Power company wood ID

[Corriewf]

Tell you what guys, I am quite happy with this score today. I have somehow managed to scrounge enough wood in the last couple months to cover my butt for next winter and this wood for 11-12.

You promised to wear pants.



I'm thinking birch, of some sort, too.
Certainly not anything that I'd recognize growing around here.

Well, I already annoy my neighbors with chainsawing and splitting, figured I might as well show them another split while im doing it. Hell, if the older woman next door enjoys it, I might get a belated Valentines Day card and some free cookies next Xmas. I can eat them while im making a beer run to 7-11 on my lawn tractor in a 45 mph zone. I know they are only honking cause that hydrostat tranny is so impressive. :lol:

Ok some black Birch pics from teh internet I found:

 

[FLINT]

looks like PA woodsman had it right from the beginning - black birch - or at least a birch - and that would correspond with its heavy weight.

the thing that threw me off was that you live in Richmond and black birch definitely doesnt grow native in richmond, and I cant figure why anyone would plant black birch as an ornamental - as its not that pretty of a tree.

anyways, great job getting a bunch of good wood

happy burning!

 

[PA. Woodsman]

looks like PA woodsman had it right from the beginning - black birch - or at least a birch - and that would correspond with its heavy weight.

the thing that threw me off was that you live in Richmond and black birch definitely doesnt grow native in richmond, and I cant figure why anyone would plant black birch as an ornamental - as its not that pretty of a tree.

What's funny is I've been looking at this on and off since I posted that, and at times there is no doubt in my mind that it's Black Birch, then I look at another round in a picture and question myself LOL! I THINK that it IS Black Birch, and I do know that tree species can vary from region-to-region; if it isn't Black Birch, I believe that it is a Birch-don't ask me what though! It looks like several different trees mixed in those pictures, honestly...

Does it smell like WINTERGREEN? That's the best way that I can describe ours up here smelling like...

"Black Birch; final answer Regis"

 

[Wood Duck]

That last set of pictures of the wood you got show a Bigtooth Aspen. The bark and twigs both seem very characteristic of Bigtooth Aspen, and many (not all) Bigtooth Aspen around here (central PA) have the same sort of oddly colored wood that your split has. Bigtooth Aspen is native to Virginia. Check out this link, and look particularly at the twig - it looks a lot like the twig in the photos.

(broken link removed)

Also, I am not convinced that all three of the 'black birch' photos really are black birch. At least they aren't very characteristic looking, to me. Black birch here tend to have a more furrowed, darker bark.

 

[Wood Duck]

One more thing - keep in mind that Tulip Poplar isn't related to 'true' poplars such as Bigtooth Aspen. I don't know why Tulip Poplar is called Tulip Poplar. Maybe just because in the forest it tends to grow a straight trunk with a long branchless portion like an aspen.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I don't know why Tulip Poplar is called Tulip Poplar.

It's because when it flowers in the Spring the flowers look like Tulips; been looking at one in my neighbor's yard for going on 21 years now. It provides me with a lot of kindling, as branches and twigs are almost always on the ground from it.

 

[FLINT]

good call Wood Duck - yeah, tulip poplar is not a poplar, its actually a magnolia.

also, while big tooth aspen is technically native to VA it is very uncommon and I've only seen it maybe once, and not enough to be familiar with it to do an ID without the leaves. although if he's in richmond, it could be anything.

so, i guess it could be big tooth aspen - though, is the wood heavy and sweet smelling?


I'm such a dork, I love mystery wood ID !!


yeah, so corriewf, should go out to that twig he took a picture of and scrape the bark off with his finger nail and give it a good sniff. as PA woodsman said, black birch is STRONG of wintergreen. also, yellow birch smells kind of wintergreeny, and I don't know about the northern birches as we dont have those here.

 

[Corriewf]

From the site http://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html that the first two pics I posted of internet photos of black birch:

Black Birch Bark
Richard Wilbur, A Black Birch in Winter:

You might not know this old tree by its bark,
Which once was striate, smooth, and glossy-dark,
So deep now are the rifts which separate
Its roughened surface into flake and plate.

Fancy might less remind you of a birch
Than of mosaic columns in a church
Like Ara Coeli or the Lateran,
Or the trenched features of an agèd man.

