Indentifying Hardwoods, uses and properties

SwampDonkey · October 16, 2004, 06:37:54 PM

Here is a link to yet another tree ID site. The descriptions and silvics are general, as there may be several species in each genus. It includes info on end uses , grading by species, staining and physical properties of the wood with sample pictures.

Give it a go Here

cheers

[edit] Just thought I'de make this a sticky post because there is lots of interest in knowing how wood looks stained, what different grades look like and end uses of wood.

Furby · October 16, 2004, 11:30:27 PM

8) 8) 8)
Thanks!

Fred · November 02, 2004, 06:19:09 PM

Ok I have a question. Silly as it may sound I never had the chance to saw soft or hard maple. I know what a maple tree is when I see one but not sure if it is a soft or hard..Does one have slick bark and the other have the curly bark?
Thanks Fred

SwampDonkey · November 03, 2004, 03:58:11 AM

Fred:

We had a discussion on here last winter about tree id by bark. Its hard for me to explain the bark characteristics in your area because of different climate and growing conditions. Many sawyers and log buyers have a trained eye for the different species they saw/purchase in their area of the country. If they go to another region they may get stumped. I once heard of a buyer confusing balsam poplar for red oak. The smell alone would convince me it wasn't oak, but the bark stumped him. He hadn't considered other physical characteristics I guess.

Bark Samples-Click

In my area I find mature red maple (white/soft maple) has flaky bark. Red maple suckers very badly from injuries are harvesting, even on very large trees. Sugar maple (rock/hard maple) has white blotches in the bark. Mature sugar maple don't sucker much, young trees do better at suckering.

If you can see the bud of red maple they are blunt and red, sugar maple are brown and sharp pointed.

cheers

Fred · November 03, 2004, 04:12:14 PM

Thanks SwampDonkey I think I got it figgered out now.
Fred

SwampDonkey · March 10, 2005, 10:22:08 AM

Identifying Trees of the Pacific Northwest - BC

eldorado · September 08, 2005, 04:35:48 PM

Here's a good list of Southeastern Hardwoods:
http://rnrstreamer.lsu.edu/ecosystems/webtour/listcommon.htm

This is a really cool interactive tour of different timber scenarios:
http://rnrstreamer.lsu.edu/ecosystems/webtour/site_summary.htm

SPIKER · January 21, 2006, 05:16:11 PM

swampdonkey:

great post so far!

the link for the maple id by bark was broken for me though?

anyhow I may be able to send photos if I could get this computer prob fixed... using OLD one and new one died which has camera on ... I got some good hardwood ohio trees with very varried species as the property was onece a tree farm some 30+ yrs ago.

mark m

SwampDonkey · January 21, 2006, 05:35:38 PM

Quote from: SPIKER on January 21, 2006, 05:16:11 PM
swampdonkey:

great post so far!

the link for the maple id by bark was broken for me though?

anyhow I may be able to send photos if I could get this computer prob fixed... using OLD one and new one died which has camera on ... I got some good hardwood ohio trees with very varried species as the property was onece a tree farm some 30+ yrs ago.

mark m

You can see the bark in the 'Overwintering Trees' thread near to top of this board. Take a read through that thread and IM me if you want to contribute some photos. Credit will be acknowledged.

Thanks

SwampDonkey · January 21, 2006, 05:40:41 PM

Link to bark ID fixed

SPIKER · March 08, 2006, 07:48:15 PM

hey swampdonky:

I posted pic in my gallery (finally got some set to size.) and on there some maple oak & hickory stuff

mark M

SwampDonkey · March 09, 2006, 05:49:21 AM

Thanks mark, I'll link them up on the Tree ID thread over the weekend.

Samuel · January 20, 2007, 04:02:06 PM

Forestry is so much easier with respect to tree identification in the northern Alberta boreal forest. For example:

Black Poplar & Black Spruce:

Trembling Aspen:

Lodgepole Pine & White Spruce:

Birch:

However I do miss the hardwood in New Brunswick in the Fall...

SwampDonkey · January 20, 2007, 07:15:58 PM

Sam, I'm trying to think what black poplar is. Is it black cottonwood, or balsam poplar (balm-of-gilead)? Got a latin name? I'm not trying to quiz ya, just don't know what it is.

cheers

SwampDonkey · January 20, 2007, 07:21:22 PM

Quote from: sbelkins on January 20, 2007, 04:02:06 PM
However I do miss the hardwood in New Brunswick in the Fall...

