Milling unknown wood into a block

[motolife313]

I’m thinking it’s sugar maple since it smells so sweet and like sugar. Hardest wood I’ve ever split also And hottest burning. I see they call sugar maple rock maple so that’s another reason to believe it sugar maple lol. 20” round with no tree branches took 50 swings with 2 wedges in the round 180 degree apart, or straight across from each other and it would not split hitting with a sledge hammer and it was opening a tiny bit maybe 2” down but wouldn’t go more. Let it sit over night and a few swings got it to split. That was 2 years ago. Saved a couple pieces. I used to cook with it when I had more, I thought it was oak but maybe live oak? Not seeing anything that resembles oak on it besides the bark just a little, if you got any ideas I’d like to know

 

[motolife313]

I’ll get more pics of the grain soon, we were using it as a chopping block at my friends place till I seen him neglect it leaving it in the mud

 

[buzz sawyer]

Nice milling job! Looks dark for sugar maple. Bark looks a little like Elm - that would explain the difficult splitting.

 

[motolife313]

It was actually always really light. Pretty much white when it was fresh. The end sealer darkened it a lot. And thank you for the nice words

 

[motolife313]

Does elm always have a brown heart wood? I’ve made a axe handle with some. Very hard to split also. It wood probably give this a run for its money

 

[motolife313]

does the elm smell good? If I remember right I heard opposite but it could be another wood that I heard it about. I like the way this wood smells. It’s actually in the oven now at 400. I want my girl to smell it so I get her opinion. I’m using the cut offs

 

[motolife313]

She says syrup. Maple syrup lol. I wanna take it to a wood specialist tomorrow. And couple of the cut offs. Thank you

 

[husqhawk8]

She says syrup. Maple syrup lol. I wanna take it to a wood specialist tomorrow. And couple of the cut offs. Thank you

What did you find out? My guess was maple but I normally don't have much trouble splitting it.

 

[motolife313]

Took this pic tonight. Burning some now

 

[AGoodSteward]

Found this as a pic of sugar maple

Looks like your bark, no?

 

[buzz sawyer]

Found this as a pic of sugar maple
View attachment 880943
Looks like your bark, no?

This looks more like Red Maple to me. Hw was it determined to be Sugar?

 

[husqhawk8]

Took this pic tonight. Burning some nowView attachment 880941

Definitely looks like maple to me. Did you officially find out?

 

[AGoodSteward]

Found this as a pic of sugar maple
View attachment 880943
Looks like your bark, no?

Googled sugar maple bark, and scrolled.
Not saying it's definitive, but it doesn't look like Red to me. We don't get alot of sugar maple here, but I've got several reds out in my pile.

 

[Doc Hickory]

does the elm smell good? If I remember right I heard opposite but it could be another wood that I heard it about. I like the way this wood smells. It’s actually in the oven now at 400. I want my girl to smell it so I get her opinion. I’m using the cut offs

Elm is kinda stinky and the grain is tangled. It is strong and burns ok. That's all I ever used it for, heater wood.

 

[tfp]

I have used rock maple a bit and it's very hard and heavy. It's also super white. I have to make sure all my tools (jointer, thicknesser, hand plane, chisels etc) are very sharp before messing with it otherwise it's a pain. It's very durable though, so I use it on shooting board fences and table saw sled guides.