tree ID...?

[RAY_PA]

Is this a 'hard maple'? I am thinking so from some posts here.

 

[smokinj]

looks like walnut to me

 

[CrawfordCentury]

Looks like box elder.

 

[wooddope]

Looks like box elder.
+1

 

[RAY_PA]

guarantee its not walnut. I'll post up more pics as the leaves progress. nearly sure its some kind of maple...however, I have no idea what box elder looks like. I will be cutting it down in early summer.

 

[ohio woodburner]

Is it anything but straight? Looks like box elder to me also

 

[oldspark]

Boxelder is a member of the Maple family.

 

[Todd]

I agree with Boxelder. Good shoulder season firewood.

 

[smokinj]

guarantee its not walnut. I'll post up more pics as the leaves progress. nearly sure its some kind of maple...however, I have no idea what box elder looks like. I will be cutting it down in early summer.

lol just a guess and thats where the money at now so they all look just like walnut!

 

[WoodPorn]

I'm going with Red Maple, the leaf in the bottom of the 2nd pic is pointing me in that direction.

See attached pic

Hard or soft, I can't answer.

 

[FLINT]

it does look like box elder - also called ash leaf maple - when the leaves come out a little further you can see if it has compound leaves or not - if it does its box elder - if not its some other maple.

 

[Wood Duck]

Here is another vote for Box Elder. Some of the leaflets on a Box Elder look like Red Maple leaves, but the edges are not as finely toothed. Other leaflets look like very narrow maple leaves, especially when they first emerge in the spring. The leaves on the Box Elder sapling in my yard look just like the second picture right now.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I agree with the box elder.

Box elder gets a bad rap but it is still in the maple family and will give you some heat. However, it is perhaps the poorest of all the maples. It does fine in spring and fall or during the daytime hours in winter. Give it a bit of extra time to season.

 

[CrawfordCentury]

I agree with the box elder.

Box elder gets a bad rap but it is still in the maple family and will give you some heat. However, it is perhaps the poorest of all the maples. It does fine in spring and fall or during the daytime hours in winter. Give it a bit of extra time to season.

Never burnt a switch of the stuff since around here it's mostly an urban tree that grows in vacant lots and other untended spaces. Sorta like tree of heaven and pizzin ivy.

From what I understand, it splits tough for what it is. Sure grows fast. I've seen some only a few decades old that have the eldritch and gnarled look of a century + old witness tree.

 

[DBoon]

Box Elder for sure

 

[Tony H]

looks like the Box Elder. I have a big stack of it here I use it spring and fall plus mixed in with other wood during the colder months just like I use silver maple. The only time I wont use it overnight cold weather burns . Super wet and a bit stinky when wet but seasons in a year and the bark will fall off .
If you split it when fresh it will be stringy and quite the pain. Most of the time I cut into logs or rounds and let it sit for a while before splitting but then again I have a bunch of it.