Recognizing wood type...

[Dunadan]

I'm new here, and new to heating with wood. My stove is getting installed next Friday (yay) but I've already got 3 cords of seasoned wood stacked and ready to go, and another cord or so piled in my driveway ready to stack.

When I spoke with the guy I bought it from ahead of time and asked if his wood was hardwood, he said there would be some hardwood, but he didn't guarantee what kind of wood I would get. He said I'd get whatever he pulled out of his piles - how he stacked it when he cut it would determine what I would get. He said I'd probably get elm, maple, soft maple, cherry, amongst some other things.

I'm confident I received seasoned wood. It was a bit wet from all the recent rain, but the stuff is already dried out nicely.

My question is, is there any way to tell by looking at the split pieces what I received? I know some of the wood is heavier than other wood, which I think would mean it's hardwood, but I have no idea what kind. I'm sure after burning some of it I'll catch on what burns longer and what burns quicker, just wondering if there's any way to know going in.

Thoughts?

 

[Eric Johnson]

The bark is probably your best indicator, assuming it still has the bark on it. Between the bark, the weight and the grain pattern, you should learn over time which wood is better, if not exactly what kind it is. Like Dylan says, if you post some pics (of the bark, especially), we'll try to point you in the right direction.

The tree in my avatar, BTW, is black cherry.

 

[wg_bent]

Weight is a real indicator. Also, If you split a peice of pine...you'll be able to smell it.

If you grab a peice of pine and roughly similar size peice of oak, the difference will be remarkable. Seasoned pine is about 1/3 the weight or so.

Also, look at the peices. A lot of the pine I have has a ton of knots in it. More like small sections of branches within the splits.

Cherry will be a darker to almost reddish color. Maple will be a lite straight grained wood with almost no perceptable grain pattern, but there are some others that fit that description.

Elm will look like someone tried to tear the wood apart rather than split it, since it has lots of splinters still hanging on to the splits...that's why it is so difficult to split.

As Eric said, post pictures and we'll all take our guesses.

In the end, Its good to know, but I think that as far as burning the wood in the real world, knowing you have a peice of soft wood vs hardwood is the real valuable peice of knowledge. If you have elm, oak or maple, you've got good wood that will burn well. pine is a bit more difficult to burn and doesn't last long, but burns hot.

 

[Dunadan]

Here are some pics of the wood. First is the bark, then the grain, then the ends. I realize the sizes are not all the same, but in terms of weight, the lightest piece is on the far left of the first set of pieces (pic #1), and the heaviest piece is on the right of the second set of pieces (pic #4).

Since I'm limited on space, I'll have to use several couple posts...

This is the bark of Group A (the lightest pieces)....

 

[Dunadan]

Group A grain and ends...

 

[Dunadan]

Group B bark...

 

[Dunadan]

Group B end

 

[Dunadan]

grain...

 

[NWfuel]

Looks well seasoned. I can tell you it is NOT Alder,Fir,Pine,Maple,Cedar or Hemlock.

 

[NWfuel]

Group B far right Madrone?

 

[NWfuel]

Are you in California?

 

[Todd]

Group A the first 4 pieces from left to right look like Silver Maple. That stringy bark is dead give away. The other 2 on the right look like maple or Beech. Group B don't know?

 

[Dunadan]

Kinda like a treasure hunt...thanks for all the feedback so far. No I'm not in California. I'm in Upstate NY.

Due to size limitations some of the pics are hard to see. I should have just posted links. To view the full size images, check out these links. Thanks ahead of time...

Group A - Lighter Wood

Group A Bark

Group A Grain

Group A End

Group B - Heavier Wood

Group B Bark

Group B Grain

Group B End

 

[wg_bent]

group a.

dunno, maybe cherry from bark but grain is too light, dunno, dunno, oak, dunno, poplar, poplar

edit...

looking at grain... dunno, dunno, elm, ....


The third one from the left is elm, no doubt about it I'd recognize that crap any where. just try splitting that peice...bet you can't

 

[Eric Johnson]

Soft maple.