Free wood, can anyone id it?

[SPED]

Got some free wood yesterday, not a whole lot, but only 12 miles each way, so about 10 bucks in gas. Anyone know what this stuff is? It's real light, so I'm imagining it isn't all that great, but hey the price is right and i'm new at this scrounging thing, so may be worth it to make contacts. The people said it had been dead a while and I believe it, the wood is 26% according to my meter.

 

[Peacock]

Looks like buckeye or something similar. Also looks like juvenile sugar maple, except that the heartwood is a bit dark and it's not a light wood at all.

 

[acer saccharum]

I bet a 6 pack that it is Red Oak

1) You have Oak leaves at your feet in the pictures so Oak is native to your area.
2) Oak has a smooth bark till it gets about a foot in diameter
3) The wood is discolored from the scar, so IDing by color is difficult

How did it smell when you cut it? Oak can be really aeromatic in a good way.

 

[SPED]

Sorry about the leaves, they can be deceiving, those are at my house, not where I got the wood. But yeah we certainly have a lot of oak around here. I did give it a sniff, didn't smell quite like the red oak i just bought(ie like pee) but did have a little stink to it.

 

[PA Plumber]

Sure is awfully white to be Red Oak. But I'm about 3 for 30 on these ID threads, so take what I say with a grain of bar oil.

 

[Peacock]

The comment about it being very light in weight removes any oak from the equation. Especially considering it's still wet.

 

[PB]

Gut reaction is sugar maple, but it is hard to tell from the pictures. You don't happen to have any stems do you? I can tell from the twig ends.

 

[acer saccharum]

The comment about it being very light in weight removes any oak from the equation. Especially considering it's still wet.

oops missed the light weight comment, The beer is on me.

 

[kam]

Tree of Heaven..,.useless for anything

Edit.. strong unpleasant odor, slimy sap, quite heavy when green....very light when seasoned.

 

[ray benson]

Reminds me of Tree of Heaven.

 

[ozarkjeep]

Wild azz guess

Poplar?

 

[oldirty]

tree of heaven boys. check out the bark. that stuff is trash. go ahead and burn it.

free huh? i still would not have taken it. lol

 

[trimmmed]

Guessing TOH too, but if you only looked at pic 1 you might be guessing oak (which is what I did, lol). I have never see that much color in the wood it always kinda off white.

 

[JAL]

I know what it is because I got a whole bunch of it 3 years ago. But I do not know the name for it. I will tell you this it is defiantly junk wood....but free wood is good wood. The stuff never dried out even after I split it and it smoked and smelled bad even in an OWB.

View attachment 64894

 

[SPED]

burned some tonight

Well I tossed some in the woodstove tonight, and it burned pretty decent, wouldn't put it on par with a hardwood or anything, but didn't smoke a lot, no water hissing out and a decent flame. Lesson learned on my end, thanks for all the replies guys, I'll chalk this one up to experience.

 

[michigander]

I would guess, Basswood! I have some on my property and it seems close to that. Especially the description of being light.

 

[SPED]

Yeah it's really light, I grabbed one piece about 18" across and 3 feet long and could pick it up.... and I'm not trying that with oak!!

 

[Lignum]

I bet a 6 pack that it is Red Oak

1) You have Oak leaves at your feet in the pictures so Oak is native to your area.
2) Oak has a smooth bark till it gets about a foot in diameter
3) The wood is discolored from the scar, so IDing by color is difficult

How did it smell when you cut it? Oak can be really aeromatic in a good way.

Red Oak also looks quite similar to Pin Oak, when the Pin Oak seasons, the center will turn a dark brown, almost black.

 

[JBinKC]

I also think it is tree of heaven aka ailanthus. Hopefully you didn't travel very far to get it because I think the BTU content of the wood is even lower than basswood. Once fully seasoned a 6 inch diameter piece in the stove lasting 30 minutes is pushing it. Unfortunately, I have the privilege of burning a few pieces of this junk wood quite often as it is a nuisance tree on my bluff on my lakefront property as the tree can actually grow out of a rock and very hard to eradicate. When burned the wood has an odor similar to burning rubber and this is with the aid of an EPA certified stove. The only good thing I have to say about it is when the wood is fully seasoned and kept bone dry it is easy to start up and the wood drafts really well in 50-55 degree weather. So it is definitely the first wood to use during the shoulder season. Try to burn it when few people are outdoors like a rainy day or late at night.

 

[farmer]

Boxelder?