What kind of wood grows in your area?

[Bill Wyko]

Out here in the desert we have Mesquite as far as you can see. Whaddya got in your neck of the woods?

[Jason Beam]

Walnut and Redwood are big out here. Some Western Red Cedar, too.

But we also have quite a bit of hard maple, too.

[Larry Fox]

Cherry here in PA (among others)

[Stephen Edwards]

We have several kinds of oak, walnut, ash, cherry, maple, sassafras...all of the eastern hardwoods.......several pines, eastern red cedar and hemlock. These are the ones that come to mind.

[Lee Koepke]

mostly white oak, blackjack oak, maple. i have a few hickories, sweetgums, pines, and ground ivy

[Billy Chambless]

Here in South MS, we have oak, pine, cypress, maple in abundance, and probably a dozen other species I'm forgetting. Today I milled some downed cypress, which will join the oak, maple and pecan in the drying shed.

[keith ouellette]

East coast central Florida. I call Florida the land of bad trees. Palms are pretty to some but you can't build anything with them. Are pines are hardly good for pulp. Live oaks look impressive but I've been told by many people they make poor lumber. We have maples but they aren't hard and usually don't get very big. We do have cypress someplace (maybe one not far from me but I can't tell) but in most of the areas they grow you can't cut them.

We have no trees. Boo Hoo for me.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Here where I am in north central Texas there's a fair variety as we're in a transition zone. There's about a half dozen varieties of oak, mainly post oak and live oak (firewood oak unless you have a wish to work it to be punished for your past sins). Some of the biggest pecan anywhere; five and six foot diameter trees can be fairly common in river bottoms. A few walnut in the bottoms, also. One of the most common species here is cedar elm. Not many people try to do anything with it as it's usually a foot or less in diameter, although we cut one nearly three feet across a year or so ago. Hackberry are fairly common.

The conifer is Ashe juniper. A lot of people use it for rustic stuff if you can find one with a decent size trunk, but since most people call it scrub cedar you can tell how big it is usually.

Lots of mesquite. Bill, I have a question for you. What is your mesquite? The one here is honey mesquite and I think the Arizona area has black mesquite. I'd kinda like seeing some to compare but if it has the variation in color etc of honey mesquite doubt I could tell much. The mesquite is generally pretty scrubby, although I did measure one last year about thirty miles from me that was four feet across. Of course the guy who has it wouldn't turn loose of it. :( I can usually find some about two feet across but need a better supply than I have now.

[Stephen Edwards]

Here in South MS, we have oak, pine, cypress, maple in abundance, and probably a dozen other species I'm forgetting. Today I milled some downed cypress, which will join the oak, maple and pecan in the drying shed.

Billy, I love working cypress. Unfortunately, it doesn't grow here in middle Tennessee. A few years back I brought a pickup truck load back from Florida. My cousin down there had torn down an old barn made of cypress and gave me some of the lumber. It's been a pleasure to work with!

[Bryan Berguson]

Ash, maple, oak, hickory, white pine, hemlock, cherry, walnut, basswood, butternut, beech, birch, poplar, black locust

Bryan

[John Keeton]

In Kentucky, pretty much the same as Bryan, but his maple will be a little harder. Most of our maple is considered soft maple - gotta go north a bit to get the other stuff.

[Bob Rufener]

We mostly have oak, walnut, cherry, ash, hard and soft maple, walnut, paper birch, aspen, willow, poplar, and box elder along with a smattering of others.

[Bill Wyko]

I put up a thread in the "Lumber Yard" to see if we could start a trading thread. So many of us have access to great lumber that others don't have. One of my favorites is curly Maple but all I have around here is Mesquite. Both are great wood but I only have one growing locally. The few shops that sell quilted maple or curly Maple are a bit on the pricey side. Even Mesquite around here is as much as 14.00 a BF:eek: and I see trucks hauling it off daily for fire wood.:(

[Rick Gifford]

Lots of Sycamore, Oak, Dogwood, Poplar, Maple...

In fact on Craigs List, about 75 miles from me, a guy has about 200 logs of Sycamore and Poplar free for the taking. Thought about giving him a call and see what I can get out of there.

