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Can anyone identify this wood?

3K views 24 replies 14 participants last post by  RobS 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I was driving along and saw a stack of limbs and some good sized (for me) trunk sections. I asked first and then loaded as many as my Focus could hold without tipping over backwards. I skinned off the bark on all but the most limb-ridden piece, and was cleaning up the mess when my wife asked "What type of wood is that?" I said it looks like blackgum to me (see http://forestry.about.com/library/tree/blbltup.htm ), but I'm not sure.

The bark slices off pretty easily and is in several layers; rough outer bark, thin brown layer below that, and a white pithy layer that turns reddish brown after 15 minutes or so. After being cut the wood turns reddish as well in a short time.












Anyone know what it is? I plan on making a cutting board or two and some toy trains.
 
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#2 ·
My wild guess is it could be Apple. It bark looks like Apple also.
 
#4 ·
Looks like your state flower to me by looking at the leaf. That would make it a Flowering Dogwood.
Is it pinkish on the inside?

That's a great fine grained wood. It can be used as a subsitute for boxwood. It turns really great also.
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
I walked outside and compared it to our dogwood, and its leaves are narrower and longer and a different attachment. Thanks anyway.

I do have some dogwood, from a tree owned by a former member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, and that wood is pink. I carved a spoon for my wife's birthday and it colors like olivewood from use.

Here's my final scan of a piece of bark.
 
#7 ·
There are actually 15 different varieties of dogwood that are native to north america and more than 40 worldwide (many of those can be found in N. America as well; they just aren't native).

I don't have my hand on my tree identification book right now; I'll see if I can check it tonight and come up wtih something for you.

Off-hand, though, the heartwood doesn't look like the flowering dogwood I've trimmed so many times in my parents' yard - it is a wonderful nutty brown color. (And unfortunately, dogwood is subject to a lot of internal stressing and you will rarely see a good piece of it without some sort of checking.) I don't think the dogwood has serrated leaf edges, and I recall the bark being more smooth, too…

Your images are quite good, though, so it shouldn't take long to pinpoint. I'll get back with you.
 
#9 ·
Eh… unbeknownst to myself, I must have been smoking crack earlier. I was totally thinking of the redbud in my front yard when I was talking about dogwood. Redbud has rich brown heartwood.

The leaf of the apple tree has very distinct alternating veins and these are very bi-lateral.

Bhah… I couldn't find anything in my N. American field guide that looked like those leaves…
 
#11 ·
I've never seen a box elder tree, but the picture that you showed of the wood reminds me of that . Who just turned the Box elder bowel maybe they can identify the bark.
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
Not dogwood. Dogwood leaves have leaf veins that run parallel to the leaf edges, and if you carefully break a green leaf, there are little spider webby looking white fibers that allow the broken section to dangle from the main section. Great magic trick for small children, ooh floating leaf ends (thanks Euell Gibbons, wherever you are).
Not blackgum, as they have smooth margins, these appear to serrated.

I am guessing it's a crabapple.
 
#19 ·
It's very heavy, I could barely pick up the largest piece to put in the back of my car. I hand trucked them once I got home and used a chainsaw to cut the largest piece (1st photo above, on the right side) in half so I could manage them once I got home.
 
#21 ·
RobS has used plenty of Osage - very heavy - could easily confirm or deny that guess… whaddaya think there robbo?

I stumbled across a tree ID site recently that is based on leaves and flowers… let me take a look if I can stumble across that again, perhaps it was a LJ who posted it? Ring a bell anyone?
 
#22 ·
The id guide over at arborday foundation said its a flowering dogwood… this was a quick sketch based search. I've seen a similar site using actual pictures that was much more advanced. Can't seem to find it though… I'll keep looking - It was a great resource!

http://www.arborday.org/trees/treeID.cfm?TrackingId=154
 
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