Schooling myself...

[VAfarmer38]

I've been cutting wood for about 5 years now for myself and I never really paid a ton of attention to what type of wood I was cutting. I just always assumed it was some sort of oak or poplar because they are abundant in my area. The majority of tress I cut up are blow downs or what I like to call volunteer trees. I don't fell anything unless it's absolutely needed. Well the past few weeks I've been trying hard to pay attention to identifying what type of tree I'm cutting, splitting, stacking and eventually burning. I scored a good 60' sugar maple double yesterday that was dying on my neighbors place. Had my buddy bring his bucket truck and we made short work of it. Still got about one load on the ground to bring home but it's a good feeling knowing exactly what type of wood I'm working with.

 

[drz1050]

Shame that sugar maple was dying, I love those trees... good score though!

 

[DougA]

Easy way to tell oak vs poplar: poplar is light weight, cuts easy, splits easy, dries easy and burns fast. I love ether one but oak is great for long overnight burns.

 

[BigCountryNY]

It's important to know what you are working with, as it helps you for planning purposes. I'd rather use the softer woods during the shoulder season and save the good stuff for when winter has really set it. Oak and locust are great for overnight or all-day burns. Pine and poplar are great for burning down a coal bed or getting a quick, hot fire going. Nearly all species available to me has it's place in my stacks and stoves. It all provides heat. Managing when to use it is the fun part!

 

[Woody Stover]

Sugar Maple is great stuff, on par with Red Oak but dries a bit faster. Nice grab!

 

[peakbagger]

A general note is that cutting healthy trees is not bad. Generally unmanaged woods have far to many trees which slows the overall growth. A good forester can mark the lower quality defective trees that are slowing down the growth of higher quality trees. It may look ugly for a year or two after the cuts but the remaining trees will rapidly fill in the canopy and lead to lot more open woods. If you can wait long enough, the remaining trees will be a lot more valuable. If you have access to a cooperative extension you may be able to get free forestry services to mark the trees that should be cut.

 

[VAfarmer38]

Yeah this tree was fairly hollow in the trunk about three feet up. Full of big black ants and an old hornet's nest. A section of the trunk section is still there and I'm not sure what to do with it. It was in their backyard and there's an old chain sticking out of both sides. Looks like it was put there a long time ago and the tree eventually grew around it. I'm worried about hitting metal and don't want to ruin a chain. May just drag it off into the woods with the tractor.

 

[jaoneill]

A general note is that cutting healthy trees is not bad. Generally unmanaged woods have far to many trees which slows the overall growth. A good forester can mark the lower quality defective trees that are slowing down the growth of higher quality trees. It may look ugly for a year or two after the cuts but the remaining trees will rapidly fill in the canopy and lead to lot more open woods. If you can wait long enough, the remaining trees will be a lot more valuable. If you have access to a cooperative extension you may be able to get free forestry services to mark the trees that should be cut.

We had a forester here, 38-40 years ago, to mark up a 5 acre section of our woodlot that had been partially cut over in the years before we bought the farm and was largely black birch, hardhack, and other not terribly desirable stuff. At the time, taking out the trees he had marked seemed like overkill. For many years afterward when going down the woods road past that section I had to wonder if we had done the right thing. I hadn't been by that section for 25 years or so until about five years ago. We started cutting again in that general area of the woods and I was amazed at what we had wrought. As peakbagger notes above, it is now much more open; the primarily hickory and maple trees are 18"-22" in diameter and straight as an arrow for 40'-50' before they limb out. In a nutshell, it was the best thing we could have done for that section of woods.

 

[Little Digger]

Yeah this tree was fairly hollow in the trunk about three feet up. Full of big black ants and an old hornet's nest. A section of the trunk section is still there and I'm not sure what to do with it. It was in their backyard and there's an old chain sticking out of both sides. Looks like it was put there a long time ago and the tree eventually grew around it. I'm worried about hitting metal and don't want to ruin a chain. May just drag it off into the woods with the tractor.

Over the past few year, I've found many nails ranging from 3 inches all the way up to 10 inches in length, welded wire fencing, barbed wire, and even a 3 inch door hinge. That last one hurt. I was in the process of felling two poplar trees that had grown together and I ran into it on the back/felling cut. I didn't stop though the chain had been substantially dulled and successfully felled that tree. Sometimes it amazes me what one can find in these trees from time to time. I've also ran into rocks towards the centers of some trees.

I know of one area where a tree is growing though a really old car, so you know there is likely a lot of metal in that trunk. In that same area there is an axle of some kind sticking out of both sides of a tree towards the center. That tree is in excess of 100 years old.

