Name that wood !

[John TenEyck]

My arborist friend took down a tree last weekend, and I got the wood, including one log for milling. It looks like some sort of oak, and does smell a little like oak, but it's not a red or white oak to be sure. But don't let that bias your opinion. What do you think this is? Unfortunately, the leaves aren't out yet near Niagara Falls where I live, so all you've got to go on are the two photos. It is heavy and hard. Thanks.

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[Buck Williams]

Looks to me like it could be hickory, based on the color, and the shaggy bark. If your buddy's any kind of arborist, he should be able to tell you.

[Mark Godlesky]

Black locust maybe? Do the small branches have thorns?

[Rick Moyer]

I'm gonna guess hickory as well, based on the bark and that you said it is heavy.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks, but I don't think those are it. It's definitely not a black locust or a shag bark hickory; he and I both know those. Another type of hickory? The color and weight seem to suggest so, but if you look closely at the close-up picture you may be able to see the medulary rays. Anyway, they're there. I don't recall hickory having any rays, but many oaks do. Does this additional info (sorry for forgetting to post it in the original) provide any more clues. The arborist thought it might be a live oak at first, but then later said they don't grow around here. Then he thought it might be a black oak.

[Rob Holcomb]

I am certainly no expert but the bark looks strikingly similar to a tree I had cut down a few years ago in my back yard. It was a Silver Maple

[Dave Lehnert]

Is it elm?

[John TenEyck]

Not a a silver maple nor an elm. We both are familiar with those. In fact, we took down an elm yesterday (chinese), and it's quite different and I'd say heavier than this tree actually. I think the medular rays in the this tree are key to it's identity.

[John Coloccia]

Could be Hop Hornbeam. The bark sort of looks like that, and so does the inside. The sapwood can sometimes be darker than the heartwood too. This is just a wild guess.

[John TenEyck]

Nope, not Hop Hornbeam either, thank goodness. This tree was at least 60 feet tall, taller than Hop Hornbeam. That stuff is really hard, too, and doesn't burn for nothin'. Thanks for the effort, though. Keep 'em coming, folks. I've looked through my book on trees and keep coming back to some sort of oak.

[Tony Shea]

I am also no expert but my money would also be on oak of some sort. I would say a white oak.

[Scott T Smith]

John, I've milled a lot of oak, and the cross section of that log really looks like one of the species of white oak to me. Most of the variety's that I've sawn here in the southeast do not have dark sapwood though.

[Mitch Richardson]

The split limb looks like hickory to me. There are other types of hickory other than shagbark. Maybe a pignut. I think hickory can have medullary rays.

[John TenEyck]

I thought maybe a pignut hickory, too, but Hoadley's book says that you can't see the rays in hickory with the naked eye, so it can't be. I would like to say it's a white oak, but it doesn't smell like a white oak. Actually, it only smells a little like an oak at all, but I still think it is of some sort. I think I'll bandsaw a log into a piece I can dry and measure the specific gravity on. Stay tuned. Thanks.

[Kevin Stockwell]

Have any small branches with buds attached?

[David Nelson1]

The bark most closey resembles red hickory aka pignut tree, but also a varient of red oak although the sap wood is a bit thick and much darker than red oak. I'm going with a hickory most likely red.

[David Thompson 27577]

The bark certainly looks like white oak.

[Don Buck]

Could possibly be some variety of chestnut if it has strong oak texture but is not oak. Second guess is bur oak, look for some of the twigs, they would have a corky ridge on the twigs. Very hard for exact ID from a photo!

[Prashun Patel]

If it looks and smells like white oak, I say it's white oak. One was just felled in my neighbor's yard yesterday and it looks exactly like this. The aroma is unmistakable.

Curious, though: why do you say it's not oak?

[John TenEyck]

Curious, though: why do you say it's not oak?

Curious to me, too. I said I think it IS some type of oak, but that it does not smell like white oak.

[Brett Bobo]

Along with the oak and hickory theme, I believe it's either Pecan or Post Oak.

[Brian Effinger]

I'm not sure what it is, but I bet it would turn nice on my lathe. :D Just to be sure, maybe I should come and get some of it. :p

They only oak I've ever cut up around here is pin oak, but I don't think that is it.

[Danny Hamsley]

100% sure that it is oak. The rays are oak rays. It is in the white oak group, possibly post oak.

[John TenEyck]

I'm not sure what it is, but I bet it would turn nice on my lathe. :D Just to be sure, maybe I should come and get some of it. :p

They only oak I've ever cut up around here is pin oak, but I don't think that is it.

Brian, I'm in Lewiston, and if you want some let me know and I'll set it aside for you. I've got plenty and you're welcome to it.

John

[Brian Effinger]

John - I never turn down wood, especially free wood. ;) More importantly, I never pass up an opportunity to meet another creeker. :)

I'll send you a PM with my number. The next few days are going to be really busy (I've got to get drawings ready for a planning board meeting in Corfu tomorrow, and then play catch-up with everything that was put off trying to get ready), but I'll be free this weekend. It looks like Saturday is supposed to be rain-free. Hopefully. :)