What is it?? Not ash not import

[A-z farmer]

 
Native to eastern us and southern canada
 

 

[Tamarack]

Looks like Eastern hop hornbeam

[caveman]

Nice pair.  They look like descendants of Bos taurus.

[moodnacreek]

Basswood?

[A-z farmer]

Tamarac had it right hophornbeam 
I know that was not a challenge for anyone to identify.The picture of oxen is on our farm circa 1932 and my grandfather gave me the ox yolk they are wearing in 1965.He said it was made from hophornbeam wood. We had a forester come survey our farms and I was surprised to learn that it is considered a weed species by the usda .I also learned that our beautiful beech trees  have no lumber value here only for wildlife and fire wood .
But on a bright side I get to taste all trees with the woodmizer before they become firewood.
Next I want to find a tree in our woods that my grandfather said he sold to auto makers for running boards on early cars .
Zeke

[Southside]

Beech has value, you just need to be the one to recover it. Don't fall for the commodity mind set. As far as the USDA goes, they also tell me my Lespredeza is bad, bad, bad, funny thing is that's the only spot the quail nest....

[Woodpecker52]

The only valueless tree is the one  you don't saw.  Hornbeam and blue beech or ironwood, I have the best walking canes from them, better than hickory for tool handles, beech on my land is for wildlife and if you listen to the experts the idea for a woodlot is nothing but Pine. As far as Lespredeza all the wildlife folks use to rave about bicolor and such for quail.  Majority of quail is gone because of fire ants around here, that and peoples anal fixation on roundup.  To most people a food plot has to look like Central park but to wildlife they like it looking like scattered thickets and abandoned fields.  Most of the best areas are where I run a fire through every 5 -6 years.   Oh well deer hunting is starting to tank around here also. CWD has added a new fear factor to hunting, they outlawed corn feeders around here, I think they said 45 deer sampled so far tested positive, any how put some what of a damper on the hunters who liked to huddle in the black plastic outhouses and play games on iphones and wait for the deer to come walking out like cows to the feeders. 

[KEC]

Hophornbeam buds are eaten by Ruffed Grouse in winter and it makes superb stovewood.

[moodnacreek]

You got me on that one. Around here hop hornbeam is too small to make an ox yoke or was it the small diameter U shaped pieces that where h.h.? I was told to make these from quartered white heart hickory, steam bent and rounded. Heart on outside radius.

[A-z farmer]

Moodnacreek 
It was the main part of the ox yoke I think you are right about the loops being steam bent .
This is what my grandfather told me and he has been gone since 1970 so he might of not been correct with some of his stories he told me.My grandfather also gave me a wooden sign that said 
(Old fisherman do not die they just stop lying )
Zeke

[moodnacreek]

AZ, Lost my grand father in '72, best man I ever knew. A sawmill friend up north has kept oxen all his life and he told me about those pins but I thought the beam was butternut or basswood. Thanks for post.

[moodnacreek]

AZ, darn me, your the guy from Castleton , not all that far if I am thinking straight thats going to the 
mass. pike from 87, big bridge?  Doug

[A-z farmer]

Moodnacreek 
Yes the thruway goes on one side of our farms and I-90 goes along the eastern side of us.And the Boston And Albany railroad goes right through the middle of our home farm.we ship hay to the Bronx in the big apple for the work horses every week.
I can cut you a log of hop hornbeam if you want sometime they grow pretty good size here but not huge usually 24 inches dia or less.
Zeke

[moodnacreek]

AZ,what a difference 90 miles can make. A horn beam 12" here would be large. You are in quite a zone for trees. One time going to Mass., on the thruway connection section, I stopped and walked in the woods to water the flowers. Looking around was tall and straight: black walnut, white pine, hemlock, sugar maple, red oak and white oak. Do we live in the best country or what.

[A-z farmer]

Moodnacreek 
I wish we had more trees and less houses but it is hard to cut a house down.The only places where we have nice big trees is where the white head sand company did not dig.Back in the 1800s they dug all the molding sand from our farm and lots of neighbors farmland .It was 6 or 8 feet deep in some places.They dug it all by hand and hauled it to the rail siding on our farm.My grandfather said he used to load rail cars by hand when he had time from the farm.The sand company moved out in 1927 and it was all hauled to Boston for use in making molds for casting steel.i cannot imagine the tens of thousands of yards that ended up in Boston.

[moodnacreek]

AZ, how would you like to live down here? Most every hay field I ever cut is full of houses. If you deliver to the Bronx, you know. Where do you cross the river?

[A-z farmer]

Moodnacreek 
I do not drive the trailers to the city been there and not anymore .We hire it done .I have two sisters and their families that live in westchester and I do not visit them at all because of the shear number of people and traffic.

[moodnacreek]

Moodnacreek
I do not drive the trailers to the city been there and not anymore .We hire it done .I have two sisters and their families that live in westchester and I do not visit them at all because of the shear number of people and traffic.

Oh do I understand. You ought to try and do business with Westchester people. They neither like or trust anybody. I stayed down here too long and finally have a enough good customers for my sawmill. There is a lot of money around these days and the health care is all around me. Also the winters are milder. Those are the good things. I suppose we should be talking trees. May stop up some day, Doug.

[A-z farmer]

Moodnacreek 
You are welcome to come to schodack and I will give you the nickel tour of our farms as is anyone on the forum.I like to hear other people's opinions on our trees in our wood lots.That is what is soo cool about this forum everyone has different ideas about what kind of wood and their uses.
Zeke