Wood ID - misery to split
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certified106
Minister of Fire
Flatbedford said:
Sorry wasn't trying to upset you it's just my disgust for that wood and my frustration of having to deal with it lately coming out.. :cheese:
If the OP has any leaves of the tree that would help everyone make a positive id
On closer inspection the wood does look maybe a tad darker than the black gum I have split and not quite as stringy but could just be my monitor or the camera. I have never really messed with elm so would not know, I hope people are throwing out IDs there based just on a stringy split. Could be sweet gum, hear that is rather common. Did it have any red leaves interspersed with the green? The black gum around here starts doing that this time of year.
Loco Gringo
Feeling the Heat
Ill put $20 on my original call of sourwood. Get a close up of the bark or the leaves. Red in the fall and shaped like a peach leaf.
Both the elm and black gum have bark that look pretty close. So it is hard to tell for sure from a picture. The ridges on the elm are a little narrower than the black gum. The leafs are different. If it is an elm the bottom part of the leaf that attached to the twig will have one side shorter than the other. Will also feel like sandpaper. Black gum leaf are equal a the bottom of the leaf. Also here in the north black gum is one of the first tree to turn color (red) in the fall. They just starting turning here. If tree was in someone yard I would go with elm because they were planted as a shade tree.
Guys, I don't have any leaves to even look at. The only thing there for me when I got to bucking them was the trunk. I felled both trees and left before I could do much other than that since I had my kids with me and it was lunch time. When I got back to it in the afternoon, the only thing that was left there was the trunks. The other guys there had limbed the tree and fed everything through a chipper. Trust me, I wish I could figure out what this tree is and take a pic of the leaves to make sure I NEVER touch it again. However, that just is not possible. Crazy thing is that the leaves of the tree were WAY up there, so even knowing what they look like I would not have been able to ID the tree before dropping it. The one thing I can tell you is that they were most definitely green. No red in them whatsoever.
Regardless, the tree Gods smiled on me a little today. Got a 1/2 truckload of poplar and a 1/2 truckload of red oak. Yeah, the poplar isn't all that great, but it split easily, I split it into big pieces, and it will be good for some btu's. However, I felled two pretty large red oaks (i.e., just over 25" at the base) and bucked both of them up today. They are waiting for the splitter in the morning and that will be the end of my scounging for now because I really need to start stacking this stuff. Sad thing is that there are 4 more trees that need to come down and I also have access to a 30"+ white oak that fell in a Church parking lot during Irene. Passing on all this stuff is driving me crazy, but having unstacked wood piles all around the house is also driving me crazy.
Here are two pics from today's scrounges. Best wood of the year so far.
Regardless, the tree Gods smiled on me a little today. Got a 1/2 truckload of poplar and a 1/2 truckload of red oak. Yeah, the poplar isn't all that great, but it split easily, I split it into big pieces, and it will be good for some btu's. However, I felled two pretty large red oaks (i.e., just over 25" at the base) and bucked both of them up today. They are waiting for the splitter in the morning and that will be the end of my scounging for now because I really need to start stacking this stuff. Sad thing is that there are 4 more trees that need to come down and I also have access to a 30"+ white oak that fell in a Church parking lot during Irene. Passing on all this stuff is driving me crazy, but having unstacked wood piles all around the house is also driving me crazy.
Here are two pics from today's scrounges. Best wood of the year so far.
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jackofalltrades
Member
Flatbedford
Minister of Fire
jackofalltrades said:
Yeah, that was my dad's sawing technique. Why do you think I took a picture of the saw that way? I initially sent it to my wife to show her what happened and to let her know how pissed I was. Ultimately, we ran a rope about 50 to 70 feet up the tree, pulled it with the truck, and got it to land exactly where we wanted it. When the gap was closing on that cut that is shown in the pic, I was yelling at my dad about it but he just wasn't listening. A few wedges later we got the saw out and the truck ended up doing the rest without any further cutting needed.
I read a couple of articles online about felling trees, but I'll buy the book anyway. A professional tree cutter I am not. By the way, you guys are hilarious.
Edit to add: By all means address the sawing technique. I come to these boards to learn things for the most part. Of course, a little bragging and chest pounding are included, but for the most part I come here to learn about stoves/furnaces, saws, trees, and seasoning wood. I was just telling my parents last night about how much information can be learned on these boards, but one must be wary of the "brilliant person" dolling out poop advice.
Look at the entire reason I started this thread, to find out what the heck this poop wood was.
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