Still, do not be too much persuaded by
These knotty furrows and these tesserae
To think of patterns made from outside-in
Or finished wisdom in a shriveled skin.

Old trees are doomed to annual rebirth,
New wood, new life, new compass, greater girth,
And this is all their wisdom and their art—
To grow, stretch, crack, and not yet come apart.

The scientific name of black birch is Betula lenta; other common names are cherry birch and sweet birch. Charles Fergus, Trees of New England: A Natural History (Guilford: Globe Pequot Press, 2005), pp. 51-52, describes the bark:

The bark of sweet birch is dark brown to purplish black, smooth and shiny when young and becoming rough and plated with age; it does not peel off in papery layers like the bark of other birches, although sometimes thick flanges of it stand off from the trunk.

On p. 53 of Fergus' book there are excellent drawings by Amelia Hansen of the young and old bark of Betula lenta.

See also Forest Trees of Maine, 14th ed. (Maine Forest Service, 2008), p. 94:

The bark on the trunk of old trees is dark to almost black, and separates into large, thick, irregular plates. On young trees and branches, it is smooth, shiny, dark brown tinged with red, aromatic, and has a very pronounced wintergreen flavor.

I am with you Flint, it is driving me crazy to figure it out. It isnt the big tooth Aspen as the buds are too far apart and the bark doesnt look like it. There were a couple peices that has flakes on it that looked like birch flakes. I also think the first tree has the same bark as the second pic that came from the above site. The reason they look so different? The first tree was much smaller and younger. That's my opinion.

The mystery is that to me it doesn't have a wintergreen smell. It has a sweet smell like I could eat it though. Reminds me of the cherry I got. I would have thought it was cherry if it had that golden ring that cherries normally have close to the bark.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Corriewf, is there a firewood dealer or tree service that you could take a few pieces of wood to and ask them what it is? I did that years ago, and they were more than helpful. This really has me intrigued now, too...

 

[Wood Duck]

I don't know why Tulip Poplar is called Tulip Poplar.

It's because when it flowers in the Spring the flowers look like Tulips; been looking at one in my neighbor's yard for going on 21 years now. It provides me with a lot of kindling, as branches and twigs are almost always on the ground from it.

Yes, that explains the Tulip part of the name, but why poplar?

 

[FLINT]

I don't know why Tulip Poplar is called Tulip Poplar.

It's because when it flowers in the Spring the flowers look like Tulips; been looking at one in my neighbor's yard for going on 21 years now. It provides me with a lot of kindling, as branches and twigs are almost always on the ground from it.

Yes, that explains the Tulip part of the name, but why poplar?

maybe because they grow really tall and straight and fast like a poplar? and when young they have smooth bark, so they superficially resemble the true poplars????

 

[FLINT]

I am with you Flint, it is driving me crazy to figure it out. It isnt the big tooth Aspen as the buds are too far apart and the bark doesnt look like it. There were a couple peices that has flakes on it that looked like birch flakes. I also think the first tree has the same bark as the second pic that came from the above site. The reason they look so different? The first tree was much smaller and younger. That's my opinion.

The mystery is that to me it doesn't have a wintergreen smell. It has a sweet smell like I could eat it though. Reminds me of the cherry I got. I would have thought it was cherry if it had that golden ring that cherries normally have close to the bark.

Ok Corriewf, we are going to solve this today!! haha.

I'm attaching a picture of a black birch with twig that I took a year or two ago. However, if you say the scraped twig doesnt smell of wintergreen, then probably not a black birch, as long as the twig is/or was alive yesterday.

The other thought thats coming to mind right now, is cherry. I was doing a walk though of a property last year and I kept seeing all these trees that I thought were Birch, but then when I looked at the leaves, I realized it was actually a Cherry tree - not the native black cherry, but if I remember right it was Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium). Cherry wood can smell sweet.

Can you try to take a really nice close up pic of the buds of that twig if you still have it and we'll see what we can do today!

I feel like we can't give up now, hahaha.

 

[FLINT]

Ok, I went ahead a looked around and here are some pics I found online,

and In this order are:

Sweet cherry bark - really looks a lot like birch bark

Sweet cherry twig

Large tooth aspen bark - seems like the marks in the bark are more vertical than horizontal.

Large tooth aspen twig - the aspen twigs have very fine white hairs on them - its supposed to be a diagnostic characteristic.



