Wood ID please

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here

WoodBurnerInWI

Feeling the Heat
Feb 2, 2020
281
Madison, WI
I'm about halfway done splitting my recent delivery of logs from the tree guy and I've encountered several rounds that don't appear to be elm.

They are extremely heavy, my moisture meter reads OL when tested so they're over 50% moisture at the moment, and the splits smell VERY strongly of manure. It's not any kind of oak or red oak as there's no medullary rays on the end grains and the wood grain itself looks nothing like oak. Please see photos and help me ID these stinky logs!

[Hearth.com] Wood ID please[Hearth.com] Wood ID please[Hearth.com] Wood ID please[Hearth.com] Wood ID please[Hearth.com] Wood ID please[Hearth.com] Wood ID please[Hearth.com] Wood ID please
 
the last one looks similar to some walnut i had but it didn't smell.
the second to the last looks like catulpa i had not long ago and that stuff smelt strong even
after drying and burning it
 
The only woods that I ever encountered that smell like manure are Oak and Hickory, might be one of those, and they are both heavy especially when green!
 
When I hear "stinky" when someone is describing firewood, I immediately think of two species in my area.

One is red oak. The stinky version still has a lot of the the typical oak smell, but there's a strong manure scent on top of it. This is caused by a fungus. I most often run into this with pin oaks.

The other is red elm (aka slippery elm). Some red elm will stink up the entire area as soon as I cut into it.
 
Looks like slippery (red) elm to me. I don't see/ burn much slippery elm around Cincinnati (lLots of Siberian elm, which can be stinky).
Is it all the same wood ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lakeside
Looks like slippery (red) elm to me. I don't see/ burn much slippery elm around Cincinnati (lLots of Siberian elm, which can be stinky).
Is it all the same wood ?

I forgot about Siberian elm.

Around here, the elms I run into are almost always white elms, so I'm rusty on spotting differences between red and Siberian.
 
Well the guy did tell me it was elm, what threw me off was the lack of stringiness in the splits. The rounds I was cutting just before I got to the mystery rounds had plenty of stringiness to them and were a PITA to get through even with the splitter so I was thinking that's the elm! The bark on these mystery splits is also somewhat "hairy" on the backside, especially if it's come off the split.

Thanks to everyone who's replied thus far! This wood is being stacked in a bin that will eventually be full of wood that needs 2 plus years to dry.
 
My guess from the photos is red elm. I don't know what is smells like fresh cut.
 
I've had some stringy elm, but I've also had elm split just fine. American elm and rock elm seem to be the most stringy, with red elm being the least. This could be rock elm maybe? Or red.