Wood ID Help

[Jeff Nicol]

Well I did a lot of looking on line and out in the wild yesterday afternoon. What I found on line is a "Sweet Birch" or "Black Birch" have similar wood color and leaf style. The bark will get craggy like that with age or local, and the wood looks just like a lot of the birch trees I cut around here, even the little twig in the pictures looks a little birch like. I looked at a lot of elm leaves and found many that looked very similar to those you show, but most do have the asymmetry that was mentioned earlier. See if you can find one of the birch trees I mentiond and compare the leaves and trunks, or find a tree that matches and get some more pictures for us to evaluate. The bark on the trunk does not look at all like hackberry to me, I have one in the back yard and not even close so I would rule that out. Also there is a "Red Mulberry" that has potenial but some of the leaves will have multiple lobes with the serated edges, just a thought!

I really like a challenge!

Jeff

[Rob Cunningham]

I brought a log into work today and sliced it down the center on the bandsaw. It does resemble cherry somewhat. Here are some pictures right after cutting. Any more suggestions as to what it might be? Don't sweat over it too much, as long as I have some wood to turn I'll be happy , but it would be nice to know what it is. Thanks again.

[Jeff Nicol]

Rob, Not cherry with all the white sapwood, the whole thing would be much redder. The little knots lend itself to an elm of some sort or the birch like I said. What did it smell like when you cut it? Elm has a very distinct smell, kind of sour and cherry will be sweeter and more pleasant. The birches have a nice smell too. If you cut across the grain at one corner and you see a zig-zag pattern that is a dead give away for an elm, but most of the elms are pretty much the same color all the way through with a smaller band of lighter sapwood. How big are the leaves in length and width? It could be a basswood if it is pretty soft and light in weight. Just throwing out everything I can think of!

Good luck,

Jeff

[Rob Cunningham]

The leaves are about 2 1/2" at the widest point and about 4" long, not including the stem. The wood is pretty hard and dense. It didn't smell like cherry when I cut it but it wasn't sour smelling either. I'll have to wait until I get a chance to turn some and see if that gives any clues.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Paul

That is interesting what they did with the elm family.

I will have to check that out.

Quinn

[Quinn McCarthy]

If it was hawthorne wouldn't the tree have thornes? Or is there a thornless cultivar out there?

Quinn

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Yes Quinn they usually have thorns, at least on the branches, but there are so many different ones that I couldn't say for sure, there are over a hundred native species and they hybridize freely, I was also grasping for an answer.

Now in the meantime I was looking at a native wild plum, it has leaves that look similar to the one shown, however I don't know if the tree gets the size shown,WHAT IS THE SIZE ANYWAY ???.

Just looked it up in my library, and according the info here, both the wild native Canada plum and American plum do grow to 10" diameter and 28 feet high, I better get a picture of the leaves from the ones growing here behind my place, though the plants are still small, but the leaves are probably closer to regular size.
So I will vote for Plum maybe now, the wood surely looks close enough for it.

[Tom Henry]

Try this place...

http://www.oplin.org/tree/

[Rob Cunningham]

Looking at Tom's link,I come up with American Elm.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

That's what we said Rob, but for the wood color also the bark but hard to tell.
Here are a few pictures I took from American Elm bark and log and turned pieces I made from American Elm, just compare that with the color of the wood shown in the OP pictures, they just don't compare.

[Dan Forman]

Looks like some kind of fruitwood to me, but can't go any further than that. IF it was elm, you would smell it, can't get around that.

Dan

[Russ Sears]

At first glance I'm thinking it's Hophornbeam. Did you say the wood was heavy for its size?
Is it possible to get a picture of a twig showing the vegetative bud at the end?