Sam, check out ............ ;D

My trip up the Tobique

So how big ya want'm?

Samuel · January 20, 2007, 09:05:08 PM

Quote from: SwampDonkey on January 20, 2007, 07:15:58 PM
Sam, I'm trying to think what black poplar is. Is it black cottonwood, or balsam poplar (balm-of-gilead)? Got a latin name? I'm not trying to quiz ya, just don't know what it is.

cheers

Common names are a pain sometimes hey... Black poplar in the pics are balsam. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the Tobique pics. Some of it looked familiar however its going on 11 years since I have been home.

jim king · February 22, 2007, 11:07:17 AM

This will either get you dizzy or help you.

http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/CommNames2000.html

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/

andysheffield · July 07, 2007, 03:21:21 PM

A comprehensive guide to British trees - http://www.british-trees.com/index.htm

Qweaver · January 01, 2009, 11:06:59 AM

This site shows good pictures of a huge number of sawn and planed wood. once you are at the opening page you can then click on the picture of each type of wood to get more pictures of that wood. Very well done pictures.

small file size with a limited number of pics
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/index.htm

Large file size with all of the pics
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/indextotal.htm

SwampDonkey · January 01, 2009, 11:31:31 AM

Yes, that is a great site. I think someone posted a link to it last year as I remember browsing through it a year ago. Even some end grain of many samples, some a little closer and more focused than others, but still great pictures. I was looking at birch in particular, they had a sample of birch they were calling red birch. That is simply old growth yellow birch, I would assume since no latin name was posted for it and it looks like red or flaming birch we get in those old trees with the bark gone all platey. I was at a small circular mill one time a few years ago and they were sorting it out for figured market, not exactly figured, but it was a cherry look a like. Close encounters would reveal it wasn't cherry, but those logs were real pink on the sawed ends.

SwampDonkey · January 06, 2009, 05:49:50 AM

I merged Qweaver's thread into this thread.

cheers

Texas Ranger · March 03, 2013, 04:21:54 PM

You southren boys should know this one.

doctorb · March 03, 2013, 06:37:41 PM

Southern Red Oak?? Doesn't it come in a five lobed leaf variety as well?

Todd · March 03, 2013, 07:54:12 PM

It's a ruler! ;D

doctorb · March 03, 2013, 08:50:31 PM

;D :D

WDH · March 03, 2013, 08:59:04 PM

I will defer to some other southern or even northern boys ;D.

Dodgy Loner · March 04, 2013, 11:00:19 AM

I'll defer to doctorb, since he answered correctly.

Texas Ranger · March 04, 2013, 11:44:09 AM

The good doctor has southern genes in there some where. 8)

Dodgy Loner · March 04, 2013, 12:23:39 PM

Yep, that leaf looks curiously similar to a turkey oak leaf, but the long petiole gives it away!

SwampDonkey · March 04, 2013, 12:30:53 PM

Those little details. ;D :D

doctorb · March 04, 2013, 05:34:53 PM

Quote from: Dodgy Loner on March 04, 2013, 12:23:39 PM
Yep, that leaf looks curiously similar to a turkey oak leaf, but the long petiole gives it away!

1. That's the first "tree" question I've ever answered correctly here. Even a blind squirrell finds an acorn...

2. But now I've got to research both the turkey oak and the petiole, as I haven't a clue about either.

Texas Ranger · March 04, 2013, 05:41:46 PM

Ah, doc, we will have you enrolled in forestry classes before long. Then it will be corks, tin pants, plaid shirts, and a double smiley_chop bit ax on your shoulder.

SwampDonkey · March 04, 2013, 05:55:17 PM

I'm thinking Doc's looking forward to a trip to his camp about now. ;D

WDH · March 04, 2013, 07:58:17 PM

I hate to be a dissenter, but I believe that it is what was once thought to be a variety of southern red oak, cherrybark oak. The base does not have that "bell shaped" roundness that is typical of southern red oak. The Doc still takes the cake, though :D.

SwampDonkey · March 04, 2013, 08:33:44 PM

We'll stamp'er red oak, good enough. :D

WDH · March 04, 2013, 08:36:44 PM

You must be a lumper :D.