I think your tree might be sweet cherry. I would imagine that cherry wood is heaver than aspen (although I've never picked up a piece of aspen so I can say from experience).

 

[Wood Duck]

I am with you Flint, it is driving me crazy to figure it out. It isnt the big tooth Aspen as the buds are too far apart and the bark doesnt look like it. There were a couple peices that has flakes on it that looked like birch flakes. I also think the first tree has the same bark as the second pic that came from the above site. The reason they look so different? The first tree was much smaller and younger. That's my opinion.

The mystery is that to me it doesn't have a wintergreen smell. It has a sweet smell like I could eat it though. Reminds me of the cherry I got. I would have thought it was cherry if it had that golden ring that cherries normally have close to the bark.

Ok Corriewf, we are going to solve this today!! haha.

I'm attaching a picture of a black birch with twig that I took a year or two ago. However, if you say the scraped twig doesnt smell of wintergreen, then probably not a black birch, as long as the twig is/or was alive yesterday.

The other thought thats coming to mind right now, is cherry. I was doing a walk though of a property last year and I kept seeing all these trees that I thought were Birch, but then when I looked at the leaves, I realized it was actually a Cherry tree - not the native black cherry, but if I remember right it was Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium). Cherry wood can smell sweet.

Can you try to take a really nice close up pic of the buds of that twig if you still have it and we'll see what we can do today!

I feel like we can't give up now, hahaha.

I think this picture of a Black Birch twig shows that the tree we're trying to ID isn't Black Birch. The pics of our tree show a fatter, yellowish twig, the Black Birch has a thin, dark colored twig. I still say at least part of this wood score is Bigtooth Aspen. Sweet Cherry tends to have a more uniform reddish heartwood than this tree, and Sweet Cherry bark is never as light colored as this one.

 

[CrawfordCentury]

I've split a fair amount of black birch. Looks nothing like this. Heartwood is a dull grey with some salmon pink undertones.

The yellow and orange hues are consistent with a lot of sopping green popple I've split over the years. Green popple is quite heavy - almost all water weight. Stuff's like a feather when seasoned. Burns like cardboard. Hot and fast.

I still think there is wood from 2 different trees. Looks like the tree co perhaps did a limbing to a sugar maple and a popple take down.

 

[Corriewf]

Flint, you might be right about sweet cherry. Looks like it for sure. I was unable to get on here earlier, sorry. However I did get a bunch more pics. Hopefully we can kill it with these pics.

 

[Corriewf]

Some pics of the bark flaking.....and my burnt up hand from first year wood burning. :ahhh: I hope I stop burning these hands, wife says I am gonna need them if I don't quit talking about wood all the time. :lol:

 

[Corriewf]

Tired of pictures yet? Well I'm tired of resizing them. :lol:

It has to be between cherry and birch. It kind of smells like cherry BUT no exact and it doesnt have that orange ring just off the bark. I scrounged some cherry a month ago and could easily tell if apart by it's ring.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Tired of pictures yet? Well I'm tired of resizing them. :lol:

It has to be between cherry and birch. It kind of smells like cherry BUT no exact and it doesnt have that orange ring just off the bark. I scrounged some cherry a month ago and could easily tell if apart by it's ring.

Okay, let's get even more confused now....Get a copy (or just look at it in a bookstore) of "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees", and compare the picture on the left with the picture of the bark of #61 in the book which is Odorless Bayberry-they look very similiar...But, if it is odorless, then it's not that-unless splits from THIS tree are odorless and are not the ones that smell like Cherry. The original pictures that you posted-especially the two of the rotting splits do look like Black Birch to me. I really believe that you have several species here, and until you take them to a firewood dealer or stove shop and have them properly identified we will all certainly drive ourselves insane...

 

[Corriewf]

Tired of pictures yet? Well I'm tired of resizing them. :lol:

It has to be between cherry and birch. It kind of smells like cherry BUT no exact and it doesnt have that orange ring just off the bark. I scrounged some cherry a month ago and could easily tell if apart by it's ring.

Okay, let's get even more confused now....Get a copy (or just look at it in a bookstore) of "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees", and compare the picture on the left with the picture of the bark of #61 in the book which is Odorless Bayberry-they look very similiar...But, if it is odorless, then it's not that-unless splits from THIS tree are odorless and are not the ones that smell like Cherry. The original pictures that you posted-especially the two of the rotting splits do look like Black Birch to me. I really believe that you have several species here, and until you take them to a firewood dealer or stove shop and have them properly identified we will all certainly drive ourselves insane...

