Help identifying this wood

[Chuck0531]

Good evening,

Can anyone tell me what type of wood this is? The person I got it from said it was black walnut but I am sure it isn’t because the heartwood from a round I split was not brown.

Thanks,

Chuck

 

[MongoMongoson]

Hey Chuck, your location has 053114 in it. Is 53114 your ZIP code?

That would put you in Darien, WI. For anyone reading, that is pronounces dairy-ANNE not DAIRien. At least, that is how we pronounced it when I lived in Delevan.

If that is not where you are, please let us know the state or nation where you are. That might help with identifying your wood.

The white end grain with the dark staining makes me want to say hickory, but the bark does not look like shagbark. That is about the only hickory I have ever seen in WI.

Any chance it is butternut? Butternut is not doing well in Wisconsin right now. I could see someone mistaking a butternut for a walnut, though.

Did it have any distinctive smell when you split it?

 

[Chuck0531]

Hey Mongo Mongoson,

Thanks for the reply. I have no idea why it set my location for Wisconsin. I live in Northeast Georgia right outside of Athens.

I was leaning towards bitternut or pignut hickory. It was pretty tough to split and stringy. I will attach a picture of the split wood to this post.

Been kind of stuffy so I really didn’t smell anything.

Thanks,

Chuck

 

[CincyBurner]

You are correct, it is definitely not black walnut as black walnut has deep dark brown heartwood.
I'll take a stab that it is hickory based on:

• clear white wood
• thin bark consistent with hickory
• Borer infestations (brown dots) that can be seen in cross sections of pics that is consistent with hickory borer

Whack/ split a few rounds. If hickory wood, it will have characteristic stringy fibers. Sometimes hickory easy to split, other times very difficult.
It should also have a characteristic strong funky smell that i difficult too describe.
It's great burning wood !

 

[Eman85]

Not walnut, not shagbark hickory. The bore holes made me think hickory so it would be bitter or pignut hickory. Simple thing is to burn a few shavings and smell it, if you crave barbecue after you smell it you have hickory.

 

[Chuck0531]

Thanks CincyBurner. I was a bit skeptical when he said it was black walnut. He said he had 14 taken down yet didn’t sell them. The tree I cut up yesterday was the smallest diameter tree of all the trees he had cut down. Plus, like you said, the color wasn’t right and the rounds were extremely heavy - heavier than oak of the same size.

I tried to split a round with my 8lb maul yesterday and after it did not split after 10 blows I figured it might be hickory. I did split a round with my splitter and it was very stringy and hard to split. You are right about being great burning wood. I am glad it is hickory. I love the heat it produces and the smell it gives off when burned.

Thanks,

Chuck

 

[Chuck0531]

Eman85,

Thanks. Good point about the smell. In my opinion hickory is the best wood for smoking meats.