Wood ID?

[alex grams]

Any ideas on this wood? It was from a trunk I can't identify. North/Central Texas area. Very dense, and was stubborn to cut with the chainsaw (see picture for tight growth rings?)

It turns smooth, has a medium/dark brown heartwood, and a light sapwood.(white, not yellow, the pieces are anchorsealed, so that causes the yellow you see in the pictures)

[Fred Belknap]

Looks like maple to me.

[alex grams]

It could be. I am not familiar enough with maple (90% of what I see i north texas is oak and pecan/hickory)

[Adrian Anguiano]

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/hickory.htm
now that I look at it, looks more like the hickory page.

[Adrian Anguiano]

and while I'm guessing how bout elm? http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/elm,%20american.htm

[Adam Blanton]

If it stinks when you cut it, it's probably cedar elm.

[alex grams]

There was no odor at all when I was turning it or chainsawing it.

Adrian, It could be elm, but it has such tight growth compared to most elm I've seen (I know that isn't a function of the tree as much as it is the rain/environment, but is something to consider).

I am leaning towards a maple, but it is a dang hard maple, but if that other tree we cut Adrian is maple, this one is a heck of a lot denser and harder.

[Adrian Anguiano]

The only maple Ive had "that i knew what it was" was silver maple. And it was soft and light. no where near that heavy and dense.

[Reed Gray]

Grain and wood color look like osage orange to me. When fresh, the smell kind of reminded me of tire rubber. It is very hard.

robo hippy

[alex grams]

Not osage, I've done a good share of osage. The yellow tinge you see is from the anchorseal.

[Richard Coers]

another vote for maple

[Mike Cruz]

The thing is, there are SO many species of maple... I, too, think it is a maple...but which one? Yeah, Silver Maple is very soft (for a maple) and grows quite quickly. The stuff I have in my woods is what we refer to around here as swamp maple...kinda medium density, but the ambrosia beetle loves it, so, I don't care. Some maple, mostly what you find as lumber is hard maple. Very tight grained, quite dense, sometimes even has that dark green coloration nearer the pith. As a flat workers, we always hated seeing that green. As a turner, any coloration is good... When you find birdseyes, I think that is almost always hard maple. But any of the maples with get burls and curl.

[Greg A Jones]

Red Elm, perhaps?

Color/Appearance: Heartwood is a light to medium brown, sometimes with a hint of red. Sapwood is a pale white or cream color.

[curtis rosche]

deffinatly not maple based on the endgrain picture. Maybe elm or locust?

[Steve Trauthwein]

Hickory, dulls blades as if cutting stone.

[byron constantine]

could it be texas ebony. It is very heavy and has a dark brown heartwood. Byron

[Jeff Nicol]

It could be Texas ebony, but I don't think it has enough dark wood in the center, but with the burl it could be. Also it could be an Acacia of some sort which is what the locust trees are a member of. Here is a picture of the bark of the Texas ebony which does lool close to what is in the picture. If you have a picture of the leaves that will give us a better chance to determine what it is. Also most Texas ebony grows far to the south in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico so that could help determine the species.http://www.distinctiveturnings.com/wiki/show_image.php?name=texasebonybark.jpg

Jeff

[robert baccus]

Definitely not Texas Ebony--Probably one of the Elms due to smell & location>

[Fred Belknap]

I still think it is maple. Probably sugar maple as it is dense and when it dries it is quite hard. When it dries the bark shrinks more than the wood making it difficult to get the bark to stay on a NE piece.

[robert baccus]

Few of the maple species are very hard wood and none of them should be in that area of texas. Ashes are very common in that area. ??? One test--most maples split ok but Elm is almost impossible to split by hand.

[robert baccus]

Alex--there are al least 30 species of maple in this country and almost that many introduced by horticulturist but few grow in that dry area you described. OBTW tree diameter (ring width) is a product of the amount of sun the critter receives and height is determined by site quality(dirt) if everything else is the same. Also Elm is ring porous with large pores wheras Maples are diffuse porous showing no large pores on the endgrain.

[alex grams]

Here is a picture of a piece with a little burl in it. The grain is not like I have seen maple, so while It may still be a maple, it isn't like what I have seen before. It actually looks closer to beech/ash in grain than anything else.

[Mike Cruz]

Not maple...

[Prashun Patel]

Is it sycamore?

[alex grams]

nah, I've done a lot of sycamore, this is a much tighter grain and denser.

[Prashun Patel]

The red elm I've turned does look like that

[Adrian Anguiano]

Prashun, you sure u had red elm? These elm pics look pretty close. http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/elm,%20red.htm

[Prashun Patel]

Well, now that you posted that, I'm not so sure :confused:.

[alex grams]

I feel so obsessive spending this much effort trying to figure this out, and you guys also spinning your wheels. I just hate not knowing these things...

[Adrian Anguiano]

I feel so obsessive spending this much effort trying to figure this out, and you guys also spinning your wheels. I just hate not knowing these things...

Maybe you can take a small sample, and gets its DNA checked :D

[Kyle VanMeter]

I am 90% sure that is Osage Orange. The end grain shot is almost a dead ringer, and the orangish yellow color is very characteristic of Osage. North Central TX is also in the tree's native range.

It is definitely not a maple, as maple is a diffuse porus hardwood, and the wood you have pictured is definitely ring porus. If you can get a clearer shot of the end grain, I imagine you could rule out elm if the earlywood pores are filled with tyloses. Slippery elm, american elm, and rock elm can all share similarities with osage, but the over abundance of tyloses will always set Osage apart.

Osage End Grain:
275300
Slippery (Red) Elm End Grain:
275301

Kyle VanMeter

[robert baccus]

Hey--even an aggie knows how to google up the various species. look hard at the end grain pics.

[robert baccus]

Alex--Adrian is a genius--Hobbithouse is the best thing ever for woodworkers. Look at the endgrain pics for maple, hickory, and whatever. Notice elm has these wiggly snakey lines between the growth rings. Its a giveaway and so easy to see.

[Adrian Anguiano]

Kyle that first pic is real deceiving. It really is a pretty white wood. Every Osage around here cuts yellow and goes golden. I agree on the end grain and after taking Roberts comments and doing some more studying on end grain, the bark, the burl.... I think it has to be Elm.

[Steve Trauthwein]

If it is like cutting stone, and from the looks of it I will vote for hickory.

[Cody Armstrong]

In the second pic of original post the round in the background with the bark looks like winged elm.
I'm in North LA. We have alot of it around here. The tight grain in the turning looks awfully suspicious.

[alex grams]

After too much time on this, I'm going to lean towards rock/winged elm. The description of a browner heart wood with a very white sapwood fits perfectly to what I see.

Reference: http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/rock-elm/

I found this picture of rock elm, and the grain matches pretty spot on. I've always thought of elm as a softer, less desirable wood, but then again I never had much experience with it. The only thing that doesn't mesh with what I can find about it is that this has really no odor when turning.

http://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/rock-elm.jpg

[robert baccus]

You are close Steve--Winged Elm has a SG of 0.66, real close to hickory. Do you see those w shaped grains 4 rings below the knot. If you've ever shot a Wigeon for supper they have that exact pattern in the feathers. The squiggles in the end grain cause that. Very easy to see. Also the red or winged elms are the stinky ones--American Elm seldom smells bad. An extremely shock resistant and split resistant wood. Everyone hunts ducks---right?