Pleasant suprise

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sweedish

Feeling the Heat
Feb 6, 2019
354
Michigan
I brought wood in today, the wood I cut and stacked a few years ago came from along a ditch that was dug out and the logs were bulldozed to the side 20+ years ago, so any and all signs of bark, branches etc to identify what it is is quite difficult, your stuck with the grain, it’s characteristics, and color, which me being-somewhat colorblind, is challenging.
Normally the stuff has been ho hum, quaky, boxelder, and the odd cherry. Once in a while something decent, last find was a bit of locust, this week I’m pretty sure this is mulberry.

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I brought wood in today, the wood I cut and stacked a few years ago came from along a ditch that was dug out and the logs were bulldozed to the side 20+ years ago, so any and all signs of bark, branches etc to identify what it is is quite difficult, your stuck with the grain, it’s characteristics, and color, which me being-somewhat colorblind, is challenging.
Normally the stuff has been ho hum, quaky, boxelder, and the odd cherry. Once in a while something decent, last find was a bit of locust, this week I’m pretty sure this is mulberry.

View attachment 289539 View attachment 289540
I’d like someone to confirm, this stuff may get returned to the pile if it is for colder weather.
 
Does mulberry have those horizontal stripes (perpendicular to the grain) - like oak has?

Regardless, looks like good hardwood to me.
 
Medullary rays? I think mulberry does, but so does cherry. Too bad most mulberry I see doesn’t grow straight. It’s a very pretty wood. Here is another pic

6AEA0B70-4A34-45E3-877E-B70EC9ECF3D2.jpeg
 
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My gosh that's old wood! Kind of looks like Mulberry but hard to tell. Throw a piece or two on the fire and if it pops and sparks like the Fourth of July that's what it is!
 
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That could be mulberry looking at the end grain. I'm not good enough at IDing just from that though, especially when it's so old. When it hasn't been dead so long it tends to be a very pretty yellow. I've been burning a lot of it so far this winter since I cut down a dead standing tree and everything measured under 17% MC. I can generally ID by bark, and of course this tree was on my property so I got to compare it to all the living mulberries nearby. The firewood rarely if ever sparks for me, though.
 
My gosh that's old wood! Kind of looks like Mulberry but hard to tell. Throw a piece or two on the fire and if it pops and sparks like the Fourth of July that's what it is!
I have found that if mulberry is bone dry it does not spark near as much. I have been cutting some deadfall mulberry that the 1st inch or so is punky and the rest a buckskin color, and get very little sparks. The stuff almost lights it's self.