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Thread: What kind of log is this?

  1. #1

    What kind of log is this?

    The building across the street from my work just had 2 huge trees taken down. One of them got chopped up (as can be seen on one of the pictures) but there's another equally big that's still intact. Can somebody please help me identify what kind of tree it was? Douglas fir, red oak, or cherry?
    IMG_2358.JPGIMG_2359.JPGIMG_2360.JPGIMG_2357.JPG

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    This time of year perhaps you can get some of the leaves, unless the trees have been dead. That's the easiest way to identify some trees.

  3. #3
    It is a red oak. Very likely water oak.

  4. #4
    Yeah, it's almost certainly a water oak. They are common as dirt in the deep south.

  5. #5
    Thanks guys. This is in southern CT, by the way.

  6. #6
    Probably not water oak in CT. Could be pin oak. Since it is in a yard and probably planted, could be one of several red oak species. A leaf would solve the mystery.

  7. #7
    I'm interested to see the leaves as well. Supposedly southern CT is outside the natural range of the water oak, but the tree is a dead ringer for one: the large size, light and relatively smooth bark, and growth habit are very consistent with it---also, the fact that it's being removed. No one would plant water oaks knowing what they are as the trees are notoriously unhealthy and short-lived. But they pop up everywhere and people leave them, probably because of how fast they grow.

  8. #8
    Can't see the log all that clearly, but could possibly be a red elm. They are very common here in Kansas, and the wood looks about the right color.

  9. #9
    Don't believe that it is a red elm. Red elm has interlaced, scaly bark. Also, the latewood pores in elm are arranged in wavy bands. Very distinctive. A close-up of the end grain will show them clearly.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Deep South
    Posts
    3,970
    I agree that it looks like a water oak but water oaks and red oaks are not closely related.

  11. #11
    I'm not sure what sense they may or may not be related, but the wood is considered to be a red oak. If you buy red oak in the south a lot of it is going to be water oak.

    I haven't done a survey of oaks because we don't cut them very much, but IIRC water oak has a particularly nasty smell when it's green. But otherwise the wood is pretty much the same as other red oaks.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,889
    Doug fir, any fir, will be evergreen and have needles not leaves. The bark looks too thin and tight for a conifer. Being where it freezes I would doubt any type of Eucalyptus. If it was in California I might guess red Eucalyptus.
    Bill D.

  13. #13
    Yes, water oak is one of the red oaks.

  14. #14
    willow oak possibly, in the red oak family. need leaves.

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