Help with tree IDing

[Dustin Lane]

I've got three dead trees on my property and every identification site I look at focuses more on the leaf structure. I was hoping someone here could help me with identifying these based mostly on the bark. My best guess was oak and maple. I'm also looking for advice on what to do with them; cut them down and burn them?; hope someone will take them away for free?; cut them into boards and maybe use some day? I have zero experience in this area and so I don't know which route is going to be a waste of time or money.
Thanks for your help.
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[Dan Hintz]

Turners would likely take all of it if given the chance...

First one looks like Sugar Maple.
Second one could be White Oak.

[Todd Willhoit]

You didn't mention when the trees died, or whether they had ever produced nuts.

The first looks like black walnut.
The second looks like shagbark hickory.

Iowa City and the surrounding areas are covered with walnut and hickory.

[Steven Green]

The first one looks like Hackberry and the second like Hickory. I've recently had a lot of experience with hackberry.

[David Thompson 27577]

I'll take a guess -- the first one looks like the bark of a white oak. The segmenting and twisting of the second looks like maple.

(And my guess is probably worth every penny that you paid for it!)

[John Shuk]

First one is a shagbark hickory, second one is cherry, can't really tell about the last picture so I won't try. For what it's worth I'm not guessing on the first two.

[Pete Bradley]

I'm going to say that the first one is a silver maple or sugar maple (I don't think it's shaggy enough to be shagbark hickory). Any of them would do fine in the fireplace. :-)

[Conrad Fiore]

Dustin,
I'm going with a couple of maples and an oak. How long ago was the yard graded? I'm not seeing much trunk flare and am curious if that might have been the cause of the trees demise.

[Prashun Patel]

My vote is some type of oak for #1, some type of maple on #2.

If these are indeed what I think, there's not a lot of economy in having a mill make these into boards.

If you have some turning friends, you could let them have at some of the nicer or larger parts.

[John TenEyck]

All of them appear to have twist or lean in them, making them poor choices for milling into lumber unless the wood is something special like walnut or cherry, or there is sentimental value in them to you. If none of that is the case, I'd cut them up into woodstove length, give the nice ones to anyone who turns bowls, burn the rest in my woodstove, or set it out by the road and let the scavengers take them away. BTW, one of them looked like cherry to me, and another like hickory.

[John Shuk]

I'm going to say that the first one is a silver maple or sugar maple (I don't think it's shaggy enough to be shagbark hickory). Any of them would do fine in the fireplace. :-)

Like us they get shaggier with age ;) I have a bunch of both of these on my property. Cherry and hickory are often found near each other in my area.