Well it is two trees. However all the pics except for my first post have focused on the second tree. I collected all the wood from the second tree beside the stump it came from in the backyard. It is one tree. The bark of the tree changed as it got closer to the stump. What is a monkey wrench though is that the first tree and second tree in the first page of this thread have the exact same smell. However they look totally different. The tree service said the first tree was maple.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Well it is two trees. However all the pics except for my first post have focused on the second tree. I collected all the wood from the second tree beside the stump it came from in the backyard. It is one tree. The bark of the tree changed as it got closer to the stump. What is a monkey wrench though is that the first tree and second tree in the first page of this thread have the exact same smell. However they look totally different. The tree service said the first tree was maple.[/quote]


Well, all I can say is that I'm baffled by it then...did the tree service say what kind of Maple? And both trees having the same aroma yet being different trees confuses me even more. I hope that we get this ID'ed properly, someday LOL!

 

[Corriewf]

Well it is two trees. However all the pics except for my first post have focused on the second tree. I collected all the wood from the second tree beside the stump it came from in the backyard. It is one tree. The bark of the tree changed as it got closer to the stump. What is a monkey wrench though is that the first tree and second tree in the first page of this thread have the exact same smell. However they look totally different. The tree service said the first tree was maple.

Well, all I can say is that I'm baffled by it then...did the tree service say what kind of Maple? And both trees having the same aroma yet being different trees confuses me even more. I hope that we get this ID'ed properly, someday LOL![/quote]

No they didn't say what type of maple. I wish they had, but they were from PA as well. Not local boys who know the local woods. Well, this might have to stay a mystery wood. I am sure it will burn good though. I appreciate all the help from everyone.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

No they didn't say what type of maple. I wish they had, but they were from PA as well. Not local boys who know the local woods. Well, this might have to stay a mystery wood. I am sure it will burn good though. I appreciate all the help from everyone.[/quote]


Well then, they can't know anything about wood if they're from PA. LOL....I'd still get the book that I mentioned in reply #43 because you'll really enjoy it as it is VERY helpful in ID'ing trees. I still look at some of the rounds pictured and look at Odorless Bayberry in the book and it looks like a very, very close match...

 

[Corriewf]

No they didn't say what type of maple. I wish they had, but they were from PA as well. Not local boys who know the local woods. Well, this might have to stay a mystery wood. I am sure it will burn good though. I appreciate all the help from everyone.

Well then, they can't know anything about wood if they're from PA. LOL....I'd still get the book that I mentioned in reply #43 because you'll really enjoy it as it is VERY helpful in ID'ing trees. I still look at some of the rounds pictured and look at Odorless Bayberry in the book and it looks like a very, very close match...[/quote]

Well, I didn't mean it in that context. I worked for a tree service once a time. Some of them are like us and a lot of them dont care what type of tree it is. Their job is to cut it down. I expect a seasoned wood burner to know more about wood types than a tree service. They will call it maple and dont care what type.. " Hey! It's on the ground! Job done! "... So as far as trusting the opinion of a tree service guy from PA, well, I dont. Maybe if he was from Virginia and I still wouldn't fully trust it. Bird hunting and bird watching is two different things. I think we are among the fans of wood, or maybe a " wood watcher ". :lol: So I hope you didn't take offense to my comment.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Well, I didn't mean it in that context. I worked for a tree service once a time. Some of them are like us and a lot of them dont care what type of tree it is. Their job is to cut it down. I expect a seasoned wood burner to know more about wood types than a tree service. They will call it maple and dont care what type.. " Hey! It's on the ground! Job done! "... So as far as trusting the opinion of a tree service guy from PA, well, I dont. Maybe if he was from Virginia and I still wouldn't fully trust it. Bird hunting and bird watching is two different things. I think we are among the fans of wood, or maybe a " wood watcher ". :lol: So I hope you didn't take offense to my comment. [/quote]



No, no offense at all; I was just poking fun at my home state there, just for kicks and giggles...doesn't matter where they were from, just found it a little humorus that they were from PA. Just funnin' around.