We have bamboo too... doesn't resaw well though :p

[Rob Will]

Ash, Red Maple, Black Cherry, Yellow Poplar, White Oak, Red oak, Sycamore, Osage Orange, Black Locust, Hickory, Red Cedar, Sasafrass, Persimmon, Shingle Oak, Mulberry, Black Walnut, Elm, Sweet Gum, Black Gum, Pecan, Beech, Dogwood, Redbud, Boxelder Maple, Paw Paw, Sumac, Birch, Cottonwood, Cypress, Hackberry........

and just like everywhere else.......

when we cut timber, we harvest all of the valuable species and leave all of the junk. In another generation, most of our forests around here will be all junk.

Rob

[Terry Teadtke]

Hummm…Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine. Oak, Cedar, Maple, Walnut, Madrona, Juniper, Spruce, Cherry, Elm, Chestnut, Birch, Alder, and probably many more I can’t remember at this time. Port Orford Cedar’s not far from here.

Terry

[Peter Quinn]

Here in Connecticut we got two kinds...hard and soft!:D:D:D:D:D:D

[Jim Becker]

On our four acre property we have poplar, black walnut, black ash, green ash, white oaks, red oaks, black cherry, pin cherry, holly and a lone beach tree. Probably a few other things in there that I failed to mention.

[Anthony Whitesell]

In New Hampshire we have Eastern White Pine, Maple, Eastern White Pine, Red Oak, Eastern White Pine, and White Oak. Oh, yeah did I mention Eastern White Pine.

P.S. I hate pine trees. They aren't pretty and don't make good firewood. Great for Shaker style furniture, but that's about it.

[Dan McCallum]

Here in the city of Vancouver we have a wide variety of street trees from temperate zones all over the world. The indigenous forest of western red cedar, douglas fir, hemlock, big leaf maple, etc was logged over a century ago. Local parks contain many second growth examples of these species. Some of the more common local street trees that are planted are ornamental cherry, and many varieties of oak, ash, birch, and maple, plus horse chestnut, elm, beech, dogwood, magnolia, plane, and many, many others. A 1988 study estiamted over 75,000 street trees, not counting trees in private property or parks, schools, etc. A number of these street tree species are dying of various maladies and are frequently taken down by city crews, or blown down in strong winds. It is possible for fast acting woodworkers with chainsaws to salvage some of this!

In response to problems of leaf litter, the city has switched over to planting trees that are smaller and/or have smaller leaves.

[Luther Oswalt]

For all us North Central Florida Cypress lovers ... have you priced any lately ... WOW I needed a 2x8 - 8' $25.00 ... I do like cypress it is a beautiful wood ...
Leo

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Tumbleweeds.

[J.R. Rutter]

My property has Alder, Bigleaf Maple, Hemlock, Fir, Western Red Cedar, Madrone, Birch Poplar, and Willow (at least).

[Phil Watson]

In northern Michigan we have white oak, red oak, hard and soft maple, aspen, cherry, white pine

[Sam Yerardi]

Buckeye
Chestnut
Ash
Red Maple
Silver Maple
Red Cedar
Black Cherry
Yellow Poplar
Elm
White Oak
Black Oak
Red Oak
Sasafrass
Persimmon
Sycamore
Osage Orange
Black Locust
Hickory
Black Walnut
Sweet Gum
Black Gum
Pecan
Peach
Apple
Beech
Dogwood
Paw Paw
Birch
White Pine
Spruce

[Wayne Cannon]

Fir, redwood, and all manner of evergreen oaks. There are also a lot of nut and fruit woods (walnut, pecan, pear, olive, etc.) from replanted orchards for turning and some sizes suitable for furniture.

[Bob Feeser]

To tell you the truth, other than the exotics I don't think there is too much that PA doesn't have. I guess that is why it was originally called "Penns Woods" In Understanding Wood by Bruce Hoadley, he states that the straight trunk trees were harvested first by the early settlers. Also lumber companies take them first as well. Some replant, but do they replant with fast growth grees that don't have the density of the old slow growth trees? Plus are the less then ideal shaped trees left to reproduce and are creating lower quality trees? Obviously by some accounts. What are your thoughts?

