Guy swears it's hickory?

[ReggieT]

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?


 

 

 

 

[ReggieT]

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?


 

 

 

 

There's a New Possibility: "White Ash!" 8)

[Old Greenhorn]

It sure looks like white oak, but it could be ash too. Hickory would be way down the list if guesses for me.

[xlogger]

My guess is ash, but will wait on Danny to override ;D

[stavebuyer]

My guess would be black gum

[WDH]

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. 

[stavebuyer]

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.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Ash twigs are brittle and break easily.
White ash here has a substantial area brown of heartwood.
The bark is ash like tho.

[ReggieT]

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!" 

[Dave Shepard]

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

[WDH]

If that guy is eating nuts off that tree, that guy is a nut :D.

[TKehl]

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.   ;)

[Southside]

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...

[ReggieT]

****UPDATED SPLIT PICS****
Split a few rounds earlier today and it was gnarly, stringy, and full of knots! :'( huh-smiley
Here are some pics:


 

 

 

[ReggieT]

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

[Southside]

What does it smell like?  It has no heart wood at all.  

[ReggieT]

What does it smell like?  It has no heart wood at all.  

Smells kinda sweet/milky like

[hacknchop]

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.

[ReggieT]

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?

[WDH]

Oh yea of little faith ;D.  If it was elm, it would not have ash bark .  

[petefrom bearswamp]

Also ash is straight grained not stringy like the pics

[Southside]

Maybe it's an Elm tree that underwent re-assignment surgery to become a Hickory but now identifies as an Ash... :D

[WDH]

Well, now you have seen a stringy ash ;D.  

Southside.  Don't go there :D. 

[Hewer of Wood]

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.

[ReggieT]

I'm a starting think Black Gum or some type of sweet-gum creature!

[WDH]

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. 

[petefrom bearswamp]

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.

[Woodpecker52]

I vote for mockernut hickory.

[WDH]

OK Reggie.  You are going to have to go back and get a limb to quiet these naysayers ;D. 

[ReggieT]

OK Reggie.  You are going to have to go back and get a limb to quiet these naysayers ;D.

It's a Gum tree.... : :'(

[Southside]

Don't ya mean Prickly Hickory? 

[WDH]

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.  

[sandhills]

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  from those who have to saw it ;).  On the other hand I have split elm like that, just not with bark like that...

[petefrom bearswamp]

Reggie are you going to Jakes?
If so bring some samples if you can.
We can duke it out there.

[WDH]

I'll bring my fighting gloves. 

[barbender]

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😂😂😂

[WDH]

He is pretty rotten, like an old ash with doty heart rot :D. 

[Southside]

Geesh guys, have the decency to at least @ a guy if you're gonna beat him that hard.   :D

[barbender]

I didn't really feel that decency was warranted in this case.😂😂😂

[ReggieT]

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...

[ReggieT]

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

[petefrom bearswamp]

Reggie
Jake is customsawyer and has a sawing project at his place in Rentz GA I think April 5 and 6

[terrifictimbersllc]

I read all this twice.  His tailgate isn't smashed. Something's wrong. : :

[Jemclimber]

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 

[SwampDonkey]

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

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

[brianJ]

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

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah ash can be easy or hard as the old hermit found out about shelter belt ash.

Wood for a day - YouTube

[Al_Smith]

Well the ash in these parts have no bark to speak of .Every one over two inches is dead for the most part .

[WDH]

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  .



 



  

[SwampDonkey]

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.

[WDH]

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. 

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah we do, but not all of them. I have seen ash pretty lichened up. :D

[WDH]

The goat would jump all over that one, but I am going to let sleeping goats lie ( ;D).