another wood i.d. thread

[boostnut]

Got a pretty good sized load today, not sure what it is. I can say that it has a very strong smell to it, noticed it as soon as I put the saw to work. I can also say that it is not the heaviest wood I've ever worked with. Attached are some pics, any help would be appreciated. Thanks again!:greenchainsaw:

 

[JBinKC]

I am leaning towards green ash.

 

[pacman]

I think you might have some kind of hickory.

 

[tbuggle]

locust?


bofus??

 

[Husky137]

looks like cherry to me.

 

[PA Plumber]

Did this come from a wet/swampy area?

 

[boostnut]

When i first split a piece of this the nice straight grain reminded me of ash BUT the ash trees in my yard are holding these right now.....(see attached pic below). This tree did not have any of this (what do you call this thing anyway??). Also, I've never cut into an ash and noticed a strong scent, this tree had a very strong smell.

Hickory? - I dont know, its not a real heavy wood. Isn't green hickory similar in weight to oak? If so, this is not hickory.

Locust, - Nope, Ive cut plenty of that to know this isn't locust although it does have a thick bark.

Cherry- Nope, its got a smell to it but not as nice as cherry, bark and color are differnt from cherry too.

PA Plumber - this one is not from a wet area, it was near the top of a hill in a fairly heavily wooded area.

 

[ericjeeper]

That my friends without a doubt

Is sassafras. The tea does not smell exactly like the wood.. The roots have an entirely different smell than the above ground part.
Old timers used to think of sassafras as bad luck. It would pop and crackle and shoot embers out into the room. causing many house fires from an open fireplace. But it is decent firewood. Light but burns well. Makes a lot of quick heat. Great for starting fires and campfire wood.

 

[Peacock]

Is sassafras. The tea does not smell exactly like the wood.. The roots have an entirely different smell than the above ground part.
Old timers used to think of sassafras as bad luck. It would pop and crackle and shoot embers out into the room. causing many house fires from an open fireplace. But it is decent firewood. Light but burns well. Makes a lot of quick heat. Great for starting fires and campfire wood.

Except the leaf looks nothing like sassafras.

Edit: It appears it can have leaves like that. I've never seen a sassafras leaf like that at all, but they apparently vary quite a bit from leaf to leaf and tree to tree.

 

[boostnut]

Ericjeeper, I think you sir are the winner. Anyone have any idea what the BTU per cord is for sassafras? Its not on my BTU chart.

 

[MJR]

Try this - http://www.hiteshewtimberplus.com/firewood.php

The ball park # sounds right.

 

[Blowncrewcab]

Maybe there's different kind of sasafras, But My Vet showed me on mine where the leaves Looked like a hand and one of the leaves turned out like a thumb, I didn't see that in his Pic's. I would compare it to mine but mine blew down a few decembers ago and I cut that baby up while I was on crutches, Yep Hoppin around on 1 leg with a chainsaw...

 

[ericjeeper]

Ok I ran out and took a photograph

This shows that a sassafras has several diferent shapes of leaves on the same tree. yes some look like a glove. some are just plain thumbs.

 

[strongback]

That's Sasafras? I would never have recognized it without the last picture of the leaves. We used to have a lot of it growing around my house in S. Jersey but I've never seen it even close to that big. All I remember is that the leaves smell real nice when you crush them. I've learned something today and now my day is done.

 

[PA Plumber]

This shows that a sassafras has several diferent shapes of leaves on the same tree. yes some look like a glove. some are just plain thumbs.

Yep, that's how ours looks. Three different type of leaves on a branch. The service forester for our area considers it an invasive so I try to cut it down whenever I see it.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

When I looked at this yesterday when it was first posted and saw the "reddish" edges to the bark and he mentioned a strong smell I immediately thought "Sassafras"-then I looked up the leaves in the National Audubon Tree Guide and they looked different so I didn't post! But I learned something from this post so thanks Ericjeeper and others! It sure has a strong, unique aroma to it. Light wood but kind of intriguing with that smell...

 

[ericjeeper]

Oh they sell for a decent price as lumber

Plus they reproduce pretty quickly in the fence rows.. They make a great campfire wood.
I cut and split it for my heating wood too.,

 

[dustytools]

Plus they reproduce pretty quickly in the fence rows.. They make a great campfire wood.
I cut and split it for my heating wood too.,

This man here makes some mean Sassafras tea too folks!

 

[smokinj]

looks like ash too me!

 

[derecskey]

Look of the wood, bark, and description of weight and smell sound like sassafras. I just cut and split 2 cord of it.

But your leaves look nothing like sassyfras. You sure you didn't pick up some random leaf from something else?