New Here! Help me ID this Tree!!!

[fnaguitarplayer]

Hey everyone, new here! I'm a youtuber (fnaguitarplayer9) and diyer, just finished building a saw mill and i'm about to mill some logs i have, one i'm pretty sure is a type of a hickory but not 100% sure, the tree came down in a storm in the spring and did not have leaves on it yet, but had just started to bud up. Also used some as firewood and have burnt some recently, for some reason it doesn't quite smell like hickory as i expected or maybe i'm just not getting a full smell from the fireplace? burns slow though. I have several pictures of the logs and what it looks like split and of the buds. Also, I'm in West Virginia. Thanks for any help you can provide!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KEC]

Is that all from the same tree? What I'm seeing is hickory.

[Magicman]

The evenness/smoothness of the splits (Hickory will never split that easily) and the bark indicates White Oak. 

[Southside]

It doesn't smell like Hickory because it is White Oak

[KEC]

Not going to argue about it; I was mistaken once before. I will say that straight grain hickory splits well.

[fnaguitarplayer]

Yes, all the pics are from the same tree, I have some white oak on hand (verified by leaf, from another downed tree in middle of summer) and the grain is different and the white oak ripped and tore,.but was also green when split, but has a different smell burns longer. I'm really confused, didn't even consider it being a oak!

[beenthere]

White oak has very distinct rays that can be seen on the end cross section if the camera photo is focused.
The first one is not in good focus.
Also helps if the cut is smooth.

[Treefarm1]

It's definitely a hickory if the photo of the terminal bud is from that tree, not quite shaggy enough for shagbark, so most likely mockernut or pignut hickory. I've only seen shagbark or bitternut here in Wisconsin.

[fnaguitarplayer]

Here's another pic, the one the bottom is from the tree in question, the top

  is from a tree I identified from the leaves as white oak, just want to be sure what this is because the wood is intended to be milled for guitar building, oak is not a good choice for that

[Don P]

All I can do with that quality of photography is order 2 more sticks of whatever is in the pic for da woodstove. I'd guess the upper is chestnut oak, the leaky white.
The bud in the first group was a fat hickory type bud to me, the rest is too muddy for my eyes. That's not mockernut bark to me.

But, this is the way I'd quickly distinguish it from oak, clean it up and take a clearer pic;

White oak has very distinct rays that can be seen on the end cross section if the camera photo is focused.
The first one is not in good focus.
Also helps if the cut is smooth.

Here's white oak, distinct rays, ring porous;





This is hickory and red maple, not very well prepared, those are saw marks, I'd call hickory semi ring porous;


 

This is a good ID page;
semi ring porous

[fnaguitarplayer]

Here's a better pic of the end grains! The left one is from the known white oak, left is the one in question, which im leaning more towards it being hickory.

 

[beenthere]

Better, but a photo in focus would help. But the rays in the left sample can be seen.

[bluthum]

Almost surely a hickory. The wood pics aren't quite good enough for the absolute positive but the bud screams hickory to me. A twig is about always a better indicator than just the wood for a positive i.d..

The smell of it burning isn't very obvious on a hot fire but it does burn notably slower than white oak. Some people, not me, don't like hickory for stove wood because it's coals burn long and slow. I like that as you can give the sleepy looking coals a little poking and reignite new wood quickly.

As for difficulty of splitting it all depends. Green gnarly black hickory is difficult, once very seasoned not too bad. The white hickories can be pretty good splitters even green. White oak with interlocking grain is also a nuisance, pretty easy splitter from a nice log. Of course knots bedevil splitting efforts in any wood. 

[Don P]

That's when its time to reach for the go devil and bust that bee devil down a peg or two. Anymore I like the hydraulic one 
I imagine hickory would be very bright tonewise. Heavy, but rosewood isn't light. You made it sound like everyone knows not to use oaks. Everyone less one, what is the issue?

If I remember right Wayne Henderson made a guitar out of black locust on a whim.

[KEC]

I'm clueless as to why oak isn't good for guitars too. Enlighten us.

[Rhodemont]

I am not sure what it is but sure not white oak from my forest.  The bark is way off and all that sap wood is a no go. 

[mike_belben]

Im seeing a hickory family member for pretty certain in that tight wire mesh bark pattern, and definitely not white oak.  You can flake white oak bark off with a shovel, never with hickory. The bark is like a wooden cigar wrapper.   Hickory can be as white as a maple and just as straight.

Lay hickory in the dirt for a spell and itll have spotty spores get started.  Also if you unwrap it there will be really sharp little teats like a cactus under the bark. White oak doesnt have either trait.

[rusticretreater]

Pignut Hickory

Download the app PlantNet onto your phone.  Use the app and snap a photo of the bark. It will come back with curated results on what the tree species is.

https://plantnet.org/

[SwampDonkey]

The bud tells me hickory. I've learned a long time ago, bark isn't very reliable in ID. I can show you two different barks of sugar maple growing in two different soil types. Even white ash bark varies up here, some with netted cord like ridges, some without and flattened off ridges between netted furrows. A lot of that can also be age.