how to tell maple from gum

[rb_in_va]

I am going to get some wood from a person that had two trees cut down today. One is a maple and the other is gum. I want to be sure to get the maple and not the gum. I have read that the gum is hard to split. How do I tell just by looking at the bark if it is maple?

edit: Whoops, meant for this to go in the firewood forum. Mods feel free to move it. Thanks!

 

[stihl 440]

what kind?

What kind of maple red, sugar, silver, norway?

 

[Grace Tree]

Here's a link to the Virginia dendrology site.

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/map/zonemap.cfm

 

[rb_in_va]

What kind of maple red, sugar, silver, norway?

Not sure. I just split a piece of it with my axe and it was quite a chore. Here's some pics.

 

[PA Plumber]

If it is Black Gum, the lower part of the trunk will have very blocky dark bark. It will not be striated like a Maple.

 

[rb_in_va]

If it is Black Gum, the lower part of the trunk will have very blocky dark bark. It will not be striated like a Maple.

I don't have the whole tree. Just what I could fit in my truck.

 

[PA Plumber]

I believe the Maple will have a lighter weight than the Gum on a similar sized chunk.

The photo of the split piece has a chunk in the back that looks like Silver Maple. Silver will have a very white wood. Your pic looks more yellow. (Maybe that's the lighting?)

 

[stihl 440]

Rb in va, Can we see a picture of the end grain. Cause the sprouts in the first picture make it look like cucumber.

 

[046]

looks like gum to me... burns real well. gum is more dense than maple, which is really light dried.

here's a link to maple bark
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/biohires/a/hacsa2-br12247.JPG

 

[rb_in_va]

Rb in va, Can we see a picture of the end grain. Cause the sprouts in the first picture make it look like cucumber.

Cucumber?

 

[BayouTree]

sweetgum

The first picture is a sweetgum. You can tell by the large shinny bud and its alternate arrangement on the twig. A maple will have the buds arranged opposite on the twig.

 

[Castenea]

Cucumber?

Magnolia acuminta

The buds in the first picture are completely incompatible with Cucumber. The bark in the first picture almost looks a lot like Oak, buds however are somewhat inconsistant with Oak. The alternate buds in that picture cannot be Maple as all maples have opposite buds. I would expect to see wings on the twigs of Sweet Gum (Liquidamber styraciflua). Sweet gum does not always have corky wings on the twigs, thus it would most likely be this species.

 

[stihl 440]

I never said it was cucumber, I was just suggesting. But now that I look at it, the first pic and second pic look like sweetgum. I must have been tired? :jester: