Mystery Wood

[ReggieT]

Hey Guys,
Merry belated Christmas.
I stumbled upon this wood a few days ago.
It was dead, down, and barkless. It was kinda tough on the chains and splits rather tough.
Doesn't smell or look like any red oak I've gathered. The weight is above average.
I have no ideal identifying helps such as bark, leaves, twigs, or buds.
Yet, it smells really good and sweet, almost like soap or deodorant!
I've heard everything from yellow locust, cherry, red maple, and the most popular red elm!
Any ideas?
This was found in north Alabama.
Thanks,
Reggie  

 

 

 

 

 




???

[doc henderson]

looks "maplesch" but should not be that heavy.

[ReggieT]

Okay...it smells possibly like black cherry, yet I don't see any cambium or sapwood... ??? :P

[SwampDonkey]

Was it a dead standing snag? I've seen lots of dry hard maple snags without bark. Some made great dry firewood. ;D

[WDH]

Heartwood indicates hickory to me. 

[ReggieT]

Was it a dead standing snag? I've seen lots of dry hard maple snags without bark. Some made great dry firewood. ;D

Dead down slightly elevated...

[WDH]

Could be sweetgum.  Take a razor knife and make a clean slice on the end grain where it is easy to see the growth rings.  Then take a close-up pic.  Sweetgum is diffuse porous while hickory is ring porous, so we should be able to narrow things down. 

[SwampDonkey]

If it is down than maple wouldn't last long. Not even up here in the north, it would be soil mulch in 10 years. ;)

[Jeff]

It was also mentioned it split hard. Dry maple usually splits very well.

[SwampDonkey]

Dry maple and yellow birch split very hard when dry. Twisty fibers. But split easy wet. I have tried spltting 7 year old dry hard maple recently with a good Collins maul. It just pounced off. Chainsaw work.  :D I used to split hard maple and yellow birch green in 5-6 foot lengths for handle wood and paddles. Split easy green.

[ReggieT]

OFFSITE COPYRIGHTED PHOTO REMOVED.
Ostrya virginiana aka Ironwood possibly?

[SwampDonkey]

Reg, I don't think that pile is O. virginiana (aka hop-hornbeam or ironwood in Canada). I think that is blue beech (Carpinus caroliniana) type ironwood or American hornbeam.

But doesn't rule out your first log pics.

[ReggieT]

Hmm...I'll do some checking on that...appreciate the feedback & tip.

[kantuckid]

I'll stick with red elm and strongly at that!
Years ago, in my own wood lot, I found such a tree, fallen already and solid as a rock.  I laid a saw into it and was thinking walnut but once the chips began to fly it was obviously a red elm. I sawed it and have never made anything from the boards. It's an attractive wood.
I don't believe ironwood gets that large.

[WDH]

The end grain will show if it is elm or not. 

[Texas Ranger]

South East Texas as well as Missouri.

[ReggieT]

I'll stick with red elm and strongly at that!
Years ago, in my own wood lot, I found such a tree, fallen already and solid as a rock.  I laid a saw into it and was thinking walnut but once the chips began to fly it was obviously a red elm. I sawed it and have never made anything from the boards. It's an attractive wood.
I don't believe ironwood gets that large.
Whatever it is it has my entire garage smelling like ladies lotion or fine perfumed soap!

[SwampDonkey]

I've actually seen ironwood 2 feet across in diameter on an old fence line. It wasn't real tall as they are normally an understory tree. Usually 8" diameter is common for a large one up here.

[WV Sawmiller]

   No chance it is beech? I don't remember about the bark slipping but that was about the densest and hardest wood I ever remember trying to split. Very heavy wood.

[gdpipkorn]

Not BEECH. Beech splits super easy and clean with no hairy fibers. Also it rots real fast. It has to be processed quickly and kept dry.

[ReggieT]

Last of the Mohicans fellows!
Picked up the last of the "Mystery wood along with some huge pecan rounds.
261C & TruFuel is doing the job!
Strange thing about my Stihl MS 261C...I switched to Premix and now it cranks 10 times easier, yet after running 30-40 minutes and I shut it off...it's a tad stubborn on firing back up!
It takes about a 10-20 rest and then its back to cutting up a storm. ??? :
Any ideas?



 

 



 

[doc henderson]

Mine was doing that, and was new so I took it in.  they cleaned the air filter and adjusted the carb, and now ok.  maybe a carb tweak on the new fuel, if it is flooding.  I rarely have to clean air filters, so I will watch this on this saw.  my others do fine.  My mechanic says he blows his air cleaner off after every use. So maybe that is just his thing!  I doubt I will do that.  unless it is a new design tends to get clogged.  My others look new without any regular cleaning.

[SwampDonkey]

On the old Stihl 550FS brush saws we had to clean filters every day or loose power. On the newer 560's only once a week. And with this new model, some folks can get 1-1/2 hr of cutting on a tank and others only about 50 minutes. Same ground and same style cutting. Of course if you hit thick matted fir and red spruce it burns more, but this is in mixed woods not terrible thick. Some Husqy guys getting two hours on same size saw. Seems awfully lean to me.

[moodnacreek]

Could I suggest rip sawing [even with a chainsaw] a nice straight grained piece and sanding it down and maybe putting a coat of something clear on it. The end grain of this piece is important also. All those photos of crotchy and gnarly stuff makes it hard to identify.