New to the forum here. I got this wood in East Texas and am not sure what kind of wood it is. I've made an educated guess but would rather not share yet just so it doesn't place any bias on the answers.Anyone know? Thanks for the help.
I can take more pictures if needed.
Edit: I have to fix the pictures real quick, I thought the --Photos MUST be in the Forestry Forum gallery!!!!!-- link would work. Will fix now.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36933/3.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36933/2.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36933/5.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36933/4.jpg)
There we go. Sorry about that.
It looks like a red oak, splits like a red oak, and if it smells like sourmash, it's oak. But I could be wrong.
I know it looks like red oak but I've split more Red Oak than I like to think about and this definitely isn't red oak. That's what I thought it was until I started splitting it.
Got a leaf?
Sure don't bud. There were two but I cut them off while I was transporting the wood. Sorry.
Looks pecany to me.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/25938/pecan.jpg)
I believe that it is hickory.
Danny, does hickory split like that?
Looks like hickory to me. I just split a some of it 2 weeks ago.
Yes, it does split like that, and the heartwood color is just right. The bark makes me think pignut.
I've got a few more pictures I took last night. Got lucky and found a couple of leaves.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36933/10.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36933/11.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36933/12.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36933/13.JPG)
Any chance it can be black gum?
Not black gun, I'd go with elm.
Do you wash your wood be for you split it? :D :o
That's my dryer to cure it faster!! Haha.
Cedar elm
So much for the hickory theory :D.
Elm for sure.
Just curious, what changed everyone's mind from Hickory to Elm? I didn't think it was hickory, but I'm certainly no expert. I've never dealt with Elm before, so I can believe that. I've messed with sweet gum but never black gum, didn't really seem like the sweet gum I had seen before. I remember that stuff stunk. Is this wood good for anything besides burning in the fire pit outside? It seems unusually wet, and I'm not sure if I'd call it a hardwood or a softwood. If it's a hardwood it's definitely softer than the Oaks and Hickories I've dealt with before. Seems like it will take a good while to dry too.
The leaf identifies it as an elm. The leaf margins are toothed in a doubly serrate pattern where there two distinct sizes of teeth, one larger, and one smaller. It is a simple leaf, meaning one leaf blade to a petiole (the little stalk that attaches the leaf to the twig). Hickory has a compound leaf where there is one main leaf stalk (the petiole in a compound leaf is called a rachis) and 5 or more leaflets that radiate from the central leaf rachis.
The are several species of trees that have interlacing ridges in the bark. Hickory, elm, ash are three of them. Elm also has spiral grain which makes it difficult to split like sweetgum, blackgum, and sycamore.
Awesome thank you guys so much for the help.
still cannot believe it split like that, elm and hickory have been buggers to split, for me. Never split black gun, but, would think it the same.
There's absolutely nothing good about the way this wood splits. I think I'm a fairly decent wood splitter and this is definitely the hardest wood I've ever split. If I was doing this for anything other than just fun I would pile all this up and have a bonfire just to get rid of it.
Hey, JP, while you are in an appreciative mood, why not fill out the personal information that shows on your posts, so we know where, who and what ya are!! 8)
Oh, yeah, welcome to the forum.
Done and done. I was hoping it was some sort of wood I could use to cook with, I was really excited when people started saying Pecan and Hickory, but I didn't think it was any of those. It's hard to tell without seeing/smelling the wood and not having any leaves either. I forgot how much fun running a saw and splitting wood was.
We Texans are gaining in strength. 8)
You can use it to cook with. I used to use it when I lived in Austin.
Quote from: JPowell7575 on July 08, 2014, 10:52:54 AM
There's absolutely nothing good about the way this wood splits. I think I'm a fairly decent wood splitter and this is definitely the hardest wood I've ever split. If I was doing this for anything other than just fun I would pile all this up and have a bonfire just to get rid of it.
