Wood ID

[Prashun Patel]

I have been rough turning a bunch of "Sandy" damaged wood the past two months. I found some funny looking logs in the woods near me that I thought were ambrosia maple. However, what I thought was center spalt turned out to be dark heartwood surrounded by a ring of decay. The bark had a very slight reddish cast, but basically looked like maple.

It does not have the same burnt coffee aroma that walnut has when turned. Also, the 'sap' wood was about 75% of the cross section; that seemed high for walnut.

There is some ambrosia streaking in a couple pieces; is that a giveaway for maple?

(sorry for the bad pix).

[Todd Burch]

Might be maple. Looks like Poplar to me. How hard it is?

[Roger Chandler]

I could see Poplar as a good guess myself......... mineral staining that draws up from the ground can give poplar all kinds of different colors and shades of heartwood. I have seen green, tan, brown, yellow and purple hues in poplar...........it just depends on the mineral content of the soil the tree was in.

[Prashun Patel]

It's hard to tell how hard it is since it's extremely wet. It's about as hard as maple that I've turned. Perhaps a tad softer? I hadn't considered poplar. The coloring seems about right for that.

All the green maple that I've turned tends to develop red or brown spots all over the surface within a day or two. This material has not done that.

[Jamie Donaldson]

I'm guessing Poplar as well, but if more open grain could be Butternut pending closer inspection.

[steven carter]

Looks a lot like some poplar that I've turned.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Like others it looks like poplar I have turned also.

[Jim Burr]

I'm bucking the trend...no surprise there...and going with mulberry, maybe fruitless.

[John C Lawson]

Tulip poplar is all over the place, at least in Northern NJ where I used to live.

[Scott T Smith]

Prashun, from the photo's it appears to be sweetgum. do you have any more pieces that still have the bark attached?

[Alan Trout]

To me it looks like poplar as well.

[Ted Calver]

.... from the photo's it appears to be sweetgum.....

I'm with Scott...looks like Sweetgum to me too.

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[Ken Glass]

I agree with Scott on Sweet Gum....

[Prashun Patel]

Here are some pictures of the logs on the ground.

Nice bowls, Ted. When I get pith-colored wood like this, I'm torn about how to orient.

[Ted Calver]

Might have to revise my guess Prashun. That looks more poplary than gumy to me and I don't see a lot of gum leaves in the leaf debris.

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks, Ted. However, know that there were a few other downed trees in the vicinity, and the leaves you see are likely from the majority of the other trees in the area (oak).

[Robert Henrickson]

Not to mention a sweetgum that size would have literally bushels of the 'gumballs' on the ground around it for a considerable distance, and I don't see a one. As to what it actually is --

[Leo Van Der Loo]

That bark looks a lot like Linden/Basswood, I don't believe it is either Maple or Tulip/Yellow Poplar, though I have worked Maple that was that dark in the center but the bark doesn't fit, a picture of the twigs of that tree could shed some more light on what it is, as I'm not sure and been back a few times to look at these last pictures, it is still a guess for me.

[Todd Burch]

Looks like a poplar leaf!

[Robert Kirk]

that is not the same type Poplar we have in the south, Bark is wrong

[Rodney Walker]

It's nice looking wood, I'm not going to guess the species. To me the biggest question is are you going back for more?
Looks like there may be a nice crotch piece in the first picture though it's hard to tell from here.
Rodney

[Scott T Smith]

Prashun, I'm stymied... the bark does not look like either Poplar or sweet gum to me...

[Arnold Dyer]

Sweetgum...log is a dead giveaway:)!

[robert baccus]

The term Poplar is confusing as is many common names. I assume Yellow Poplar is being mentioned here. YP is really a Magnolia--L. tulipifera and the wood is almost impossible to seperate from Southern magnolia. Growth rings are distinct but by whitish parenchyma cells and not by large pores as in oak, ash ect. The pores are invisible without magnification. Walnut for instance is diffuse poreous but. with large pores scattered the surface. Pores are the first clues to seperating species.

[charlie knighton]

looks like hickory to me, but large amount of heartwood than the one time i turned it, give it 6 months and you will know if it is hickory or popular

[Gene Hintze]

Do you have hickory up your way? The heartwood looks like hickory to me. If it were poplar the bowl would be much lighter in weight when compared to maple. If it were hickory it would be of the same or slightly heavier weight. If it is hickory it is going to be like turning concrete when you finish turn it after the rough out is dried. I gave up on turning that stuff.

[mark ravensdale]

Personally I would go with mulberry, it looks very much like the mulberry I've turned before.