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General Forestry => Tree, Plant and Wood I.D. => Topic started by: ReggieT on February 27, 2019, 09:45:48 PM

Title: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on February 27, 2019, 09:45:48 PM
Picked up this load late this evening and I admit two things, "I;m rusty on my wood ID & I'm wayyyyy outta shape.
Anyhow, it was free & so was the lecture on the wood type...this guys swears its rare strain of hickory ::).
I think perhaps white oak.
I didn't see any nuts lying about, the small twigs/limbs were limber, but hard to snap, and it weighed a ton.
Yet, my MS 261c chewed through it a little quicker than most hickory I've encountered. 
Maybe I'm underestimating my saw with square chisel & a 16 in bar!!  ;D smiley_chop
Here are the best pics I could muster.
What are you guys thoughts?

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/White_Oak_2.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551321838)
 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/White_Oak_1.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551321871)
 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/White_Oak_3.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551321897)
 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/White_Oak_4.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551321920)
 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on February 27, 2019, 11:14:27 PM
Quote from: ReggieT on February 27, 2019, 09:45:48 PM
Picked up this load late this evening and I admit two things, "I;m rusty on my wood ID & I'm wayyyyy outta shape.
Anyhow, it was free & so was the lecture on the wood type...this guys swears its rare strain of hickory ::).
I think perhaps white oak.
I didn't see any nuts lying about, the small twigs/limbs were limber, but hard to snap, and it weighed a ton.
Yet, my MS 261c chewed through it a little quicker than most hickory I've encountered.
Maybe I'm underestimating my saw with square chisel & a 16 in bar!!  ;D smiley_chop
Here are the best pics I could muster.
What are you guys thoughts?

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/White_Oak_2.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551321838)
 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/White_Oak_1.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551321871)
 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/White_Oak_3.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551321897)
 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/White_Oak_4.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551321920)
 

There's a New Possibility: "White Ash!" 8)
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Old Greenhorn on February 28, 2019, 05:33:40 AM
It sure looks like white oak, but it could be ash too. Hickory would be way down the list if guesses for me.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: xlogger on February 28, 2019, 05:57:43 AM
My guess is ash, but will wait on Danny to override ;D
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: stavebuyer on February 28, 2019, 06:19:45 AM
My guess would be black gum
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on February 28, 2019, 07:50:21 AM
It is definitely ash.  That green lichen loves to grow on ash.  It does not grow on hickory.  Note the small twig in the third pic on the right near the small log showing the end grain.  It is opposite branched like it should be for ash.  Hickory is alternate branched. 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: stavebuyer on February 28, 2019, 08:17:25 AM
I am no expert by any means and if Danny says Ash he is most likely correct... but I have never known ash to be considered "heavy" or its branches to be "flexible". Its among the lightest weight and the branches probably the most brittle of any hardwood tree I have cut.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: petefrom bearswamp on February 28, 2019, 08:26:33 AM
Ash twigs are brittle and break easily.
White ash here has a substantial area brown of heartwood.
The bark is ash like tho.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on February 28, 2019, 04:36:46 PM
Well, just spoke with the guy I got it from and these are his words, "Yeah, it used to drop a bumper crop of nuts every other year fer many years yung feller...tastiest dern hickory nuts I ever did taste ;)!" :D smiley_clapping
Now it could be that ever "elusive & fabled nut producing Ash tree!"  oz_smiley thumbs-up
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Dave Shepard on February 28, 2019, 06:12:16 PM
Everything that I can see in those pictures says ash to me. I've mistaken pignut for ash, but only until I tried to saw it.  :D
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 01, 2019, 07:23:15 AM
If that guy is eating nuts off that tree, that guy is a nut :D.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: TKehl on March 01, 2019, 08:56:33 AM
My vote is also Ash.

Maybe there is a Hickory tree uphill or over a roof.  My parents have one over their roof and it will shoot nuts 60-75 yards or so on occasion.

Either way looks like you have some good firewood.   ;)
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Southside on March 01, 2019, 10:44:16 AM
He's an old guy, maybe he got a kick out of trying to get you to climb an ash tree to pick some hickory nuts some day....they can be that way you know.   :D  Back when I lived where we had propane lights and refrigerators a guy came passing by on the river who had every gadget that LL Bean sold and he was in complete awe that refrigerators could run on propane, so being a wise guy I told him I even had a propane TV set from LL Bean (it was battery) just trying to one up him.  Well the guy asked if he could stop by my camp and look at it that evening so when he arrived I had stuck a piece of copper tube into the back of the TV and the other end into the log chinking, I was sitting there watching it when he paddled up.  Absolutely horrible reception as the only station it would get was in Quebec and that was probably 75 miles away, but there I sat watching it.  He was in complete awe and to top it off I said that I needed to change the tank and that was why the screen was so fuzzy with all the lines running across it.  He bought it hook, line, and sinker.  I even told him where in the store they carried them as he was going to pick one up on his way home.  I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall when he was in the store...
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on March 02, 2019, 10:47:28 PM
****UPDATED SPLIT PICS****
Split a few rounds earlier today and it was gnarly, stringy, and full of knots! :'( fiddle-smiley huh-smiley
Here are some pics:

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/splits_1.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551584798)
 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/split_1.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551584814)
 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/split_2.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1551584830)
 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on March 02, 2019, 10:49:41 PM
Quote from: TKehl on March 01, 2019, 08:56:33 AM
My vote is also Ash.

