Can you help identify this tree?

Yes, sweet gum. Pretty wood, but it’s hard to make it dry straight. Two piths probably means the tree had a fork and then gre back together. Probably some bark inclusion in there too. I have some stacked and stickered right now. Mine was standing dead for a while. I have high hopes for it.

-- Bill M. "People change, walnut doesn't" by Gene.

Sweetgum it is!

Spikey walnut?

Sweet gum and those are spikey balls of death. They will roll and twist a ankle if stepped on.

Definitely sweet gum.

-- Nathan, TX -- Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

We have a lot of those, but we call them liquid amber (Liquidambar styraciflua) or ”ankle busters”!
There are about a dozen or so around on our block making it difficult to take walks or teach little one to ride bicycles.

-- "I never met a board I didn't like!"

Looked it up and like Bill said, they say it likes to warp, not very hard either. But it will be fun.

-- http://thewoodknack.blogspot.com/

San Jose has “outlawed” planting any new trees of that variety as they have proved to be a pedestrian hazzard.

Good luck with your fun wood Rick M.!

-- "I never met a board I didn't like!"

I do some work for a guy that has turned some sweet gum. It’s a crapshoot he said.

-- Shooting down the walls of heartache. Bang bang. I am. The warrior.

All my turning is a crapshoot!! LOL.

-- http://thewoodknack.blogspot.com/

I know a guy with a sawmill who makes crossties out of sweetgum. There’s a processing plant near here that pressure-treats them for the railroad.

It is sweetgum and it WILL warp and then warp some more, how ever it can be used as small pieces, such as cutting boards.

It is only sawn for cross ties or palletwood around here commercially. Small logs, less than 24” on the small end, are not worth sawing for lumber because of the warp and twist unless quartersawn, and I would not quartersaw a log that was less than about 24”.

-- Danny Located in Perry, GA. Forester. Wood-Mizer LT40HD35 Sawmill. Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln. hamsleyhardwood.com

It is sweet gum. It will have spiral grain which is why it is difficult to get to dry strait when flat sawed.

-- In middle Ga. I run a couple of LT70 mills, edgers, Nyle L200 kiln, Pinhero M800 4 sided planer, and lots or rolling stock. www.thecustomsawyer.com