wood identification

[cody michael]

I got this from the side of the road after trees were cut for power lines, I don't have any leaves etc. I live in michigan. if that helps310387310388

[Ben Darrah]

Does it have an odor/smell?

[daryl moses]

Kinda hard to tell from two pics, but it's either red or white oak.

[carl mesaros]

Could be black locust.

[Dennis Ford]

It does not appear to be in the oak family; no rays. My guess is elm.

[cody michael]

I looked up pictures of elm and it looks very similair

[Michael Mason]

Looks like Chestnut to me. I just turned some Chinese Chestnut over the winter and it looks just like that. You will know when you turn it, because it is full of tannic acid and it will turn everything the juice touches real dark blue or black and will be sticky, at least that was my experience. Had to keep tools sharp, it didnt make curlies. It sand well when dry and finishes nicely.

[Ralph Lindberg]

Could be black locust.

The color and bark are consistent with that

[Tim Leiter]

I would guess Walnut or Elm.
Tim.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

cottonwood?

[Joe Ruden]

cottonwood?
This, there is cottonwood all over the roadsides up here.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Siberian Elm for sure, I have turned tons of that wood, and can ID it from a distance.

Her’s a couple of pictures, one from the Siberian Elm tree behind our house in London, and others from pieces I’ve turned, nice wood to turn, green wood has cambium that is stringy and slippery when wet, smells a bit but that disappears when dry, wood color is a bit variable from almost Black Walnut brown to a much lighter brown with a nearly white sapwood.

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[Paul Williams]

The bark looks like cottonwood, but around here cottonwood is not that dark. I am agreeing with those who say it is in the oak family.

[Morey St. Denis]

I'll 2nd Carl with a vote for Black Locust. Does it appear to have a somewhat greenish hue to the heartwood? Can you judge if it feels unusually dense or weighty for domestic hardwoods like Oak, but doesn't smell of Oak? Have you got (or can you get) any additional cut lengths to try splitting some like you'd do with firewood? Locust doesn't like to spilt cleanly due to its twisted interlocking grain structure and will pull 'strings' between adjoining sections. Any nearby signs of last season's leaves or seed pods? Locust is of the legume family and will bear flattened bean pods having multiple dark roundish seeds under 1/8".

[Bruce Pratt]

Check the wood with a black light. If it fluoresces bright yellow-green it is black locust.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Black Locust is quite different from Siberian Elm, the bark is deeper and twisted and the wood a much more yellow green color, I’ve turned a few bowls from Black Locust and here are a couple of pictures of the bowls in storage drying and also from the bark and wood color, compare that to the Siberian Elm and you’d be able to tell them apart quite easily.

Here are 3 black Locust bowls between the other bowls, you can easily tell them apart by their green/yellow color.
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Fresh cut Black Locust and then the deep ridged bark and the end-cut of a Black Locust log.
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[cody michael]

310470 it looks alot like the elm, I turned a bowl yesterday and it looks like elm bowl in previous post, it turns very easy, seems light. and is very wet, some fine cuts come off as almost like mud, but it looks very cool with brown going to light color in grain

[robert baccus]

ELM! of course.