Maybe there is a Hickory tree uphill or over a roof.  My parents have one over their roof and it will shoot nuts 60-75 yards or so on occasion.

Either way looks like you have some good firewood.   ;)

YIKES! 
Did the hickory tree have a bazooka or rocket launcher, "it will shoot nuts 60-75 yards or so on occasion?" :D :o :o :o :o
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Southside on March 02, 2019, 11:33:22 PM
What does it smell like?  It has no heart wood at all.  
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on March 03, 2019, 12:10:45 AM
Quote from: Southside logger on March 02, 2019, 11:33:22 PM
What does it smell like?  It has no heart wood at all.  
Smells kinda sweet/milky like
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: hacknchop on March 03, 2019, 12:46:12 AM
It kind of looks and acts like the Elm we have here not much for heart  , fairly heavy and stringy when split and if It was standing dead will have that sweet milky smell . 
We no longer have any huge Elm because beetle went through in late 70's killed most of them we have a few left on our place about 12" now cut the odd one by mistake for wood and I have milled some anyway that's what it looks like to me.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on March 03, 2019, 05:52:00 AM
Quote from: hacknchop on March 03, 2019, 12:46:12 AM
It kind of looks and acts like the Elm we have here not much for heart  , fairly heavy and stringy when split and if It was standing dead will have that sweet milky smell .
We no longer have any huge Elm because beetle went through in late 70's killed most of them we have a few left on our place about 12" now cut the odd one by mistake for wood and I have milled some anyway that's what it looks like to me.
Hmm...someone else had mentioned elm as well.
Any particular type of elm & is it decent firewood?
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 03, 2019, 07:40:55 AM
Oh yea of little faith ;D.  If it was elm, it would not have ash bark :).  
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: petefrom bearswamp on March 03, 2019, 08:17:43 AM
Also ash is straight grained not stringy like the pics
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Southside on March 03, 2019, 09:09:53 AM
Maybe it's an Elm tree that underwent re-assignment surgery to become a Hickory but now identifies as an Ash... :D
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 03, 2019, 11:39:13 AM
Well, now you have seen a stringy ash ;D.  

