Wood ID - CHALLENGE!!!!!! YELLOW WOOD

[FLINT]

Hey guys,

Can you help me ID this wood.

It was given to me by a friend that lives in a little neighborhood. They gave me a whole silver maple tree, and then they trimmed some branches off a couple trees that border their yard.

some of the branches i could tell came off of walnut - that was easy.

but a couple of the branches were from this tree, whatever it is. next time i see them, i'll ask if they happen to know what the tree is (although i seriously doubt it). Also, i'll try to go over some time after the tree has leafed out, as leaf id is usually much easier than bark/wood.

so here it is, its the yellowest wood i've ever seen. i've tried looking it up and the only think i could come up with is yellowwood but that has smooth bark, so its not that.

locust can be yellowish, but this is WAY more yellow and its definitely NOT locust ( i have tons of that ).

my other thought was osage orange, but this again is yellower and the bark isnt right - osage has tighter bark that forms distinct ridges.

this bark is flaky, kind of like white oak, but a little different.

tell me what you think. the tree is located in Bridgewater, VA which is in the shenandoah valley, in the northern and western part of the state - but I know the native trees and this as far as i can tell isnt a native tree.

THanks!

 

[FLINT]

oh yeah,

for scale, the log is 21" long and the end i've shone in the picture is 6" across in diameter. and this is a piece of a limb.

 

[gzecc]

Looks like pressure treated pine!

 

[smokinj]

hedge apple some call it osage orange but the bark can be very different depending on the age of the tree and what part of the tree your cutting

 

[gzecc]

Maybe rhododendron?

 

[FLINT]

hmmm, maybe it is osage orange, i just haven't seen bark like this on one

not rhododendron - this came off a big tree

 

[gzecc]

Virginia pine.

 

[Risser09]

Osage has waaayyy thicker bark, and those rings are way too far apart to be as dense as osage. It's definitely a conifer.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Hmm, never run into that around here. If it is Osage-orange, it should bear those strange looking baseball sized yellow fruit?
I'm going to google it.....

WB

 

[crazy_dan]

River birch ??? it has reddish brown flaky bark and it is yellow color wood. (This just a guess).

(broken link removed)

 

[FLINT]

its definitely not a conifer.

the growth rings are pretty wide but its pretty heavy and dense.

 

[FLINT]

also, i was assuming that this came off a big tree, but I'll go back and look at the pieces,

its possible that what i do have is a piece of trunk.

 

[lexybird]

looks kinda like hemlock

 

[Jags]

Hit the end with a hammer. If its like hitting an anvil, its osage.

 

[Corey]

At first, I was going to say it doesn't look like hedge...but the more I look at it.... As others have said, the bark can really vary depending on the part of the tree, age, etc. Fairly typical of limbs is a 'diamond weave' type bark that would remind you of expanded steel mesh (except the bark would probably be tougher!)

Then you can also have scales:

There is also a "strip" type bark that I don't seem to have in the pile right now.

The diamond weave bark is typically pretty thick but the 'scales' can be pretty thin..

Usually, hedge will have a white ring around the outside, but again...not always. One tipoff would be weight. 6" diameter x 21 inches long I would expect to weigh close to 18 pounds dry and a little more when wet. Only the female trees will bear hedge apples.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Hey cozy.....NICE pics.......good info on the fruit bearing.

WB

 

[andybaker]

We have a tree around here in Ohio that is about as yellow as that - Mulberry. Good wood. I don't remember what the bark looks like though. It usually grows somewhere where it started as a weed and no one cut it down or along a fence row. Last week I passed a cemetery and the groundskeepers had just dropped a big Mulberry, probably 25" trunk and it was all bucked up and the wood was just as yellow as that. I wish I could have gotten it, better than Oak, close to Locust.

 

[spadafore]

I agree with Andy. It looks like mullburry to me. After it is seasoned burn it, if it shoots sparks then yeah it's mullburry. Definatley good wood. Mullburry turns from yellow to redish brown while it's seasoning.

 

[savageactor7]

^yup the cut and split part of the wood sure does look like mullburry.

 

[trafick]

I'm pretty sure that is Black Locust. I cut one down in my back yard and the wood was like that. Google Black Locust and you will see the similarity. Very good wood BTW.

 

[gzecc]

Not any Black locust we have in NJ.

 

[FLINT]

its definitely not black locust, I've cut about a dozen or so locust trees this year so far and i'm real familiar with that species now.

maybe it is osage. the log is definitely heavier than my 15lb bowling ball - probably closer to 20lbs.

also, i'll look into mulberry, i thought about that - but have never seen a mulberry cut to see the wood color.

 

[smokinj]

its definitely not black locust, I've cut about a dozen or so locust trees this year so far and i'm real familiar with that species now.

maybe it is osage. the log is definitely heavier than my 15lb bowling ball - probably closer to 20lbs.

also, i'll look into mulberry, i thought about that - but have never seen a mulberry cut to see the wood color.

maulberry has smooth bark! you got hege apple and its the best a man can get!

 

[trafick]

I'm sorry, I was looking at the forrowed bark of the second pictures. Looking at the original pictures it look nothing like black locust but black locust does have yellowish wood. Thanks again for correcting me!