Wood ID: Cherry, maybe?

[Robert Marshall]

377223

377224

This was a tree that fell in a recent storm, on some property I own in Clayton, GA (NE part of the state, in the Blue Ridge mountains.)

No leaves on the tree, so just the bark and wood cross section to look at.

What do you think?

Just finished a week at Joseph C. Campbell Folk School, woodturning class with Nick Cook; I'm thinking these logs could be used for nice natural-edge work, something I learned last week.

[Dave Zellers]

I would guess cherry. But I'm not the best at this.

[John K Jordan]

This was a tree that fell in a recent storm, on some property I own in Clayton, GA (NE part of the state, in the Blue Ridge mountains.)
No leaves on the tree, so just the bark and wood cross section to look at.
What do you think?
Just finished a week at Joseph C. Campbell Folk School, woodturning class with Nick Cook; I'm thinking these logs could be used for nice natural-edge work, something I learned last week.

Robert,

What diameter are those log sections? You have plenty of bark to look at which is good but bark does often look different depending on the size and age of the trees, especially for younger trees with smaller diameters. Cherry tree bark typically has many horizontal lines in the bark. As the tree gets older, the bark breaks up into (sometimes loose-looking) flakes but the horizontal lines are still visible and very distinctive, once you know what to look for. The bark on your logs does appear partially obscured by lichen and moss but there should still be enough bark too examine, maybe on the other sides. Note that the bark on different types of cherry can look much different although all I've seen have the horizontal lines (except for smaller branches and juvenile trees).

However, if you do see horizontal lines that doesn't prove cherry since some other trees also have distinctive horizontal lines. You can look at this for pictures of bark on various Black Cherry trees: http://treebarkid.com/index.php/black-cherry

The heart and sap wood in your photos are consistent with young cherry, but again, the color of wood varies widely. The heart wood from some black cherry trees, especially some larger trees, is often darker, but not always. (The wood will usually get darker with age, too.)

One thing you can do is look at the end grain. This has a photo of the end grain of Black Cherry near the bottom of the page.
http://www.wood-database.com/black-cherry/

To save writing something similar again, this message has a link to a wood identification page which shows how to prepare and examine end grain.
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?261488-Streaky-Ash-Bowl&p=2768878#post2768878

Cherry is strongly diffuse porous but black/wild cherry often has darker colors visible in the end grain that make the rings more obvious than some other diffuse porous woods. You can see this in some of the end grain pictures here:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/cherry,%20american%20black.htm

Cherry also has a distinctive smell when cut. The heartwood smells sweet, especially when cutting dry wood. The bark and cambium layers, not so much!

I would certainly try turning it. If it was downed recently (this winter) the tree is was probably dormant with the sap "down" and the bark has a good chance of staying on a natural-edged piece. One thing I would do immediately is coat the end grain of the logs with a sealer such as Anchorseal or the green wood sealer that Woodcraft sells. Although not as immediately critical as wood cut in the summer, sealing the end grain will help minimize cracking on the pieces you can't use right away.

You might also cut some to dry for future turning. I turn a lot of smaller things from dry wood, spindles, boxes, etc, as well as bowls from dry wood so I usually cut up some of the green wood like this into squares of various sizes, seal the end grain, and stack them loosely to air dry for use next year or 10 years from now. For example, here is a bit of my future turning wood. I just cut up and added a bunch of cherry to the drying stash. (You can never have too much cherry!)

377244

JKJ

[Art Mann]

I recently disposed of a cherry tree in my yard and the large branches and bark looked just like your picture. Of course, that isn't definitive.

[Bob Bouis]

Can't rule it out, but I tend to think it's not. You could get a lot better idea if you cut the end off one of the logs and looked at the unweathered edge.

[david privett]

I think they call that choke cheery in s.e. tn. not a lot of reddish hues in it.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Turn it. If it smells good, call it cherry. Very nice fragerence.

[Bob Bouis]

Isn't choke cherry just a shrub?

The main reason I say I doubt it is that I can't see strong evidence of the horizontal banding you find on immature cherry bark. I also don't see the characteristic green band between the heartwood and the sapwood.

If it's still green (it sounds like it is), and you cut the end off the log, the sapwood should quickly oxidize to an orange color. The heartwood will turn a light pink as it dries.

That wouldn't necessarily prove it's cherry but it would probably exclude it if it doesn't.

From google image search:

Example: http://c8.alamy.com/comp/CP7TR1/wild-cherry-prunus-avium-cross-section-of-recently-cut-trunk-sapwood-CP7TR1.jpg

Example 2: https://merlayna.com/works/merlayna/resized/img_3574.w600h600.jpg?cache=1440729186

[William Bachtel]

River Birch ?

[CHARLES D Richards]

River Birch in South Ga has loose papery outer bark. Didn't look like any River Birch I've seen anyway

[Carl Civitella]

Yellow birch.