Black Birch/Cherry/Or?

[james04]

I looked at the picture and before I even read your question, I thought that was soft maple.  Either red maple or silver maple, I have a woods full of that stuff that looks identical to your photos.  In the very first picture on the upper left, from left to right (and not counting the little crooked log on top), it looks like black cherry, soft maple, black birch, and two ash logs.

I think some close up photos are in order here. The one you think is black cherry is actually oak. The two you think are ash are hickory. Unless they are black ash as someone has suggested. I only know what white ash looks like. Ill see if I can take some photos later today.

James

[sharp edge]

I think red maple, yellow birch, bass wood ( its the one with long knots ) and some other wood. If you have bass wood you can tell by the smell. If you make lumber out of bass wood and use it inside the house it will stink-up the house the next 100 years, the older the more stink.
smiley_smelly_skunk
SE

[SwampDonkey]

End grain of red maple. See how the rays are more distinct, but the end of the annual ring is almost not seen? The pores are not as uniform and more clustered. With birch, you are more or less guessing at the wood rays. Yellow birch also has wintergreen smell in the bark and twigs. But the yellow bark shouldn't be confused for black birch. I think black cherry rays are in between birch and red maple for visibility. Rock maple is a different arrangement again, there are wider rays separated by much narrower ones. There is a picture of that to in the sticky thread on the ID by wood grain thread on the 'Tree ID board'.




Here is the ray fleck of maple.




In the elm around here the end grain looks like it has wavy patterns. It's the wood pores (vessels) making the pattern and like most trees the pores get progressively smaller into the late wood. And in American white elm there is only one row of large pores at the beginning of the early wood and the pores that make up the rest of the ring are densely packed, where as the other elms are less dense. Meaning the wood is not really all that dense because of the abundance of pores. You still get that wavy pattern in the other elms though.

[LeeB]

I 've never particularly been around any maple and it could well be maple. the log looks like cedar elm to me and besides all that I'm hard headed, so I'm gonna stick with elm. :D :D :D

[thecfarm]

I'm with Engineer on the maple.I call it white maple,but I'm no tree expect.I have tons of that around here and it looks just like that.

[WDH]

A close up pic of the end grain will solve this mystery.  If it is elm, the latewood pores will be in wavy bands.  Ask Part Timer ;D. 

Swamp has shown the maple and birch pore structure.  The end of the log looked ring porous in the pic, that is why I said elm.  But, it might not be ring porous because it could be sap seeping out making it look like an earlywood band of large pores. 

That smooth section of bark does look like red maple though .

[thecfarm]

Another way to tell,if the tree have not been cut for a year,cut about a foot of one end and try to split it with a splitting maul.If it's in the maple family it should split open some,if it's elm it won't do a thing but laugh at ya.  ;)