What type of log is this?

[1crowfarm]

I think it is basswood I unloaded it off of the log deck tonight and put back into a pile untill I kind find out for sure what it is.
I noticed that a piece of bark came off of one of the logs and it peeled off in a very long piece probably 6 or 7' long.
I wonder if there is a market for them around PA I will have to make a couple of calls tomorrow and find out I will let you all know what I find out.
I may cut one of the top logs into 1" boards and put some pictures of it on here

[SwampDonkey]

I knew it had to be, poplar won't strip off like that. I've not seen aspen bark go orange.

Know anyone who carves? Sometimes those guys are a fussy lot, but basswood is nice to carve or wood burning art.

[1crowfarm]

I was trying to find some old photos of aspen logs on our log deck, but all I could find was this, and it really doesn't give you a good comparison view.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,2535.0.html

Jeff thats what I thought it was to at first(white poppel) my dad use to call it
I even went up on the hill to look at some but its just not the same besides I've never seen Poppel grow that big around here.

[1crowfarm]

Hey guys is this basswood good for siding or sheating boards ?
What else is it good for besides carving and furniture?

[SwampDonkey]

I wouldn't use it outside. But others might have more experience in it's use than I. It's always cut for pulpwood here.

[Jeff]

Aspen will certainly strip off in long pieces.  If the bark stripped off is stringy and almost resembles binder twine, then its basswood. it its just a long strip of bark with semi smooth edges, then its not.

[Clark]

My initial thought was aspen but given the location and the condition, who knows?

Clark

[isawlogs]

I don't see basswood there , I see a poplar.  I have yet to see a basswood look like the first pic, but have seen many poplar log have that look. Also have seen many strips of bark come off a poplar log.

[woodcrazy]

Looks like red alder, that is if your area has any, northern California has lots.
           woodcrazy

[SwampDonkey]

Aspen doesn't have the strength for the bark to strip off length wise for several feet. It'll peel far easier in circumference than it will strip. And I never see aspen bark like that. :D

[Jeff]

I hate to tell a guy with a degree they are wrong, but you sir are wrong on your assumption on the bark. ;) I'm certain you know what your trees do, I can't judge that, but on ours, I certainly can. You can't take your model and make it everyone's.  I fought aspen and aspen bark half my life. I know what the heck I'm talking about in regards to several million feet that passed before me.

[SwampDonkey]

It's just not as reliable as buds, twigs, flowers and wood grain when dealing with a wide ranging species. Locally, with experience most fellas know their logs and standing trees. I've seen the difficulty on this forum when comparing the same species in the north with that in the south. Just like our cherry bark, it looks a lot different in other places to the south. About the only thing that looks like aspen in those photos is the white wood. I'll have to go to the UP and show ya your bark ain't orange. ;) A degree won't factor much into bark ID, experience over rules. ;)

Our balsam poplar when it gets beyond mature has real rough deep bark and flat ridges, but does go orange. That might be a possible fit here. Western black cottonwood is pretty much the same. Recognizing that these are logs from a much younger tree than I am describing. A younger tree bark is quite different in comparison.

[1crowfarm]

I will take the camero with me today and see if I cant get to that strip of bark and take it apart some for pictures but we had a quick freeze come through last night and its only 18 gegrees out there right now  so it might be next week when it warms up again

[SwampDonkey]

That's still warm, cold is 20 below. :D

[Dodgy Loner]

All the southern boys are sitting this one out, I see :D. We don't have true poplar around here. Just yellow-poplar (aka tuliptree). We do have basswood in limited areas, but the bark looks a lot different from your northern stuff. I won't be of much help on this thread.

[Jeff]

Do you have a picture of a board? Even Basswood and Aspen lumber will look very similar until you see the knots in the lumber.  Basswood has knots with very distinct defined edges, where as aspen knots will usually have color spreading from the knot edges which are not nearly as defined.

[SwampDonkey]

That's OK dodgy because I've seen a person that should know, confuse balsam poplar for red oak. And had the log(s) right there to look at. And swear up and down it was red oak. And cut them where no red oak was present down on a wet flood plain. You just gotta walk away.   ;D

[Jeff]

I've also seen a high school shop teacher confuse balsam poplar for red oak. One of my cousins. I went to the old farm and he had a couple sections of short 4 foot logs in his truck. He was going to take the "Red Oak" home and cut it into boards on the shop band saw for a personal project.

[WDH]

All the southern boys are sitting this one out, I see :D. We don't have true poplar around here. Just yellow-poplar (aka tuliptree). We do have basswood in limited areas, but the bark looks a lot different from your northern stuff. I won't be of much help on this thread.

[Gary_C]

Jeff is right on the money. That's Aspen.

Aspen has so many different looks to it's bark, it can fool you. But that deeply furrowed look to the lower part of the tree is common. Sometimes you have to look up to the top of the tree to be sure what it is, but after seeing a lot of Aspen go down in front of my harvester, I know it's aspen. And definately not Basswood.

[Gary_C]

This is what our aspen looks like.

Wow, that one wins a prize. The Lyle Lovett of aspen trees.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah the second one is a nasty widow maker with lot a lateral limbs. It was over mature and full of conk. I wouldn't take a saw anywhere near that thing. ;D The picture was for the bark, not for the beauty. :D It's also over 30" dbh. The first was 26 inches dbh as I recall.

Aspen logs here that are up to 14 or 18 inches have smooth green/gray with some white sections or pinkish hue bark beyond 5 or 6 feet of the but. Like this. Unless its the white barked ones that never seem to grow much on higher elevation. This is at the point where the bark is starting to separate into ridges. This tree is around 14" and probably 35 years old. I have a 10" in the back yard and the bark is more green at 25 years of age.



That tree has enough logs from it that you would see some of the traits on up the tree. I don't see it, so can't agree to aspen. ;)

I don't consider these junk when you get as much for pulp as veneer for them. That's why no one bothers to separate it because of the extra handling costs for nothing.

I think you'll find that the variance you see in the bark is hybridization and between species of poplar. I've been to Jeff property I saw aspen just like what I see here in NB. Not even a second guess. I also see it across northern Ontario. ;)

[Jeff]

The aspen in the U.P. on my property, would not be typical to what we see at this latitude. Although we have some that looks like that, is can have a very different appearance from site to site. Some can even look like white birch from a distance.  It would be rare for us to confuse a basswood log with Aspen. Ash, yes. Basswood looks quite a bit like ash in log form with the bark on. New yard guys at the mill would always confuse it.

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, as I said your aspen grows like here. We have those white barked aspen that look like white birch to. But you would still not confuse it, or I wouldn't. ;)

As far as basswood goes it grows with white ash and hard maple up here and I wouldn't confuse it for ash, but instead some folks confuse it for hard maple. My father for one. ;)

I think it might just be the color or photography angle in the pictures, but sure looks like basswood bark.

MM has a bunch of photos of aspen in CO from his hunting excursions and they have the white bark.

[Dale Hatfield]

No doubt Its aspen.  We  often see 2 kinds of aspen smooth wood and fuzzy wood.  when ya buck a log you will see what is fuzzy or smooth.
Funny is the fuzzy one will often hold a hinge better than the smooth wood. But neither will hold much for side lean.
Jeff is spot on I have seen everything he has said in aspen as well.