Wood ID?

[JSeery]

I previously posted some of these pics gloating about a tree service score, but now I'm scratching my head with the species and could use your help. I thought this was norway maple but now I'm not so sure. Some are saying hickory (bitternut?). What do you all think? I included some close up pics of the grain (which reminds me of maple). The smell is sweet and not at all funky. Either way, I'm a happy camper but trying to figure out if this goes in the 1 year pile or the 2 year pile. Thanks.

 

[Bwhunter85]

Elm

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[saewoody]

I previously posted some of these pics gloating about a tree service score, but now I'm scratching my head with the species and could use your help. I thought this was norway maple but now I'm not so sure. Some are saying hickory (bitternut?). What do you all think? I included some close up pics of the grain (which reminds me of maple). The smell is sweet and not at all funky. Either way, I'm a happy camper but trying to figure out if this goes in the 1 year pile or the 2 year pile. Thanks.

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I’ve got what I swear to be the exact same stuff. I’m torn between red maple which several have suggested (and homeowner called it swamp maple), but I thought it was some sort of hickory (and a few people have suggested pignut hickory). The stuff split nicely, but doesn’t really remind me of other maples I have split.


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[jackatc1]

Grey elm,maybe?

 

[JSeery]

I’ve got what I swear to be the exact same stuff. I’m torn between red maple which several have suggested (and homeowner called it swamp maple), but I thought it was some sort of hickory (and a few people have suggested pignut hickory). The stuff split nicely, but doesn’t really remind me of other maples I have split.


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I hear you, but I've worked with red maple before and I don't think this is it. I've also processed literally tons of silver maple and this isn't silver either (nor do I think yours is). It almost splits too easily to be maple. It's weird.

 

[JSeery]

Grey elm,maybe?

Hmm. Could be. I'll look that up. Does grey elm split easily?

 

[TedyOH]

Horizontal lines in the close up of the grain reminds me of maple


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[JSeery]

Horizontal lines in the close up of the grain reminds me of maple


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Yeah, it's probably just Norway Maple. I haven't seen heartwood like that in Norway Maple but I guess every tree is different.

 

[jackatc1]

All I know is that Grey Elm has less heart wood than Red Elm
witch has almost all heart wood. Not like your Picture.

 

[BenTN]

Doesn't look like any bitternut we have. I would agree with maple as the close up of the split grain has that characteristic maple flecks.

 

[nrford]

Hickory 100% Pignut to be exact.

 

[ValleyCottageSplitter]

Definitely 2 year pile either way. I have some N Maple in a covered single row rack. Split small, still at 25% after a year. Ash was 18% after 6mo in the same setup.

But I just split 1 cord of shagbark and those logs look exactly the same (other than bark). Another pic for you!

The straight hickory logs split pretty nicely, similar to red maple, just heavier and harder.

 

[saewoody]

I hear you, but I've worked with red maple before and I don't think this is it. I've also processed literally tons of silver maple and this isn't silver either (nor do I think yours is). It almost splits too easily to be maple. It's weird.

I guess I’m still torn, as you are, with what type of wood I’ve got too. I’m struggling to see any horizontal lines like a maple would have in my wood. And I know there have been some elk suggestions. But this doesn’t remind me of any elm I’ve ever come across, plus it just pops open so easily. The biggest pieces I have are only 12-14” across.


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[JSeery]

Hickory 100% Pignut to be exact.

Well, the mystery is over now that nrford has weighed in. ValleyCottageSplitter, I should have believed you in the first place. I spent an hour splitting this morning and I'm definitely getting the hickory "barnyard" smell from that pile. I'm really looking forward to this as I haven't burned much hickory before. Thanks again.

 

[TedyOH]

Sweet smell..... barnyard smell....which is it?

The only thing I'm 100% on is death and nrford is not always right, 100% on those two things.

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[BenTN]

100% firewood.

 

[ValleyCottageSplitter]

12-14" is a nice splitting size for hickory. Above 20" I needed a saw and wedges to halve them first. Excellent score!

 

[Eureka]

Vote for hickory

 

[JSeery]

Sweet smell..... barnyard smell....which is it?

The only thing I'm 100% on is death and nrford is not always right, 100% on those two things.

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Well, when I just split one or two pieces before work, I was only getting a sweet smell. When I started really splitting yesterday I was getting a lot of dung aroma. Especially in the bigger pieces with more heartwood, it seems. It was very noticeable and I don't think I've ever encountered that with maple.

I realize nrford might not always be right (I don't recall ever seeing that happen, but I'll take your word for it). That said, I don't have any reason to doubt his call here. I had thought hickory was tough to split, but when I looked into this further I found other instances of folks online saying pignut was pretty easy to split. Add to that the fact that the bark and grain completely matches pictures I've seen online, and I'm gonna guess nrford is right this time.

 

[FLINT]

Looks more like Norway maple than hickory to me. All the hickory that I have ever split is stringier than what you are showing. The splits don't cleanly separate like that. Smell is subjective. If it's hickory even small pieces will feel unusually heavy. There is no confusing hickory with maple once you heft it. If you've never picked up hickory before, you would notice that the wood felt different.

 

[FLINT]

Does there happen to be any twigs with buds sticking out of any of your pieces, that would solve it very quickly

 

[nrford]

Well, when I just split one or two pieces before work, I was only getting a sweet smell. When I started really splitting yesterday I was getting a lot of dung aroma. Especially in the bigger pieces with more heartwood, it seems. It was very noticeable and I don't think I've ever encountered that with maple.

I realize nrford might not always be right (I don't recall ever seeing that happen, but I'll take your word for it). That said, I don't have any reason to doubt his call here. I had thought hickory was tough to split, but when I looked into this further I found other instances of folks online saying pignut was pretty easy to split. Add to that the fact that the bark and grain completely matches pictures I've seen online, and I'm gonna guess nrford is right this time.

Oh I'm most definately not always right. I haven't seen every species yet and I can be wrong more than I'm right when we get way south of my geographic area! Thanks for your respect however.

 

[Kevin Weis]

I'm on the Red Maple train with this one. The darker heartwood is a trademark in these. Kevin.

 

[JSeery]

Looks more like Norway maple than hickory to me. All the hickory that I have ever split is stringier than what you are showing. The splits don't cleanly separate like that. Smell is subjective. If it's hickory even small pieces will feel unusually heavy. There is no confusing hickory with maple once you heft it. If you've never picked up hickory before, you would notice that the wood felt different.

Thanks for the input. Have you ever split pignut hickory, or were you splitting other species? I also expected hickory to be stringier than this, but I've seen a few posts on this and other forums about how it really is pretty easy and splits look like the ones I'm producing.

Regarding density, yes this stuff is very heavy. The other wood I was processing today was (definitely) mulberry and they were about the same density. I also took an hour "break" and split some norway maple my neighbor separately scored today. Very different wood than this, and noticeably lighter. I'm sticking with the pignut call, but at the end of the day yeah it's just firewood.