[Tony Baideme]

Hmmmmm? Let's see,,,,

Koa, Mango, Eucalyptus, Monkeypod, Ohia, Banyan, Milo, Norfolk pine, Albizia, Kiawe, Ironwood, Kamani, Kolohala, Sugi, Silky oak, Tropical ash, West Indies mahogany, and more I can't think of. :confused:

Here's a link to some good info. :)

http://www.hawaii-forest.org/guide/hawaiiswood.html

Aloha, Tony

(I import white oak, black walnut, cherry and maple) :rolleyes:

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Hmmmmm? Let's see,,,,

Koa, Mango, Eucalyptus, Monkeypod, Ohia, Banyan, Milo, Norfolk pine, Albizia, Kiawe, Ironwood, Kamani, Kolohala, Sugi, Silky oak, Tropical ash, West Indies mahogany, and more I can't think of. :confused:

Here's a link to some good info. :)

http://www.hawaii-forest.org/guide/hawaiiswood.html

Aloha, Tony

(I import white oak, black walnut, cherry and maple) :rolleyes:

Bragger!!!!:D

[Doug Shepard]

From my yard I can see pine, spruce, apple, maple, mountain ash, crabapple, cherry, walnut, chestnut, willow, oak, birch, and telephone poles (cedar?). Used to be able to see ash before the ash borer got them.

[Kevin Godshall]

I'm from Northeast PA, and it's amazing what you might find. Most of it grows in "pockets", so just because it's not in your backyard, doesn't mean it's not in your neighbors.

Oak, ash, hemlock, and cherry seems to be the biggies. Black walnut, Beech and black locust in the right spots, iron wood (eastern hophornbeam) occasionally, and the other day, I even had a neighbor call up saying they had some "wild" wood they were cutting for firewood.............and believe it or not.......was American Elm. (It's in the shop drying now ;-) )

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

maple, oak, cherry, elm, sycamore, walnut, Pine, Spruce,

Ever harvest and bark spruce? EEEKKK

[jim mckee]

All the typical Appalachian types for N. Central Tn.
I mill/kiln it.
How much do you want?
Do you want fries with that?
Thank you.
Please drive up.
jim

[Bill Wyko]

Tumbleweeds.
Steve, are you from arizona?:D

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Steve, are you from arizona?:D

No, worse. Guess I could have listed corn. I think it may have some of the properties of bamboo...:D

I spent a long night at the airport in Tuscon once. I was stationed at Huachuca briefly. Interesting country. There where some pretty big trees on top of a few of the mountains or hills or whatever they are called, around the base. Any idea what are those might have been?

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Hey, Steve, the guy in the office next door said he was told the telephone pole is the state tree of Nebraska. :D

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Hey, Steve, the guy in the office next door said he was told the telephone pole is the state tree of Nebraska. :D


ROFLMAO!!! Now thats funny!

[Jason Roehl]

No, worse. Guess I could have listed corn. I think it may have some of the properties of bamboo...:D



That's not so far from the truth. A few years ago, I saw an invention that was intended to be attached to the front of a tractor so that when they dig a harvested corn field the dried stalks left by the combine are knocked down and less likely to puncture a tire. Bamboo is what punji sticks were/are made from. If you don't know what those are, ask a vet from the late '60s/early '70s.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Various pines, firs.....sagebrush.......

Luckily for me, however, this town used to be the most inland seaport for the Pacific Northwest. With the mild climate here, folks started orchards used to suppy fruits and nuts to the areas around here. I have some hardwoods, fruitwoods etc.

[Bob Genovesi]

In my area we have; ash, maple, oak, hickory, white pine, hemlock, cherry, walnut, butternut, beech, birch, cedar, poplar, that I know of.

[Dave MacArthur]

Fields and fields of grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees. All dying/dead recently from water being turned off. I never hear folks talk about building with these woods, but in Pheonix they are plentiful and easy to get for free if you desired, and wanted to mill some.

Also Arizona Ash is pretty common. Wild growth is mostly black locust or black mesquite, and palo verde.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

That's not so far from the truth. A few years ago, I saw an invention that was intended to be attached to the front of a tractor so that when they dig a harvested corn field the dried stalks left by the combine are knocked down and less likely to puncture a tire. Bamboo is what punji sticks were/are made from. If you don't know what those are, ask a vet from the late '60s/early '70s.

I've never seen a tractor tire get punctured by corn, but I have seen a pickup tire get gouged. The incident that sticks in my mind though, is rather more grusome. My brother was pulling stalks off a disk and stuck part of a stalk clean through his hand. I had to pull it out with a pair of pliers. Amazing how stuck it was, which apparently made it hurt pretty baddly. Glad he was up on his tetnus shots. Guess they might work for punji sticks too?

[Leon Jester]

Eastern hardwoods, several varieties of pine & scrub cedar. I understand that most of the cypress is pretty well tapped out, though.