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The tree trimmers came by my house the other day and cut down a tree across the street and I was barely quick enough to grab one small piece before they shredded the whole thing…

Anyways, I turned a bowl today out of a chunk of it, and I'm kind of curious as to the type of wood it is.

As far as turning it goes, it turned really easily, like almost any wet wood will. The tree leaves were all gone by the time I got there, so I wasn't able to grab any leaves to help identify. The tree is in Southern California.

Any help is appreciated.

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Thanks for the links Jim… from looking at the site you posted and one showing southern California trees, I've guessed as best I can that it is Arizona Ash.
 

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Kinda ironic a California tree called Arizona Ash :)
Glad the links helped.
 

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looks like cherry. Bark looks like cherry too. Where are you located? i'm in KY and cherry is plentiful.

I had a cherry tree go down in my yard and I have been working cherry a long time.
 

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I've only been in the area since October, so I'm not sure if it flowered or not. I live in Southern California, and Cherry isn't a tree that's common around here. Based on what the bark looks like (the 3rd pic above is about 8 inches or so diameter) I am pretty sure it's the Ash.
 

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actually the wood you have is a Modesto ash it is a common plant buy city governments state wide and the bark is the indicator for me here near Modesto in Fresno I have seen this wood my entire life made my first bat from a large piece what a damn shame you didn't get it all
 

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Thanks Dude! It's pretty wood… I have about 3 more bowl blanks roughed out, and about 4 6/4 boards cut out of it for small projects down the line when it dries
 

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wow what a waste of a fine hardwood those municipalities are stupid they dont know what they have waste waste waste its all government does
 

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Beautiful bowl. What a shame to have the rest of it shreaded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

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you know this bothers me so much that i am going to call the city of Fresno and Clovis to ask for rights to harvest the wood from extractions of hardwood trees like liquid amber and Modesto ash that used to line the streets of this town and ruin the sidewalks I hope they let me have to wood i will cut it all into usable turning woods and planks for projects since it doesn't do well in land fills and we don't burn here like we did when i was a kid I suggest we all form a group to do this on a national basis what do you think
 

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You're going to have to be a licensed and insured tree trimmer to do any of the cutting and then i'm sure you will have to put bids in to do the jobs they want done. It might be different out there and if you volunteer to do it for free they might let you but they will still need you to be insured to cover any damage that might happen.
 

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maybe a better way to go is some how find out what company or organization is cutting them down and talk to them about it ? might be able to work out a deal or something.
 

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bowl is looking good , cant wait to see what you get to turn out of the rest of it.
 

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Around here many tree services will charge you to take the tree down, charge you to haul the tree away, and charge you to basically cover their landfill fee's because the landfill charges them to have a place to dump it…..many time's I have gotten wood from them, it's just less they have to pay to dispose of it…
..maybe talk to the services…just a thought…

..oh, and great looking bowl..!!..
 

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I probably could have gotten more off of the tree cutters, but to be perfectly honest, I don't have enough room to store large amounts of lumber/blanks while they dry.

I intend on finding a couple places that are selling seasoned firewood, and using that for my turning, and if the logs are big enough to resaw a few boards etc… This, I am sure, is much less expensive than buying lumber or blanks retail in California. From what I have seen so far, it is really expensive out here.
 

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ASH is what I would say. bark looks like ash and grain looks like ash. so ash must be what it is.
 
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