Mystery wood

[Evan Meier]

Good evening everyone,
This wood was part of a pile of white oak I bought out of a barn. I have no idea what it is. It's light in weight like soft Maple. A grain and color of hickory. It planes very nicely and has a smell reminiscent of box elder but isnt...
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[William Chain]

Kentucky coffeewood?

[Evan Meier]

Never heard of that. Sorry, I should of added it.most likely was cut in South East Minnesota

[Greg Parrish]

Looks like ash or hickory to me but I’m not sure if those are local to your area.

[Frederick Skelly]

I was also thinking Ash.

[Andrew Hughes]

My guess is Paulownia.

[Andrew Gibson]

My knee jerk reaction was Butternut.

[Bill Carey]

Kentucky coffeewood?


2nd on Kentucky coffee wood

[William Chain]

It isn't native to Kentucky, just a colloquial name. That area is consistent with the info here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_coffeetree).


Never heard of that. Sorry, I should of added it.most likely was cut in South East Minnesota

[John Lanciani]

My vote is for red elm.

[Walter Plummer]

I vote Butternut also. Is it light in weight?

[Dave Mount]

I'm +1 on elm, pretty sure about it. The texture of the grain in the oval in the second picture is pretty definitive. A cut of the end grain will tell you. First pic is what elm looks like on the endgrain, and it is the structure that causes the flat grain characteristics I pointed out. You can see it along the right side of the flat grain picture (second pic).

For those that guessed butternut, I agree the general color and texture is similar, but I'm pretty sure it's not. Here's the endgrain of butternut, very different and doesn't lead to the flatgrain pattern I pointed out.

Dave

https://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/red-elm-endgrain-zoom.jpg

https://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/red-elm.jpg

https://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/butternut-endgrain-zoom1.jpg

[Andrew Seemann]

Based on the pictures, I'm going to guess some kind of Elm, likely American or maybe Red. If it stinks and is hard to hand plane due to twisting, interlocked grain, those would also be qualities of Elm, although it machine-planes fairly well. Coffeetree isn't very common around MN, but occasionally can be found. Butternut will smell somewhat like walnut when cut. It could also be one of those local trees that aren't commonly cut into lumber.

[Prashun Patel]

It does look like either red elm or butternut. However, butternut is substantially lighter than soft maple; it is about as light as pine, and planes very much like a softwood.

Red elm is denser and is closer to the weight of soft maple.

"Smell reminiscent of box elder" clinches it for me: elm. There's a pungent, sweet, almost animalic odor to elm and box elder. Butternut has very low odor.

[Dave Mount]

The figure circled in the OP's picture below is very characteristic of elm, and not characteristic of butternut, ash, or coffee tree. It comes from the "W" pattern of pores in the latewood I pictured above.

Dave

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[Jim Becker]

My knee jerk reaction was Butternut.

Ditto for me...grain and figure like walnut but light color...'cause Butternut is "white walnut". :) But Dave makes a good point.

[Evan Meier]

Thanks everyone! I'm sure it's elm. I feel really stupid not thinking of that right off the bat.