NO PIC WOOD ID

[ansehnlich1]

Hey,

I chainsaw through these trees right, and it's unmistakable. The fresh cut wood has a pink to almost red irregular shaped star in the middle. This shape is surrounded by a border of whitish wood. The stuff is soft, don't think it's good to burn, don't know what it is. The tree grows rather large, maybe 30 feet or so, and sends out many branches from the trunk. Can't seem to identify it with my resources. Oh, I live in South Central Pennsylvania and this is a deciduous tree. Whatcha think it is???

I mean, if you know what it is, you know you know. I have no pic, and guess I could get one sometime, but don't have easy way of doing so.

When the wood dries, the pink/red mark goes away. Strange eh?

 

[kwburn]

cedar is the only pink wood i've seen but i'm sure there are others on here that are actually qualified to answer this. people are going to request a picture to tell for sure.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Oh this surely is NOT a cedar. It is deciduous. And to anyone who has cut this tree, and knows what it is, my description would be more than enough, as it is unmistakable what it looks like when you first cut it, when it's green, it's got this reddish center, irregular star shaped, and I don't know what it is. I'd like to know the type of tree simply cuz I'm curious.

Thanks for you reply, and I know a pic would be helpful, but it ain't happenin' anytime soon , sorry. Just thought somebody might say, OH! that's a _________ tree.

 

[budman]

sumac

 

[ansehnlich1]

these trees are 1 or 2 feet in diameter at the base, big, ya know, I don't think sumac gets that big does it?

 

[fespo]

Box Elder?

 

[jpl1nh]

Box Elder?

Good guess! I've never cut it but it gets big, grows in that area, has lots of branches and isn't very good to burn. A quick web check turned up this too. (broken link removed to http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/elder.htm)

 

[ansehnlich1]

hey I'm going to check out this box elder and see if that ain't it. I recall seeing a swarm of box elder bugs on another tree a year or so ago, but did not know what they were. I do know these bugs were near where one of these trees now stand, so this may indeed be the tree.

thanks for the info.

 

[JMF1]

I'd definitely say Box Elder, we have alot of them around here. They are supposed to be in the maple family I'm told but they don't burn well, had some last year........

 

[jtp10181]

Lots of people burn that crap around here.... I have been told by quite a few people that its not that great for burning. Most of the people I encouter are burning wet or rotten wood though (if they are burning good wood they don't bother me).

 

[jpl1nh]

Box elder is in the maple family. Maples range from excellent firewood in sugar and hard maple to okay firewood, red and actually box elder, and then silver which is pretty mediocre. All of this is from the perspective of BTU's per cord of course. They all burn. just some burn much faster than others.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Yep, fespo is right, it's surely Box Elder. And I'm gonna give my personal opinion here, I ain't wastin' my time buckin' and splittin' it

 

[MrGriz]

I've got quite a stack of box elder ready to go for this season. It was free, it was close to home and it will burn. Sure, it's not the best wood in the pile, but it is good for early fall and spring.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I've got quite a stack of box elder ready to go for this season. It was free, it was close to home and it will burn. Sure, it's not the best wood in the pile, but it is good for early fall and spring.

aw man, I'm gonna have to retract what I said, for real. I'm gonna get me some of that box elder and toss it in and see what it does. It's just that I have this mix of hardwoods and I was gettin' cocky I guess. I got maple, white oak, locust, ash, walnut, cherry, and hickory in the pile.