SwampDonkey · March 04, 2013, 08:46:42 PM

A lump er a bump on a log. Maybe even a knothole. :D

doctorb · March 04, 2013, 10:33:17 PM

Quote from: WDH on March 04, 2013, 07:58:17 PM
I hate to be a dissenter, but I believe that it is what was once thought to be a variety of southern red oak, cherrybark oak. The base does not have that "bell shaped" roundness that is typical of southern red oak. The Doc still takes the cake, though :D.

Well, I do not mind being corrected, but, if it was once thought to be cherrybark oak, what's it thought to be now? ;D

WDH · March 05, 2013, 07:17:45 AM

Back when I was in school, Cherrybark oak was considered a variety of Southern Red oak. A while back, it was accorded species status. The distinctions between the two are very very small.

Dodgy Loner · March 05, 2013, 09:32:29 PM

You may be right, Danny, but that shape is not atypical of southern red oak in my experience. A three-lobed leaf is, however, atypical of cherrybark oak, at least from what I have seen. Not unheard of, but not typical. Which is why I think it's southern red.

WDH · March 05, 2013, 09:37:07 PM

The base is all wrong. Maybe it is a Texas Mutant Southern Red Cherrybark Oak. Heck, in some places there in Texas, you can't even get pork BBQ. Now, what kind of way is that to be ???. That just ain't right.

SwampDonkey · March 06, 2013, 04:14:57 AM

They probably don't taste as good over there. Tough old hogs. :D

OneWithWood · March 08, 2013, 12:17:13 PM

Southern red sounds like some variant of scotch or cannabis.
If there is no good BBQ in some parts of Texas, avoid it like the plague!

beemickdee · January 14, 2014, 03:38:20 PM

Hey guys-

I've been burning this recent dead fall (came down last winter) the past few days, and it is GREAT. Burns hot, and for a long time. I don't know if I'm just enamored because I've mostly been burning walnut and it's a warmer day (high 40s), but...it's just great. I think it's red oak, but I need some confirmation.

catskillpond · August 08, 2014, 07:05:26 PM

We tore down an old barn today i was told the floor joists were chestnut there was not the bold grain i am used to seeing in older homes the growth rings were very tight but they were sawed to modern day dimensions any help would be appreciated Thanks Scott

beenthere · August 08, 2014, 08:13:43 PM

Post a good pic showing the end grain, and we'll be able to tell much better.
A thin clean-cut slice scanned on a scanner is a good way to get a pic. Most printer/scanners and computers will have that capability.

WDH · August 08, 2014, 08:42:59 PM

The rays will not be visible like in oak, and the earlywood pores will have tyloses (crystalline-like deposits). The latewood pores are arranged in wandering radial lines (toward the pith).

kwendt · December 31, 2014, 07:44:28 PM

I have found the following tool very useful...

Forest Trees of Maine: Centennial Issue 1908 - 2008
It has color pictures of berries/fruits/seeds, bark young and old, buds, leaves, known range and other identifying characteristics. It ALSO has this nifty 'identify your tree' section (one for winter time, another for summer time)... where you answer a bunch of questions, and it narrows down what type/kind/species of tree you're trying to identify. Very very useful...

Granted... likely most useful for Canadian and north eastern US... only.

http://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/publications/handbooks_guides/forest_trees/index.html

You can buy it (hand spiral bound, plastic coated pages, for field use) or download the .pdf for free.

TimberKid · May 03, 2015, 02:36:18 AM

So I know we got plenty of douglas fir in the willamette valley but anyone else know what hardwood is out here besides just maple and the occasional oak and the even less occasional madrone?

albruce · April 03, 2016, 10:31:36 AM

UK tree id link

http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/

AN enjoyable wonder through many tree identification pages

arborboon · May 16, 2016, 11:57:32 AM

Picture:

I appreciate the help. I really want to know if this type of wood would be good for carving knife handles or carving in general. Thanks.

SwampDonkey · May 16, 2016, 05:18:00 PM

Looks like soft maple at first glance. It's harder than basswood or butternut, but maple makes a nice tool handle, so I'm sure it will suffice for a knife. ;)

Will people buy it for such? Maybe not. Maple is plentiful.

WDH · May 16, 2016, 08:16:05 PM

Maybe beech. I would not argue with soft maple, either.

SwampDonkey · May 17, 2016, 04:57:49 PM

Beech came to mind to. If you know someone who weaves I have seen beech used to make weaving shuttles. I have a couple, but made by Leclerc Looms. And of course maple is used to, I've made 5 from hard maple. ;D