help ID'ing some wood and a tree??

ontario026 · March 04, 2005, 10:09:16 PM

Hey fellas, First question is can anyone make a good guess as to what kind of wood I cut here in this pic?? The tree was dropped to clear for a sand pit, and pushed off to the side, so by the time I got to it there was no signs of foliage for me to go by, I bought a tree identification book by farrar? but I'm not sure, I think it may be some kind of poplar?
Link # 1

The next mystery tree is still standing, but once again no foliage, since it's winter here, plus too tall for me to see the branches etc... Can anyone tell what this is? I think it's either an oak or a maple, it's got a very tall trunk with no lower branches for probably at least 60 feet and must be 36" dbh? I'm planning on getting an alaskan mill soon and have my eye on it for my first project! the tree i'm talking about it the tallest one in the following pics

Link # 2

Thanks guys
Matthew

SwampDonkey · March 05, 2005, 09:56:16 AM

The slabbed wood in the first photo looks to be aspen

The second set of photos appear to be a sugar maple. Do you see white patches on the smoother bark further up the tree trunk? The current years shoots will be brown, with a brown, sharp pointed, terminal bud.

ontario026 · March 06, 2005, 08:01:33 PM

Thanks for the response swamp donkey. Does anyone else have any input?

Thanks

Jeff · March 06, 2005, 09:52:31 PM

I would say first photo is Aspen. My guess for the tree would be white oak.

OLD_ JD · March 07, 2005, 12:11:28 PM

i will say like donkey....aspen ans sugar maple ;)

Ron Scott · March 07, 2005, 05:36:44 PM

#1 Aspen
#2 White Oak

populus · March 07, 2005, 08:23:31 PM

I'll weigh in with Jeff and Ron - I think 1 is aspen (bigtooth?) and 2 is white oak. The second tree appears to have alternate branch patterns. Sugar maple is opposite. Hard to be certain. The bark is consistent with white oak, not sugar maple. Now, if we can wait 'til spring, Ontario can post the answer! Or, maybe he can get a photo of the twigs.

Furby · March 07, 2005, 09:03:21 PM

Well I feel better!
Aspen and WO was my guess, but because I'm bad at tree ID, I didn't say anything. :

Atleast I'm slooooooowly learning to ID.

Jeff · March 07, 2005, 09:19:05 PM

I've got some trees in the yard that might pass for the same tree if I took a picture. White Oaks. The bark, to me, is the give away. I'll try to get a similar bark pic from one of my trees tomorrow.

ontario026 · March 08, 2005, 04:27:59 AM

Thanks for the responses guys, the americans have all answered white oak, and the 2 canadians both say sugar maple so far!

But White oak is in the lead! I am going to have to take another pic with something in the picture for reference, as well as accurately measuring it's dbh, since the pic does not really reflect the size very well, but it strikes me as being a very tall tree for the diameter of it... Any idea what a log like that would be worth, saying that it is white oak? Even in the spring it will be hard to tell, since all the foliage will be sooo high off the ground....

and the firewood, I compared pics from my trees in canada by John Farrar and I think it is aspen (trembling if I remember correctly) for sure.... From the firewood charts I found it's not the greatest BTU output, but hey, it was free,,...

thanks again guys
Matthew

devo · March 08, 2005, 09:16:33 AM

I'm not much good at id from pictures, but the second tree I'm pretty sure is white oak. Unfortunately white oak logs are not paying particularly well in our area. Last I checked PrimeX logs were going around $450 MBf delivered. However if you get your Alaskan mill going you probably would do well cutting those logs for hay wagon stringers. I know a farmer near you (Maynard) who is looking to build a few wagons this spring, and he prefers white oak. Let me know if you're intrested, and I'll give you the specifics.

ontario026 · March 09, 2005, 07:59:38 PM

It turns out that I am a crappy judge of DBH

I measured the circumference at breast hight today and it was about 75 inches, so to find diameter I should have to divide by PI... Which results in about a 24" DBH tree????? Sure looks bigger than that, but numbers don't lie.... I still think that it is incredibly tall for a tree that diameter

Matthew

SwampDonkey · March 10, 2005, 10:29:05 AM

I wouldn't be surprised if it's white oak, as I couldn't ID any white patches in the bark for the sugar maple, and I can't see the buds. ;) Be certain that its either maple or oak though.

By the way, I was thinking 36 inches was a little big for that tree.One can never be sure from photos because of scale. Oak in my neck of the woods has a wider crown that this tree seems to exhibit. With a tree that large the bark fits most sugar maple in my area, sometimes you see the white patched, but not always. And the limb look opposite to me, they are a bid staggered though, because of limb die-back. That's quite common in older trees.

SwampDonkey · March 10, 2005, 10:56:19 AM

Just posting a picture of an open grown sugar maple tree in my yard for comparison purposes.

Jeff · March 10, 2005, 12:22:16 PM

I ran out and took a couple thress pics of a Whiteoak and its bark. Took an additonal pic of bark on a smaller whiteoak.

SwampDonkey · March 10, 2005, 01:12:40 PM

Sure does look very similar Jeff, no dought about it.

However, I'm sticking with sugar maple or possibly black maple ;)

OLD_ JD · March 10, 2005, 08:21:34 PM

best way to find out right now is....drill a hole see if sap running out of it :D :D...

Back40x2 · March 12, 2005, 04:00:04 PM

I agree with Donkey, The tree is a Hard(Sugar, or Rock) Maple. ;) ;)

There are two types of these trees, The ones that acutally grow in the forest, and the old timer you see along the road side. The ones in the forest will become tall with less canapy then the oldtimers. The old timers up here were pruned as babies to provide shade for homes; and for decoration. Very popular up here in Maine. I have several in my yard, and when there isn't 4ft of snow I will take some pics and post them.

ANother way to tell, is in the fall with the leaves. Sugar,Rock,Hard maples will have Yellow foliage. Soft maples(white and red) will have red, and orange, That is probably the easiest way to tell for the nonexperienced, but you'll have to wait till fall :D :D :D ;).

My vote is for the Sugar, or as we say Rock Maple.

bitternut · March 23, 2005, 08:15:19 AM

What the heck, if you are going to check leaves you don't have to wait for fall to do it. White oak leaves don't look anything like maple leaves. All you Canadians should know what a maple leaf looks like heh.

Jeff · March 23, 2005, 09:12:55 AM

It's getting close enough to time to tap that white oak to make syrup. MMMMM M. Ya just gotta love that white oak syrup. Probably go better on an old tire then a pancake though... ;)