What kind of wood


We are in upstate NY.
I burn wood in an outdoor boiler. My dad occasionally stops at the Town Garage where they stockpile wood from downed trees etc... and it is free for the taking.
He brought a few chunks of this;
The cross section looks like our black locust but a little more green/yellow, the bark is textured like locust but a little bit smoother...not as coarse...it is heavy (wet...but still heavy)

Thoughts? We were thinking maybe another variety of locust.
a151981.jpg
 
English walnut is another possibility. End grain is a tough sample to recognize. Can you show us a ripped section? Jim
 
Hello steve terplak,

Mulberry, nice sparkles when burning. Make sure you season it a least 1 year,

Guido.
 
Many trees look like that. Define "upstate" NY. Knowing the actual area can help to narrow down the choices a lot.
 
Not good enough of a pic for me to tell, possibly mulberry, I don't think we have black ash or black popular around here. Which town garage?
 
as big as the growth rings are I would say it is a fast grower , like a weed. So I will jump on the mulberry wagon. Just leave a piece in where its warm and well lit , if it starts popping leaves its definitely mulberry lol. And where they cut that one tree down ten will come back up next spring.
 
I thi k Paul mught have it. I was going to say sassafras too. When it dries it looses a lot of weight . Some has a ĺot of orange color. Almost smells like weird root beer.
 
I bet you can rule out Mulberry and Sassafras in the Amsterdam area. I lived in that general area for 40 years and worked for a Deere forestry dealer. Got to know a lot of loggers and woodcutters. I never saw a mulberry or sassafras. In fact, I ran several ads trying to find some sassafras for transplanting and finally found some small stuff in down south in Orange County. It kind of looks like Honey Locust except the growth rings are too big for a tree in your area.
 
Sassafras IS the source of real root-beer. Finding a sassafras tree that size in that part of central New York would be very rare.
 
Iv maintained people's yards for years, I found a tree on one property that iv never seen before, it turned out to be a sassafras tree about 8" in diameter,, when vacuming up the mitten shaped leaves they smell like oranges or such.
 
Where i lived in SW lower Mich that was a common tree. I sawed a lot of it on the sawmill for people to use in there basements. I had some growing in my woods that were 14 inches or bigger. Usually on these the ants hollowed the centers out. I cut it up for firewood
 
The USA and Canada used to be full of huge ones but they have gotten pretty scarce in central and northern NY. At one time they were used for medicine and got harvested and sent to Europe. I have seen some huge ones in some protected areas in Michigan and a few in New York, here and there. Sassafras does not grow fast enough in central NY to have growth-rings like the one in the photo.

Arbor Vitae, by some historical accounts was supposed to be the name given to sassafras but was mistakenly used for a type of cedar instead. Jacques Cartier and his crew were sick with scurvy (early 1500s) and supposedly the local Indians cured them with a broth made from sassafras. Thus why some called it "arbor vitae" or "tree of life." One of my favorite trees.

I don't know what that wood is but the growth rings are almost as big as for a soft tree like a Staghorn Sumac.
a152047.jpg
 
Although Black locust is a very hard dense wood its unusual in the tree world as its extremely fast growing also.The easiest way to tell if its down to a choice between Black Locust and
Mulberry is weight,the Mulberry would be much lighter.
 
Where i lived in SW lower Mich that was a common tree.

I'm still in SWL MI, and Sassafrass are still common here. A friend who is an accomplished woodworker says it is referred to as the "poor man's oak". Similar working characteristics and graining, much cheaper to buy. I have a hay wagon deck built of roughsawn Sassafrass, it has held up very well.

IF I remember correctly, each tree has three different shaped leaves, one like the mitten.
 
Maybe eastern cottonwood?

16. EASTERN COTTONWOOD

Populus deltoides Bartram ex Marshall

Eastern cottonwood is an exceedingly rapid-growing, moisture-loving species that is found locally in moist places and along streams and lakes throughout the state except at the higher elevations. The wood is light, soft, and weak, and is dark brown in color with thick nearly white sapwood, warping badly in drying. It is used for pulp and for boxes. The cottonwood has been extensively planted as an ornamental tree along the streets, but as such it has few merits as it is short-lived and the roots often penetrate and clog drains and sewers. It is not easy to destroy, for, once cut down, the stump continues to sprout vigorously.


Bark - smooth on young trunks and branches; light yellowish green in color, becoming thick, ashy gray in color, and deeply furrowed with age.
Twigs - stout, round or ridged below the bud, bright yellow or greenish yellow in color; rank odor when broken.

Winter buds - terminal bud present, large, resinous, glossy, smooth, chestnut brown in color; lateral buds smaller, in many instances bending away from the twig.

Leaves - alternate, simple, broadly triangular, 3 to 5 inches long, coarsely serrate margin, square base, long and laterally flattened leaf stalk.

Fruit - a scattered cluster of capsules as in the aspens, though somewhat larger (3 to 6 inches long), arranged in long, drooping tassels. Seeds - within capsule, numerous, small, surrounded by a mat of fine hairs, ripening in the spring, conveyed long distances by the wind. The cotton-like mat of fine hairs is the reason for the name "cottonwood".

Distinguishing features - rank odor when twig is broken; incurved teeth on leaf margin of triangular leaf.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top