Wood I.D

[Descending sparky]

Just curious what people think this wood
May be! I am wondering because when I went to my last scrounge, it seems as tho the guy that got there before me knew more about wood that myself! I believe he got all the real good hardwood and left me the uneducated guy with all that he didn't want lol! [/ATTACH]

 

[HittinSteel]

Looks like norway maple.....do you have that up your way?

 

[Descending sparky]

Looks like norway maple.....do you have that up your way?

I honestly am not 100% sure! I believe we do, I googled some pics of it and it does look similar!

 

[Wood Duck]

It does look like Norway Maple, but also like Ash. I am not sure why it split so poorly. Is the stringy stuff in the second picture the same tree as the first picture?

 

[Descending sparky]

It does look like Norway Maple, but also like Ash. I am not sure why it split so poorly. Is the stringy stuff in the second picture the same tree as the first picture?

Yes sir, it was the same round! It took me a good 6 strikes with an 8lb maul! I was dreading splitting the next few peices I have! But I am thinking this is nether wood that all the basswood that was left at the scrounge! I will have a few more species to I.D once I get through some more wood! I made a big mess and now I must split and stack some before I cut anymore!

 

[higginscl]

I have a bunch of the same kinda stuff. The bark came right off like it wasnt held on by anyting and when i split it it was sopping wet. I too am unsure what it is.

 

[aansorge]

I'm guessing green ash. Green ash splits a lot tougher than white.

 

[HDRock]

Looks like ash and I have had some a little stringy and some not from same group of ash trees

 

[paul bunion]

I think ash also. The ridges on norway tend to run narrower and more continuous in my experience.

 

[bogydave]

Looks like ash.
Any tree cut now (spring cut ) is going to be heavy, wet & the bark come off easy.

Stringy like that, is going to make it a real PIA to split. Good luck.
Hope the other wood is not so stringy.

 

[Mr A]

Looks like Sweetgum I haven't got any ash,. but isn't ash supposed to be easy to split? Did you notice any star shaped leaves, or spiky green seed balls?

 

[Woody Stover]

Looks like Sweetgum I haven't got any ash,. but isn't ash supposed to be easy to split? Did you notice any star shaped leaves, or spiky green seed balls?

Definite maybe... We need leaf pics on this one! You'll have to go back over there, sparky.

 

[StihlHead]

I have lots of large Norway maples and sweetgum/liquid ambers on my property. Both have solid wood and certainly not stringy like that. They are also fairly easy to split for me with a maul. Here at least they have a lot of lichen and moss on the bark, the bark is less furrowed and more alligatored. These and the other types of maples here tend to have spots and colored blotches on the bark. Maybe that is a PNW thing though. The Oregon ash that grows here has deeper furrows, but you have different species of ash there. Ash and maples/ambers are good woods to burn (around 20 M BTU/cord).

Basswood... none of that here, but it rates lower than cottonwood on the BTU charts. Supposed to have stingy wood and be hard to split. People would leave that behind, like they do with cottonwood here.

 

[HittinSteel]

In the the first pic, the pieces above the 2 rounds look like soft maple (maybe red). The saw chips look like soft maple as well.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Maple, possibly Norway. Look at the smooth white splits to the left of the first picture. Also magnify the pictures and look at the cutsides of the rounds and you don't see any pinhole on them that Ash has.

 

[gzecc]

Looks like norway to me.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Looks like Sweetgum I haven't got any ash,. but isn't ash supposed to be easy to split? Did you notice any star shaped leaves, or spiky green seed balls?

Most ash will split really easy, but not all. That which grows in the open or in yards tend to be twisted and will split like that. Ask rdust. lol He got a huge ash that was a bear to split.

 

[jdp1152]

I had a 3ft diameter white ash that split up that stringy. Certainly wasn't the norm for the other ashes I've got in the wood pile. Still was rather easy to split, just needed a little elbow grease to separate. Don't think that's white ash and could be borderline norway maple (though first impression is that it is not because it's more furrowed that the ones I've cut down, but different regions could easily attribute that)

 

[Descending sparky]

Ok, so I split the other one yesterday with the new x27 and it basically split in two strikes! I found it was like two different woods the way they split, yet I know they are the same! I guess the 8lb maul could have contributed to it being stringy and the x27 made more of a clean split?

 

[aansorge]

The initial pics look like ash (minus the one sitting under the split). The rest of it does look like Norway maple IMHO. So if it is all the same type, I change my vote to Maple.

 

[ScotO]

It looks to me that you have a mix of wood there in the first post on this thread. I see ash rounds in the first pic, and the second pic I see Norway maple and the stringy stuff sure looks like elm (both the bark AND the wood) to me...

 

[Locust Post]

Looks like ash to me. As Sav said some ash can get a little difficult to split. I have some in my splitter pile that has been stringy like that.

 

[HDRock]

I tell ya ,, I was splitting ash last week , some was stringy some was not, and no knots ether, I think it depends on what part of the tree the piece is from

 

[nrford]

I agree with Scotty wholeheartedly.

 

[Applesister]

Dear Sparky, I think you got a great mix of hardwoods. And what a pile!! If its Ash and norway and elm. The guy who beat you to the pile may or may not have picked the best wood. Its really hard to judge what you have species wise by rounds piled up in a field. With no trees in sight. This is the hardest way to figure out what you have.
It has to be a gamble for everyone playing the scrounge game. Like picking our friends, sometimes the best ones are overlooked.
Im saying excellent score!! lots of work sitting there.