branch.

1 - Ash - Think we pretty much all agree here.
2 - Looks like branches of silver maple to me
3 - Is the fresh split wood actually that dark? Walnut was mentioned - which it might be if that is true, but I don't see the typical white sap wood. Makes me think that piece may have just turned brown due to seasoning
4 - Kind of makes me think sweet gum or something similar. Though that appears to be one slightly larger diameter piece of wood surrounded by a bunch of smaller pieces of silver maple. So wondering if it is the same tree - just a larger branch with slightly different bark.
5 - Back to more silver maple branches
6 - Given those super wide growth rings and 'stringy' appearance, I am thinking willow, poplar or something similar.

Overall, I would say save the ash for the colder parts of winter. Silver maple for the colder parts of fall, and be ready to shovel the rest of the woods in at a pretty high rate as they seem to be some of the 'lighter' species around.
 
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@Corey yeah you are right, a lot of the silver maple especially are branches that were trimmed off a tree at my in-laws.
For no. 3, I don’t think it was always that dark but has just darkened with the seasoning process. It may be a silver maple as well.
This is my first year and a lot of our stuff is small so I don’t think we will be able to rely solely on our stove this winter but I would like to eventually get there. Just wanted to know what we might have in our arsenal here that we might be able to use here and there this winter. Hopefully the small size will help it dry quicker so we can have a few good “one-off” fires this winter.
Thank you all for your input!
 
Split the pieces ASAP, even the small ones. The bark impedes drying.
 
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