Southside.  Don't go there :D. 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Hewer of Wood on March 03, 2019, 04:03:06 PM
I think stavebuyer might be on to something. The bark looks like ash, but the rest doesn't seem to quite fit. In the first picture the end of the log has the wrong look. The knots/remnants of limbs has a greenish color around the edges of the knots. I've never seen that in ash. To be fair in my area I've only run across a handful of black gum, but they very much resemble the log in question. And every piece I've split has been very rough splitting stuff, like the ones pictured. I've had some stringy ash, but not like those, where the grain is so interlocked it doesn't really split, it more tears apart.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on March 03, 2019, 04:55:08 PM
I'm a starting think Black Gum or some type of sweet-gum creature! taz-smiley
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 03, 2019, 07:14:50 PM
ELM is not opposite branched.  BLACKGUM is not opposite branched.  SWEETGUM is not opposite branched.  ASH is opposite branched.  The grain can spiral in some trees of a species that usually have straight grain.  Trees are individuals, like people. 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: petefrom bearswamp on March 04, 2019, 08:34:03 AM
To be devil's advocate, Hard to tell from the pics but some twigs look opposite some not.
Shot of one of the split pieces shows alternate knots.
End grain shot looks diffuse porous not ring.
Bark certainly looks Ash however.
Ash here almost splits just by looking at it.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Woodpecker52 on March 04, 2019, 12:56:48 PM
I vote for mockernut hickory.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 04, 2019, 04:49:11 PM
OK Reggie.  You are going to have to go back and get a limb to quiet these naysayers ;D. 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on March 05, 2019, 12:38:10 AM
Quote from: WDH on March 04, 2019, 04:49:11 PM
OK Reggie.  You are going to have to go back and get a limb to quiet these naysayers ;D.
It's a Gum tree.... ::) :'(
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Southside on March 05, 2019, 06:39:50 AM
Don't ya mean Prickly Hickory? 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 05, 2019, 08:17:43 AM
If it is gum, then there are two different trees in your pics.  The first three pics are definitely ash.  The fourth pic (which I did not pay much attention to since the the first pics were definitely ash) is likely the gum you speak of.  This would explain the spiral grain in the split piece.  
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: sandhills on March 05, 2019, 01:08:48 PM
See'ns how I'm too DanG dumb I'm just gonna go with ash because that was my guess, and believe it or not I guessed that before WDH put his word in! :D  But I still think the "main" log in question is ash, I have no idea what gum trees look like other than I hear they're the smiley_devil from those who have to saw it ;).  On the other hand I have split elm like that, just not with bark like that...
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: petefrom bearswamp on March 06, 2019, 08:30:54 AM
Reggie are you going to Jakes?
If so bring some samples if you can.
We can duke it out there.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 06, 2019, 08:17:17 PM
I'll bring my fighting gloves. 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: barbender on March 06, 2019, 08:38:32 PM
After reading this whole thread, the only thing I'm sure of is that Southside is a rotten guy (albeit a very cunning one) for that propane TV prank😂😂😂
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 06, 2019, 08:40:14 PM
He is pretty rotten, like an old ash with doty heart rot :D. 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Southside on March 06, 2019, 08:50:58 PM
Geesh guys, have the decency to at least @ a guy if you're gonna beat him that hard.   :D
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: barbender on March 06, 2019, 11:55:32 PM
I didn't really feel that decency was warranted in this case.😂😂😂
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on March 07, 2019, 01:54:02 AM
Quote from: petefrom bearswamp on March 06, 2019, 08:30:54 AM
Reggie are you going to Jakes?
If so bring some samples if you can.
We can duke it out there.
Hmm...don't reckon I'm aware of a place or a gentleman named Jakes? ??? :P
Bring me up to speed...
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: ReggieT on March 07, 2019, 01:56:04 AM
Quote from: WDH on March 05, 2019, 08:17:43 AM
If it is gum, then there are two different trees in your pics.  The first three pics are definitely ash.  The fourth pic (which I did not pay much attention to since the the first pics were definitely ash) is likely the gum you speak of.  This would explain the spiral grain in the split piece.  
Okay...the zany thing is they are just different portions of the same tree!  :D :)
BTW...can we get an opinion or some feedback from, Red Green? ;D
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: petefrom bearswamp on March 07, 2019, 09:28:20 AM
Reggie
Jake is customsawyer and has a sawing project at his place in Rentz GA I think April 5 and 6
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: terrifictimbersllc on March 13, 2019, 05:52:07 AM
I read all this twice.  His tailgate isn't smashed. Something's wrong. ::) ::)
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Jemclimber on March 20, 2019, 12:44:35 PM
If Danny tells you it's ash, then it's ash.  If Danny tells you tomorrow is Easter, then you better start dyeing some eggs. :D 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 20, 2019, 01:02:54 PM
Different ash than what we have up here, if it is. Our mature ash has bark like in this link, photo at top on the link below.

Ashes to Ashes | Duncannon Appalachian Trail Community (http://duncannonatc.org/ashes-to-ashes)

I'd have to see more of the limbs and buds. Looks like the yard there is full of them, that would settle it. ;D
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: brianJ on March 20, 2019, 03:04:11 PM
Quote from: WDH on March 03, 2019, 07:14:50 PM
ELM is not opposite branched.  BLACKGUM is not opposite branched.  SWEETGUM is not opposite branched.  ASH is opposite branched.  The grain can spiral in some trees of a species that usually have straight grain.  Trees are individuals, like people.
I will vouch for this.   Ive split and sold 10 bush cords of nearly all ash this month from a hedgerow the boss said to clear out.    Lots of 35 + foot main stems from 14 inches down to 3  is what I cut.    Some of them split with the wedge two inches in.   Some of them have a curly grain that the splitter wedge runs three quarters thru or more toseperate
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 20, 2019, 03:10:28 PM
Yeah ash can be easy or hard as the old hermit found out about shelter belt ash.

Wood for a day - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0dlKQJyLdo&t=607s)

Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: Al_Smith on March 20, 2019, 06:24:40 PM
Well the ash in these parts have no bark to speak of .Every one over two inches is dead for the most part .
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 23, 2019, 07:44:16 AM
I took this pic of an ash at my sawmill yesterday, complete with the aforementioned lichens.  Decidedly opposite branched.  However, I am probably the only one that thinks that it looks like the OP's pic to start this thread  :).


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14370/IMG_2719.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1553341189)
 


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14370/IMG_2720.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1553341258)
  
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 23, 2019, 07:53:47 AM
I see similar lichens, but the bark is more cubical in the original pictures than ash I am used to. But hopefully the limbs can be examined by the OP for branching habit and buds. I've seen older ash where the bark is not as deeply furrowed and has wide thin strips. This is real apparent on log yards where the buyer uses ash for tool handles. Lots of variability with age and site.
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 23, 2019, 07:58:46 AM
You can see in the OP's third pic, on the right side, the ash twig with the opposite branching.  The 4th pic appears to be a different tree.  

You glaciated, frozed, Northern types do not get those lichens on your ash ;D. 
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 23, 2019, 08:03:24 AM
Yeah we do, but not all of them. I have seen ash pretty lichened up. :D
Title: Re: Guy swears it's hickory?
Post by: WDH on March 23, 2019, 09:08:43 PM
The goat would jump all over that one, but I am going to let sleeping goats lie ( ;D).