 

[VAfarmer38]

Over the past few year, I've found many nails ranging from 3 inches all the way up to 10 inches in length, welded wire fencing, barbed wire, and even a 3 inch door hinge. That last one hurt. I was in the process of felling two poplar trees that had grown together and I ran into it on the back/felling cut. I didn't stop though the chain had been substantially dulled and successfully felled that tree. Sometimes it amazes me what one can find in these trees from time to time. I've also ran into rocks towards the centers of some trees.

I know of one area where a tree is growing though a really old car, so you know there is likely a lot of metal in that trunk. In that same area there is an axle of some kind sticking out of both sides of a tree towards the center. That tree is in excess of 100 years old.

Yeah I was cutting a tree up for someone last year and was assured there was no metal in the tree. I knew the chances were high but starting cutting into it anyways. ABout half way through I hit a nail. Changed my cutting location and hit another. Third cut, hit another. Needless to say, that section of the tree is still there.

 

[jaoneill]

Over the past few year, I've found many nails ranging from 3 inches all the way up to 10 inches in length, welded wire fencing, barbed wire, and even a 3 inch door hinge. That last one hurt. I was in the process of felling two poplar trees that had grown together and I ran into it on the back/felling cut. I didn't stop though the chain had been substantially dulled and successfully felled that tree. Sometimes it amazes me what one can find in these trees from time to time. I've also ran into rocks towards the centers of some trees.

I know of one area where a tree is growing though a really old car, so you know there is likely a lot of metal in that trunk. In that same area there is an axle of some kind sticking out of both sides of a tree towards the center. That tree is in excess of 100 years old.

I once hit a horseshoe near the center of a 42" elm, had to have been there for near a hundred years.....

 

[VAfarmer38]

Not sure what I'd do if I ever found one of these... (broken link removed to http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/09/16/medieval-skeleton-discovered-in-tree-suffered-violent-death-experts-say/)

 

[Longstreet]

I've been cutting wood for about 5 years now for myself and I never really paid a ton of attention to what type of wood I was cutting. I just always assumed it was some sort of oak or poplar because they are abundant in my area. The majority of tress I cut up are blow downs or what I like to call volunteer trees. I don't fell anything unless it's absolutely needed. Well the past few weeks I've been trying hard to pay attention to identifying what type of tree I'm cutting, splitting, stacking and eventually burning. I scored a good 60' sugar maple double yesterday that was dying on my neighbors place. Had my buddy bring his bucket truck and we made short work of it. Still got about one load on the ground to bring home but it's a good feeling knowing exactly what type of wood I'm working with.

As an fyi, oak itself is very easy to identify, although there are many different varieties. Oak has rays which run from the center out to the bark. It's not normally this distinguished, but as an example:

(broken image removed)

Hope this helps! You should now be able to tell within seconds if a log is oak or not. I'm pretty sure all oaks have these medullary rays.

 

[VAfarmer38]

That's pretty sweet. Looks like you could do something decorative with something like that also.

 

[Longstreet]

That's pretty sweet. Looks like you could do something decorative with something like that also.

Basically the entire Mission Style (Craftsman/Arts and Crafts) movement uses quarter sawn (although sometimes rift sawn) white oak. When you quarter saw white oak, the rays turn into beautiful flakes. It's pretty stunning, at least to me. High quality white oak is 1000x better than red oak.

(broken image removed)

 

[VAfarmer38]

That's nice. See, now you've got me wanting to build a table. Thanks!

 

[Applesister]

Another reason why its helpful to take close pictures for IDing wood. Grain is a distinguishing characteristic for alot of species, Oak especially.
If you wonder if you have oak, take close up pics.

 

[Little Digger]

VAFarmer38, with your original post, I am of the opinion that the more you work with trees in any given are, the more intimate you become with them, the more likely you will be able to identify them with just a look whether the tree is standing alive, or dead, or in the round or split for the wood pile. That is once you have a positive ID. Beware asking a local what a tree might be on their property. Some have no idea and will say whatever name pops into their heads.

I was chatting with one guy about a year after I moved here and he was asking if I was going to remove all the Larch I had on my property. I looked around and asked him what he was thinking was Larch since I didn't see a single one. He pointed out the Rhododendron! He commented that folk around here refer to that as Larch.

I do tend to try to keep the various woods together so I don't have to dig through the wood pile looking for a specific species for burning. Like looking for poplar and pine for the shoulder season or black locust and oak for when the heating season is under way.

 

[VAfarmer38]

VAFarmer38, with your original post, I am of the opinion that the more you work with trees in any given are, the more intimate you become with them, the more likely you will be able to identify them with just a look whether the tree is standing alive, or dead, or in the round or split for the wood pile. That is once you have a positive ID. Beware asking a local what a tree might be on their property. Some have no idea and will say whatever name pops into their heads.

