Oak? Maple? Help me out!

[Rougement]

Big fella I dropped yesterday, all rotten inside at the bottom. I wanna know if it's just good for burning or if I should save some lumber for projects.

 

[JustWood]

Not sure! I think I'm gonna rule out maple.
Got any pics of bark with no moss?
Is it really wet were the tree is growing?
It almost looks like black ash. But not sure.

 

[Wet1]

It's really hard to see the bark with the growth all over it, but it looks to me like it could be a black cherry. Any good pictures of clean bark?

 

[Jags]

Man is that a branchy sob. Burn it next year.

By the growth rings it looks to be very dense. Dark interior.....Hmmm....dunno.

 

[Rougement]

The bark is kind of flat, not as raised and bumpy as some I've seen.

 

[Wet1]

Black Ash

 

[Wood Duck]

The bark could pass for White Oak, but the branches look to me like an ash. I have never cut up a Black Ash, but maybe like a lot of trees Black Ash is named for the color of the wood. This wood is pretty dark.

 

[smokinj]

Black Ash

+1 good score

 

[Rougement]

If it's black (swamp) ash it's gonna be turned into several guitars

 

[Henz]

I think its ash as well,. the but end there looked like black walnut though

 

[Wet1]

I think its ash as well,. the but end there looked like black walnut though

That was my first thought when I saw the interior, but the bark is clearly not black walnut.

 

[FLINT]

almost certainly ash. on one of the first pics, you can tell that it has opposite branching - which not a ton of trees do - but maples do and ashes do - and thats not a maple for sure. the twigs on ash are much stouter than on maples.

 

[FLINT]

oh yeah, ash is good for burning - it splits really nice. unless you want to make baseball bats or something - but I think thats white ash.

 

[Duetech]

If it's black (swamp) ash it's gonna be turned into several guitars

Guitars? I like the way you think!

 

[DBoon]

The bark on the top picture of Rougement's second post looks like Bitternut Hickory to me. The dark center of the wood is also typical of Bitternut Hickory. I've never seen a dark center for white or green ash, so you can rule that out. I don't think its Black Walnut, and definitely not Black Cherry.

 

[DBoon]

This is a good link to the description of the tree, and this is how they describe the bark:

"The light gray bark of Bitternut Hickory is the smoothest of the Hickories, and has a sinewy, muscled, sometimes twisted character. With age, it develops interlacing ridges and shallow furrows that may cause it to be mistakenly identified as an ash (which also has compound leaves, but they are opposite, rather than alternate). Bitternut Hickory never develops the peeling character of Shagbark or Shellbark Hickories."

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/trees/hickory_bit/tabid/5373/Default.aspx

 

[FLINT]

its not hickory. hickories have alternate branching. the tree he cut down definitely has opposite branching.

hickories and ashes can have similar bark - and they both have compound leaves so they can look similar - however the branching pattern is the diagnostic characteristic.

I've only cut a couple ash trees, and yes, I do remember the heartwood being lighter than that, but the ash trees i've cut were green ash, so black ash could be diff.

 

[Rougement]

Thanks for the help guys! I'm pretty sure it's black ash.

So my next job is to buck this thing and get some boards out, any advice? I've got an 18 Husqvarna saw and I want to quartersaw an 8ft length to make a nice mattress foundation and some 2ft lengths for guitar blanks.

Are those chain saw mill attachments any good?

I guess I could buck and the saw the round in half in the field and then haul the halves into the garage to half again and quartersaw, I can't move the 8ft round by myself.

 

[FLINT]

I would ask around and see if anyone has a little portable mill since you only want a few pieces, they may do it for little or nothing for you.

 

[Tony H]

Thanks for the help guys! I'm pretty sure it's black ash.

So my next job is to buck this thing and get some boards out, any advice? I've got an 18 Husqvarna saw and I want to quartersaw an 8ft length to make a nice mattress foundation and some 2ft lengths for guitar blanks.

Are those chain saw mill attachments any good?

I guess I could buck and the saw the round in half in the field and then haul the halves into the garage to half again and quartersaw, I can't move the 8ft round by myself.

my nephew has one of those attachments and it works fairly good he cut some oak ran it thru the planer and used to make an oak bed for the floor of his old restored international pick up truck and it looks great but he did admit it does waste some of the wood .