Red fir white fir no fir

[justchris]

I recently started cutting my own firewood and I really have no idea what I'm doing. If someone could help me identify what I cut id appreciate it.

 

[Poindexter]

I am confident that is something out of the SPF (Spruce - pine - fir) group. No idea which one. The good news is that wood has BTUs in it, and there is nothing you can cut that will dry out faster than what you got.

Get that split, stacked off the ground and top covered to get the clock ticking. If you can get some more of that, get it. I burn spruce only up here, what you have looks pretty straight and splitting is not going to get much easier.

Sorry for the delay, I am up to my neck in chores this time of year.

 

[Larch]

Douglas fir I think

 

[tcb2]

Looks like white fir to me, did the bark turn to a smoother gray color at the top? If so it was probably white fir.

 

[Larch]

When you say white fir do you mean balsam(true fir)

 

[tcb2]

I've never heard it described as balsam fir, so perhaps?? I know in my area there are a lot of red, white and Douglas fir. They are similar and I was taught to look at the top of the tree, white fir will have smoother gray bark toward the top which to me looks like the bark of subalpine fir.

 

[Larch]

It's funny how different areas have different names. And how different tree species can look in different places. I'm in the logging industry handfalling/log processing for the last 30 years and I can say it's not our balsam(white fir, true fir) but in that area and climate maybe it is. For his sake I hope it's our Douglas fir and not balsam, it all burns but our balsam is about as bad as it gets

 

[tcb2]

Yes, in my area white fir is also called to as ash fir because it burns quick, hot and leaves a bunch of ash. It also has the smell of urine when fresh cut, some call it piss fir.

 

[Larch]

Yes, in my area white fir is also called to as ash fir because it burns quick, hot and leaves a bunch of ash. It also has the smell of urine when fresh cut, some call it piss fir.

Sounds like our balsam then just doesn't look much like it

 

[SpaceBus]

Doug Fir and Balsam Fir have blisters on the bark. Most Fir needles have two thin white lines on the bottoms, spruce does not. Based on the bark and end grain my guess is some kind of hemlock.

 

[justchris]

The bark wasn't smooth and grey at the top and it didn't smell like piss when I cut it. I guess we'll see how it burns in a couple months.

 

[justchris]

Looks like white fir to me, did the bark turn to a smoother gray color at the top? If so it was probably white fir.

No the bark didn't turn smooth near the top

 

[SpaceBus]

Do you have any limbs with needles still on them?

 

[qwee]

Is it Tamarack? You are near Walla Walla, Washington. I remember a member from the Walla Walla area saying he would get Tamarack there in that area. It doesn't appear to be Douglas fir. It doesn't appear to be Ponderosa Pine. It isn't Lodgepole Pine.

That leaves Tamarack. I haven't obtained any (yet), but I hear for the pine/fir group it is the best. I watched this video part ways through and the wood they are harvesting is Tamarack, and it has that orange hue like your wood. Tamarack loses its needle during winter (only fir/pine to do this).

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Also, this appears to be the same wood as in the background of these Clay Hayes videos. Clay Hayes won a History Channel's Alone season. He lives in Northern Idaho. Maybe we should ask Clay?

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[Max W]

I don’t know anything about western varieties but it doesn’t look like the fir or spruce out this way. When it comes to the branches, fir that I see here generally has needles that grow flat from the each side of the stem while spruce needles grow out all around the stem. I’d heard of something called cat spruce. I didn’t understand where that came from until I cut a spruce Christmas tree instead of the usual fir. Poor move. When we found the source of the odor we tossed the tree and kept our cat.