Help with a 100 year old hand hewn beam

[Magicman]

That looks like Tulip Poplar.

[Wlmedley]

I agree Lynn, the lumber does resemble tulip poplar but the bark that was still on the beam didn't look anything like poplar. It looked more like white oak than poplar but I know this isn't any kind of oak that I have ever seen. I don't know what it is. The previous beam that I sawed which most said was probably Chestnut looks a lot different than this one. 

[Wlmedley]

This is what the bark looked like.

[Magicman]

Look at the end.  Oak is ring porous, TP is diffuse porous.

[Wlmedley]

I'm not much of a wood expert but I do know that there were no rays looking at the end like you have with oak.

[Magicman]

How about a good end grain picture?

[Wlmedley]

I don't have any but I'll take one tomorrow and post it. I'm thinking maybe it is poplar and the bark may look different just from being so old and dried out. It's amazing to me that poplar would have lasted that long but I guess it stayed dry and it doesn't seem to have many bug holes in it.

[SwampDonkey]

The bark looks like basswood up here, but that sawn wood doesn't because basswood is usually white. And basswood is light weight like dry fir. Bark can vary across a trees range.

We have sugar maple that the bark changes when growing from loamy ground to glacial sand. The smaller tree bark will look the same but older bark will look different. On the glacial stuff the bark gets scaly and has curled flecks. On loam it has deep furrows with ridges that don't have curly flecks.

[Wlmedley]

I had a fellow that knows a lot more about wood than me identify this wood as a Cucumber tree. After looking at pictures of wood and bark I am fairly confident that is what it is. I'm not very good at wood identification but will be looking in the woods for these in the future. Lumber looks almost identical to dried tulip poplar although I believe it is slightly heavier. Bark is quite a bit different.

[SwampDonkey]

That would fit with the bark description I have here in a dendrology text with the flaky ridges in the bark. 

[Magicman]

Yes, I can go with Cucumber Magnolia.  My guess was made before the bark picture.

Magnolia Accuminate AKA: Yellow-flower Magnolia, Mountain Magnolia, Yellow Cucumber.

I have sawed Cucumber only once that I remember.

[Wlmedley]

I ran a few pieces of my Cucumber lumber through the planer and it looks a lot better than I expected. I still have four 8' 1x6s and one 8' 2x6. Now to figure out a project I can use them in. What ever I make I plan to make four of them so all siblings will have something from the old house. I also have that chestnut 8' 2'x6" that I would like to incorporate into the project. I'm thinking about maybe some more of the shaker style step stools being I've already made a couple and they don't take a large amount of lumber.

[SwampDonkey]

Gotta put that new bench to work. 

[Wlmedley]

Swamp, I'm hoping to. Going to be a lot better than working outside on two sawhorses 

[SwampDonkey]

One thing I commented to a guy working in a saw shop about one time. 'You need a bench, standing on your head working over a saw gets old.'  He agreed. I don't think he ever got a bench. The place burnt after new ownership and the new owner built a new shop. I've never seen him there, all new faces.

I can't work on nothing with my butt to the sky and the blood rushing to my head. 

[Wlmedley]

Being I only have one piece of Chestnut lumber which was a 2"x6" I put it back on the mill and cut five 1"x2"s.Ran them through the jointer and plan to do some glue ups with my Cucumber lumber on each side. Temporarily clamped them together to get a idea of what they would look like. I don't know what they will look like with a finish and the Chestnut might need some epoxy but I think it will look pretty good.