Wood ID

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I vote for black locust. Locust furrows when young. I have black locust growing here from when the wagon train folks planted it here in the 1880s. Cottonwood would not have that deep a furrowed bark until it is larger/older. Cottonwood is also a ***** on the saw to cut of it has been laying around any time. It has tons of cross fibers. Cottonwood here (Black Cottonwood) would smell bad when burned, like cat piss. Eastern species are not as bad smelling, but they are lighter in weight and have less heat when burned than black cottonwood. I have cut and burned a lot of all of these species. I do not cut cottonwood any more. Not worth it. Black locust I will drive miles to get. One of my favorites to burn. Heat galore. Never rots. The pioneers brought it here and planted it mainly for fence posts. Now its considered invasive. So I volunteer to cut it down and burn it and save the PNW from an evil invasive species! (Its not, but that is what the greenies say).
 
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