# Help Identifying Species of Wood



## KnotCurser (Dec 31, 2009)

*Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*

I need some help!

A couple of weeks ago, our State sent their minions around to prune all of the growth back from the sides of our roadways. Overall they do a good job - they actually prune rather than slash and hack.

They did take down an entire HUGE tree that was growing WAY too close to the corner of our main intersection, which was a good thing as well. They also left most of the larger sections of wood cut into 3-5 foot sections!

I grabbed a piece today as it looked very interesting - sort of a chocolate/cinnamon color and ran it through my bandsaw. WOW - this bright yellow wood with a fantastic grain pattern emerged!

I am pretty sure this stuff is Black Locust, but am hoping someone could "Second" that.

The one giveaway I find is that is smells like a Cow Paddock.

Anyone care to gander a guess?





































As you can see in the last two pics, it oxidizes a rather strange brown color.

These pieces I am slabbing off are easily 14" high - I LOVE my Rikon Band Saw!!!! 

-bob


----------



## scrollgirl (May 28, 2010)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Wow, that is great Bob. It really is pretty and I am sure you are going to do some wonderful things with it. I, too am interested in seeing what type of wood it is. What a great find!

Sheila


----------



## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


The smell throws me off…Looking at it I would say almost 100% positive mulberry…but is has a sweet smell (to me anyway)


----------



## rance (Sep 30, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


I'd say No to Black Locust. I believe it would be darker, and browner rather than yellow. I'm guessing more towards Hedge Apple/Boise D' Arc(sp?) I have no idea as to the Cows Pad-Lock.

Rance (who's worst skill is identifying wood)


----------



## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


I not going to be any help. I'm not sure I know what a cow smells like. : ^ )


----------



## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


At first I thought it was Elm- from the look of the bark. But the Elm color isn't usually that yellow. Maybe Honey Locust?


----------



## Woodowl (Jul 15, 2011)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Is it very dense…? It may be Osage orange


----------



## KnotCurser (Dec 31, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


It splits WAY too easily to be Elm. Osage Orange most certainly does not grow in my neck of the woods - I wish it did though! ;-)

The smell is more like a dairy barn after all the cows have left - I don't know how else to describe it. Very earthy and fresh, but most certainly cow.

After doing a bit of searching I have the idea that it is almost certainly a locust of some sort.

Honey, Yellow or Black - all of which grow in my neck of the woods.

I have to see if I can find a branch with leaves and/or thorns - I'll take a pick-through tomorrow…........

-bob


----------



## Alster (Aug 7, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


That's Osage Orange, or bois d'arc, or hedge, whatever you want to call it. We have tons of it around here-it splits very easily, burns hot, and makes nice turned vessels and planes and anything else you'd like. Enjoy it!


----------



## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Cownary wood…


----------



## DamnYankee (May 21, 2011)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Nice find. In the process of refurbing a bandsaw (my first bandsaw) and hope to make similar finds.


----------



## KnotCurser (Dec 31, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Woodowl, I have to apologize - When Alster called it as Osage Orange I did another search and found out it most certainly DOES grow here in Maryland, and I think we have a positive identification!

Now that I see what it looks like after it dries, I think I am going to go out there with my flat trailer and take every piece I can and hide it behind my woodshed!

This stuff is really pretty wood!

-bob


----------



## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


It looks like hedge [osage orange] but you say that doesnt grow in MD so the next thought would be mulberry. Both are very yellow but mulberry is much lighter and much softer. Hedge has thorns. Im not familiar with any other wood that shade of yellow. Dried hedge is VERY hard and VERY heavy as well.


----------



## SSMDad (Apr 17, 2011)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Right across the potomac from you Bob (VA) and though I can't be sure, it reminds me of the osage orange trees when I was a kid. I remember them splitting sometimes from ice and it did kind of smell the way you describe it. 
Beautiful wood you found there!