I was chatting with one guy about a year after I moved here and he was asking if I was going to remove all the Larch I had on my property. I looked around and asked him what he was thinking was Larch since I didn't see a single one. He pointed out the Rhododendron! He commented that folk around here refer to that as Larch.

I do tend to try to keep the various woods together so I don't have to dig through the wood pile looking for a specific species for burning. Like looking for poplar and pine for the shoulder season or black locust and oak for when the heating season is under way.

That's honestly what I'm trying to do a better job of this season. I would like to come up with a better system to season my wood and make sure I'm burning the right wood at the right times. I'm planning to pick up a moisture meter this weekend when I head to the hardware store. Still trying to figure up a decent stacking method.

 

[Applesister]

This might be an ethics question, whether it matters what all the species are that you cut.
For me its an ethics question, because its a woodlot management issue. But for the greater population, who cares what kind of wood you are burning. All wood is equal (but some wood is more equal than others).
Does it really matter what it is?? As long as it burns? As long as your not trying to stuff car tires in your woodstove.
If you are grabbing wood from a landfill or picking up free stuff along the road, or having a buddy drop rounds in your driveway, its free and it burns.

 

[billb3]

I like to keep my firewood segregated by type due to differing seasoning times and for differing burning characteristics.

For a while I used to pick the oak out of a bundle brought in and set it aside for overnight and leave the oak set aside during shoulder season but now with my sister coming every 7 to 10 days for a pickup load for her and another for my mom I can just tell them what stacks to take from this week.

 

[Oldman47]

This might be an ethics question, whether it matters what all the species are that you cut.
For me its an ethics question, because its a woodlot management issue. But for the greater population, who cares what kind of wood you are burning. All wood is equal (but some wood is more equal than others).
Does it really matter what it is?? As long as it burns? As long as your not trying to stuff car tires in your woodstove.
If you are grabbing wood from a landfill or picking up free stuff along the road, or having a buddy drop rounds in your driveway, its free and it burns.

To me it matters a lot. I do not want to leave behind a mostly cottonwood forest to replace the mostly shagbark, black walnut and bur oak that I have today. If anything, I want to improve my forest by burning the culls. I have another wood lot where I planted all of the trees. Unfortunately, at the time, it looked like ash should be a major component so it is about 20% of the total planting. Now I will be thinning my ash as they die off rather than thinning some of each species that I planted. That reduces my biodiversity but is a reason that I avoided planting a monoculture.

 

[turn_n_burn]

I wish we had lots of oak, ash and maples to work with around here. We are high desert with forested lands close by, so I cut alot of dead Fir, Pine, Tamarack, and Juniper in the Payette N.F., which helps clear out deadfall and understory, as we have horrible forest fire problems here. I also have a small network of people now that have me occasionally thin out stands of Black Locust, which is a big invasive species in our riverbottoms, as it chokes out all the native poplars and cottonwoods. Balance is key.

 

[VAfarmer38]

This might be an ethics question, whether it matters what all the species are that you cut.
For me its an ethics question, because its a woodlot management issue. But for the greater population, who cares what kind of wood you are burning. All wood is equal (but some wood is more equal than others).
Does it really matter what it is?? As long as it burns? As long as your not trying to stuff car tires in your woodstove.
If you are grabbing wood from a landfill or picking up free stuff along the road, or having a buddy drop rounds in your driveway, its free and it burns.

To me, I think burning wood with higher energy content and BTUs would benefit more in the cold season. I guess my point was, instead of having a mix of all different woods in a pile, I'd like to know what is what and have it semi-separated. I could burn pine/poplar/other softwoods when the temps weren't too cold. I could burn oak, ash, elm when I need those long-sustaining fires. I use an outdoor wood burner so I'm not really sure how much difference it really makes. I'm not as concerned with creosote buildup as someone who has an indoor woodstove or fireplace. I'm just looking for efficiency and the fact that I'd really like to be able to identify trees when I'm out cutting or if my son asks me what kind of tree this is. Plain & simple.

 

[Fred Wright]

IDing the tree species here was a goal of mine when we started cutting. I knew junk trees like sweet gum but the others were mystery wood. Came to find that we had several willow oaks, trees that tend to grow together naturally in lower, poorly drained forest. Once you ID your trees you'll be able to ID them any time of the year. Where there's one, there'll be more. Bark appearance, trunk shape, position of limbs and the angles they grow at can ID them during winter.

By all means, segregate your firewood stacks. We set aside space for different species of wood so it's easy to pick what we want when we want it.