# What kind of wood is this?



## Kv0nT (Jul 29, 2012)

I am curious what kind of wood this turning blank is, and I can't trust the source so I figured I would ask the community.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Where did it come from? Is it dry, kiln or otherwise? What is the diameter of the blank? I hate to speculate without know as many of the specifics as possible.


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## DaleM (Feb 18, 2009)

It looks just like elm to me, but there are so many woods I still haven't seen that it could be something else of course.


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## freddy1962 (Feb 27, 2014)

It sure looks like elm.


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## Kv0nT (Jul 29, 2012)

It is 12 inches by 6 inches. I am told that it was waxed green. The person selling it says that it is Ironwood but frankly the heartwood looks way too big to be hornbeam.


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## freddy1962 (Feb 27, 2014)

Elm and ironwood have similar bark, that could be a possibility. Is it heavy? I have some ironwood on the woodpile, not sure if I have elm there.


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## Kv0nT (Jul 29, 2012)

It weighs around 20 pounds. Could it be another type of elm like siberian or slippery elm?


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## freddy1962 (Feb 27, 2014)

The pic of 2 is ironwood. Side by side the bark even varies a bit. Ironwood bark looks like elm bark somewhat when you cut a tree, but when you pick it up, it's much heavier. I couldn't find any elm on the pile, but a little project I have is elm. It's a hollow log which is going to be a squirrel feeder. You can see where the heartwood rotted away. The heartwood area is much larger or wider.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

Looks like Ostrya virginiana. Hophornbeam. Sometimes called ironwood.


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## freddy1962 (Feb 27, 2014)

I'm still pretty sure it's elm. We have 2 species that are predominant here. We call them red and white elm. The red get's huge. The white elm is where you'll find morel mushrooms usually starting in the 3rd week of April every year. The first year a white elm dies it'll start producing morels around it's base and for the next 2 years or so it'll produce less until it stops. There's a nice table made of elm in the projects.


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## LiveEdge (Dec 18, 2013)

If you can do some math you can differentiate between American Ironwood and Elm by weight.

American Elm will weigh 35 pounds per cubic foot and less (12% moisture down to 0%)
American Ironwood will weigh 39 pounds per cubic foot and more (0% moisture up to 12%)

Since the two ranges don't overlap you could differentiate between the two by weight.


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## freddy1962 (Feb 27, 2014)

Two nice little bucks posing behind my 2 pieces of ironwood today at Noon.


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## diverlloyd (Apr 25, 2013)

Nice pile of wood you have there Freddy and those deer look mighty tasty. I'm thinking elm but with out seeing the cell structure it's hard to tell the difference for me.


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