----------



## ksSlim (Jun 27, 2010)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Hedge, Bois D'arc or Osage Orange. Takes a looooong time to dry or season. I turned a lamp for my Mom from an old fence post, 25 years later, the lamp split with a loud pop. Still can't believe an old post, turned, finished, and used, could wait another 25 years to split.


----------



## deermann (Dec 15, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Definitely Osage Orange!! The cinnamon color after setting is a giveaway. Good stuff for making longbows and recurves bows with. Have fun with it!!


----------



## JamesVavra (Apr 27, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


4thing Osage Orange/Hedge Apple/Bois 'd Arc/ Maclura pomifera. It gets really hard as it dries. I can't turn it unless it's still green (or, in this case, yellow). It does tend to mellow to a more golden brown as it ages:



James


----------



## punk (Oct 14, 2011)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


im like you to rong area for osage orange,but i drove a lot of locas fence post after a day of that you smelled like you just got done milkig,but i would say forsure,but it is pertty.with out seeing the branches and leaves it looks alittle like some kind of willow also.


----------



## joewilliams (Aug 1, 2012)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


bovine birch?


----------



## zamdriver (Jul 24, 2008)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


I have just found some of that exact wood myself and I too have no idea what it is.


----------



## KnotCurser (Dec 31, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Michael,

I've discovered that this is Mulberry.

-bob


----------



## zamdriver (Jul 24, 2008)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Thanks Robert!


----------



## jmann80 (Apr 26, 2021)

KnotCurser said:


> *Need an ID on Yellowish wood that smells like cows please!*
> 
> I need some help!
> 
> ...


Osage Orange contains a water-soluble yellow dye, so putting shavings into water will turn the water yellow.


----------



## KnotCurser (Dec 31, 2009)

*And we have a Winner!*

And a very positive I.D. as well!

Daren Nelson, from Central Illinois…................................. Come on Down! You are the winner of the "Name That Wood Species" Contest.

And the crowd goes wild!

Daren was the VERY first person in with a guess:

"The smell throws me off…Looking at it I would say almost 100% positive mulberry…but is has a sweet smell (to me anyway)"

I went back today with my trailer in tow and grabbed six more decent sections (there are plenty more there, BTW) and located the stump. Growing out from it was a bunch of new shoots so I snapped one off and took with with me.

It is absolutely, positively *MULBERRY*! This is one of the largest mulberry trees I have ever seen as the stump must be four feet in diameter!

Take a look at these pics:

Pics from a Botany Website of the "Red Mulberry Tree"










Here's what the leaves from THIS tree looks like:










Thanks everyone for helping me I.D. this tree! Now I know how to label my future boxes, scrollwork, etc….. 

-bob


----------



## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *And we have a Winner!*
> 
> And a very positive I.D. as well!
> 
> ...


I have a mulberry tree but it is only about a foot in diameter..Many years ago as a child I climbed a mulberry tree that must have been 30 feet tall and the drip line was over 40 feet.. big ole tree. Gone now tho… made way for housing…
Glad you got a great score… and I hear tell that mulberry turns beautifully…


----------



## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

KnotCurser said:


> *And we have a Winner!*
> 
> And a very positive I.D. as well!
> 
> ...


I was pretty sure (except for the smell thing ?) I sawmill a lot of osage and mulberry (they are very close cousins) and while it could have been either one from the picture of the wood, the bark looked more like mulberry to me…Enjoy, mulberry is a pleasure to work with. On a sidenote mulberry is also one of my favorite BBQ- smoking woods, second only to cherry, I save every bit of mill scrap just for that. Nice score and glad you were able to ID it.


----------



## KnotCurser (Dec 31, 2009)

KnotCurser said:


> *And we have a Winner!*
> 
> And a very positive I.D. as well!
> 
> ...


Oh cool! I have a smoker as well and use mainly pear/apple and, believe it or not, grave vines for smoking

I will be certain to keep all the scrap pieces!

Thanks again Daren!

-bob


----------

