Wood ID

[Bushfire]

Asplundh were at it again in my neighborhood this week so I grabbed myself two more truck loads of walnut, hickory, and something I'm unsure of. Does anybody know what I have here? About the same weight as the walnut, as best as I could tell.

 

[TedyOH]

The dot in the center says ash to me....

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[Ctwoodtick]

Ash

 

[Bushfire]

I guess I can put that in the 2017/18 stacks then? The bark didn't have as prominent a diamond shape as I would have expected with Ash, so I had thought maybe something else, but having just looked online, that pattern is more distinct on older trees, and this is not that old.

Thanks!

 

[Wood Duck]

That doesn't look like Ash to me, at least not White ASh. I have never seen White Ash with a dark center.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

It's not white or green ash. Could be one of the other two ash varieties, but with the bark and dark center it may be cottonwood.

 

[jatoxico]

Looks a bit like the sassafras we get around here.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Actually after further study, are those pics all from the same round/tree? The splits look very much like hickory, the standing round like ash and the laying rounds like cottonwood. If they are, maybe I'm stumped (pardon the pun).

 

[CheapBassTurd]

With VERY little experience, I'm calling the rounds not ash at least. The bark pattern is similar
but much deeper than the stuff I get from multiple-aged ash trees. The grooves in the pics appear
to make a much thicker bio shell around the centerwood.

CheapMark

 

[BenTN]

i agree with those that said ash. i have seen plenty of ash with darker heartwood in my area, cut almost 6 cord this year. the large open grain on the splits and cleanliness of the split also points to ash.

in the end its free hardwood firewood, split it stack it and test it next year.

 

[Bushfire]

Actually after further study, are those pics all from the same round/tree? The splits look very much like hickory, the standing round like ash and the laying rounds like cottonwood. If they are, maybe I'm stumped (pardon the pun).

Looking more closely, you might be right. Here's a bark, split, and top shot from one round.

 

[TedyOH]

I still say ash, that dark center is some sort of staining....not dark heartwood.

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[Diabel]

On my property I have some (live believe it or not) ash and basswood. From the bark alone I have a hard time telling them apart.

 

[Bushfire]

On my property I have some (live believe it or not) ash and basswood. From the bark alone I have a hard time telling them apart.

It's not basswood - I got some of that earlier in the year and this is way heavier than that.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

The wife gave me a tip Aslpundh would be busy up here from a softball teammate!
Brought two loads home yesterday. Most of my bark looks like the pics again, just not so
deeply ridged. Many are about 1 ft diameter, bark falling off the recently standing deads.
The look is the same as the pics overall but we must have a different dominant subspecies
here two states west of you? Our ash bio-layer (bark) seems much thinner at under 1/2".

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

not dark heartwood

You are right, but just like some maples Cottonwood tends to stain the heartwood. Occasionally they don't. I'm gonna have to stick with cottonwood. I looked up the other two types of ash bark and they don't match. The way those chunks of bark interlock together, kinda like a Tetris piece and the side profile just don't match ash for me. Those growth rings are also pretty far apart as well. I have cut tons of ash that is slightly stained ,but never that dark or brown, usually greenish to pinkish.

 

[gzecc]

looks like an old piece of ash to me.

 

[Tom123]

The bark is barking "ASH"

 

[gzecc]

There are 10+ types of ash.

 

[red oak]

It actually looks extremely similar to hickory I cut last year.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

There are 10+ types of ash

True, but all the rest are not found in PA or even in the US or are only shrubs.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

looks extremely similar to hickory

So I did some research on hearth and found dozens of old threads on ash vs. hickory. One case was cracked by something I didn't even think about....... EAB. If you remove the bark and find larvae tracks, then ash it is. If not, bark sure looks close to some of the mockernut pics I saw.

 

[Bushfire]

So I did some research on hearth and found dozens of old threads on ash vs. hickory. One case was cracked by something I didn't even think about....... EAB. If you remove the bark and find larvae tracks, then ash it is. If not, bark sure looks close to some of the mockernut pics I saw.

Good idea. I'll take a look when I get a chance.

 

[Jags]

Mockernut hickory.

 

[BenTN]

i ain't never seen hickory split that easy/clean. even a straight forest grown pecker pole is stringy and fights the split.