My grandmother was splitting elm for stovewood with an ax. Ax bounced back out of the log and hit her in the face, breaking her nose. The nose still had a kink in it 50 years later. :-\
Quote from: WDH on July 08, 2014, 10:34:31 AM
The leaf identifies it as an elm. The leaf margins are toothed in a doubly serrate pattern where there two distinct sizes of teeth, one larger, and one smaller. It is a simple leaf, meaning one leaf blade to a petiole (the little stalk that attaches the leaf to the twig). Hickory has a compound leaf where there is one main leaf stalk (the petiole in a compound leaf is called a rachis) and 5 or more leaflets that radiate from the central leaf rachis.
The are several species of trees that have interlacing ridges in the bark. Hickory, elm, ash are three of them. Elm also has spiral grain which makes it difficult to split like sweetgum, blackgum, and sycamore.
Great, now he's on the big words again... no_no
Hey, rachis is only 5 letters :).
Quote from: WDH on July 10, 2014, 07:47:51 AM
Hey, rachis is only 5 letters :).
??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? :snowball:
Quote from: mesquite buckeye on July 09, 2014, 01:42:21 AM
Quote from: JPowell7575 on July 08, 2014, 10:52:54 AM
There's absolutely nothing good about the way this wood splits. I think I'm a fairly decent wood splitter and this is definitely the hardest wood I've ever split. If I was doing this for anything other than just fun I would pile all this up and have a bonfire just to get rid of it.
My grandmother was splitting elm for stovewood with an ax. Ax bounced back out of the log and hit her in the face, breaking her nose. The nose still had a kink in it 50 years later. :-\
They just don't make em like they used to. Women that is. :D :D :D
Quote from: JPowell7575 on July 10, 2014, 01:17:47 PM
Quote from: mesquite buckeye on July 09, 2014, 01:42:21 AM
Quote from: JPowell7575 on July 08, 2014, 10:52:54 AM
There's absolutely nothing good about the way this wood splits. I think I'm a fairly decent wood splitter and this is definitely the hardest wood I've ever split. If I was doing this for anything other than just fun I would pile all this up and have a bonfire just to get rid of it.
My grandmother was splitting elm for stovewood with an ax. Ax bounced back out of the log and hit her in the face, breaking her nose. The nose still had a kink in it 50 years later. :-\
They just don't make em like they used to. Women that is. :D :D :D
Raising 3 boys on a farm with a new mortgage at the worst of the Great Depession was not easy. My grandfather was on the receiving end of the one of worst of times stories back then. He took a 1300 pound bull to the stockyards and got $13 for it. Penny a pound. It is a wonder they held on and made it.
Quote from: WDH on July 08, 2014, 10:34:31 AM
The leaf identifies it as an elm. The leaf margins are toothed in a doubly serrate pattern where there two distinct sizes of teeth, one larger, and one smaller. It is a simple leaf, meaning one leaf blade to a petiole (the little stalk that attaches the leaf to the twig). Hickory has a compound leaf where there is one main leaf stalk (the petiole in a compound leaf is called a rachis) and 5 or more leaflets that radiate from the central leaf rachis.
The are several species of trees that have interlacing ridges in the bark. Hickory, elm, ash are three of them. Elm also has spiral grain which makes it difficult to split like sweetgum, blackgum, and sycamore.
WDH,
What is the difference between spiral grain and interlocking grain? In the past I was taught that Sweet Gum had an interlocking grain rather than a spiral grain. It is difficult to split it and the grain almost looks like it is woven when it dries and checks. Fibers cross back and forth over each other almost like a piece of loose woven fabric or a braid. On the other hand spiral grain would be a tree in which the fibers are parallel to each other but spiral or twist as the tree grows. This is seen often in SYP. Standing dead trees with the bark fallen off often look like candy canes with check marks spiralling up their trunks. It has a tendency to twist as it dries.
Straight grain would be a wood like White oak which splits and rives easily and checks in straight lines.
Is this wrong? What is the official determination for grain patterns?
I believe that you are correct. Spiral grain is where the cells are lain down at an angle to the vertical. Interlocked is where the spiral angle reverses in subsequent years, forming that braided-woven pattern that you described. Each years growth is lain down at a different angle forming plys like in plywood. Interlocked grain is common in many tropical or exotic woods that are exported into North America.