Making sure this is oak before putting it in my smoker

[motolife313]

I hope it's not elm. It's in the smoker now. I've got elm before and went back for more and asked the arborist guys there what it was and they said elm. It had a brown spot in the middle like walnut does. Does all elm have that brown spot in the middle? The tree above doesn't have a brown spot, it's one color. I've got a little cherry in there with it. But I just got some chicken in there so nothing too spendy. Thanks

 

[motolife313]

Well seems like good wood to smoke with. Smokey and taste good, no bitter taste or anything. Here's the results. I didn't use the pin oak yet. I'll try that next, and I used 25% cherry or so

 

[Gugi47]

On the first set of pictures, you have a Black Cherry

 

[motolife313]

And the smoker

 

[motolife313]

I'm still very interested on what the black stuff is on the oak? Some kind of mold I think. But not sure. I've seen my wood mold but nothing by like that. Usually white or blueish and not penetrated like this stuff. I kinda had the round in a pile so I think that caused it. Luckily it only happend to a few rounds

 

[motolife313]

Gugi47 the 2 pieces on the left are cherry. I was wondering about the 5 pieces on the right of the cherry thanks. Good to know what kind of cherry thanks!

 

[motolife313]

The 2 piece on the left came from this cherry tree.

 

[Little Al]

Many years ago an "old boy "in the village showed me an easy test for oak providing you have a bit of time before use Drive a couple of nails into the end grain (leave enough to remove) & pour water on the wood around the nails do this several days on end if the wood turns black around the nails it"s OAK the toxins in the wood attack the ferrous metal & this results in staining the wood black

 

[Jed1124]

Ok, let's start from the beginning. In your first post picture you have cherry on the left and elm on the right. The small tree you cut down in your yard is elm.
In your second post, the load of wood you have in the back of your truck looks like rock maple, aka black maple, aka sugar maple, depending on your region.
The cherry and maple is good for smoking with, while the elm is not.

 

[stumpy75]

Ok, let's start from the beginning. In your first post picture you have cherry on the left and elm on the right. The small tree you cut down in your yard is elm.
In your second post, the load of wood you have in the back of your truck looks like rock maple, aka black maple, aka sugar maple, depending on your region.
The cherry and maple is good for smoking with, while the elm is not.

However, in picture number 2, I've never seen Elm with the kind of rays that are on that end grain. Oak, on the other hand, would definitely show those rays.

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[Little Al]

I'm still very interested on what the black stuff is on the oak? Some kind of mold I think. But not sure. I've seen my wood mold but nothing by like that. Usually white or blueish and not penetrated like this stuff. I kinda had the round in a pile so I think that caused it. Luckily it only happend to a few rounds

Most likely its come into contact with ferrous metal that will leave black stain on the wood

 

[motolife313]

Little AL My chainsaw chain and bar are steel so that would be the ferrous metal touching it. Thanks a lot! Is it some kind of mold?

So since the wood in my pics turned black it must be oak!

 

[motolife313]

Jed1124 thanks. Seems like half the guys say it's maple other half say it's oak. Idk but good to know it's one or the other lol and works good for me. I've been getting better looking at the leaves on the tree now to help figure out what it is. Had a guy tell me he had oak he needed gone and after looking at the leaves better it was ash. guy told me the wood in 2nd set of pics was oak but didn't look at the leaves. It had one big branch kicking out the side which I thought oak does a lot

Little AL maybe I'll give it the nail test

 

[waross]

If you can't positively identify the wood yourself you shouldn't be using a smoker. Go to the bookstore and get a good educational book on identifying wood, not trees and learn how to identify correctly. Posting pictures is a horrible way to get a true identity. Also go to a wood store that has verified samples to compare to. There are lots of variations and can fool the common person. Most Arborists can identify 90% of trees but are clueless when it comes to identifying wood samples. As someone who has a Degree in Forestry specializing in wood products I can attest it isn't always easy to identify wood. I have a shoebox full of samples for comparison

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[motolife313]

I don't see how posting pictures is a horrible way to get identified

I hope this is not how all of your 50 some messages come out to the guys on here asking questions

 

[Little Al]

Little AL My chainsaw chain and bar are steel so that would be the ferrous metal touching it. Thanks a lot! Is it some kind of mold?

So since the wood in my pics turned black it must be oak!

Yep it's OAK
It"s a form of Chemical reaction between the oak & ferrous metal which will eventually corrode the metal away, that"s the reason why in wooden boat building days if the boat had oak for frames whatever, the fastenings were either copper or bronze, galvanized ferrous fastenings were used in some boats that the expected life span was not long, war ships etc. a ferrous fastening in oak that is constantly wet will have the wood going black the fastening eaten away & the wood around the fastening cankering away, similar to rot but the wood will still solid almost as though the wood has been burnt away with a blowlamp. Rum stuff this oak

 

[motolife313]

Thanks man! Pretty cool stuff I'm going to put some nails in the wood soon.

 

[Little Al]

If you can't positively identify the wood yourself you shouldn't be using a smoker. Go to the bookstore and get a good educational book on identifying wood, not trees and learn how to identify correctly. Posting pictures is a horrible way to get a true identity. Also go to a wood store that has verified samples to compare to. There are lots of variations and can fool the common person. Most Arborists can identify 90% of trees but are clueless when it comes to identifying wood samples. As someone who has a Degree in Forestry specializing in wood products I can attest it isn't always easy to identify wood. I have a shoebox full of samples for comparison

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OK so you're up to speed with identifying wood but others me included are a bit nearer the back row in this I thought your reply to Moto life was somewhat condescending & if in the future you require advice & an answer to a querie that res ponders if any treat you more kindly.I guess if you take that attitude to others questions it will possibly come back on you To me it wasn't what you said it was the way you said it, to a guy trying to expand his knowledge

 

[moondoggie]

Ok, let's start from the beginning. In your first post picture you have cherry on the left and elm on the right. The small tree you cut down in your yard is elm.
In your second post, the load of wood you have in the back of your truck looks like rock maple, aka black maple, aka sugar maple, depending on your region.
The cherry and maple is good for smoking with, while the elm is not.

It looked like maple to

Yep it's OAK
It"s a form of Chemical reaction between the oak & ferrous metal which will eventually corrode the metal away, that"s the reason why in wooden boat building days if the boat had oak for frames whatever, the fastenings were either copper or bronze, galvanized ferrous fastenings were used in some boats that the expected life span was not long, war ships etc. a ferrous fastening in oak that is constantly wet will have the wood going black the fastening eaten away & the wood around the fastening cankering away, similar to rot but the wood will still solid almost as though the wood has been burnt away with a blowlamp. Rum stuff this oak

Not true. All wood with steel does that.

 

[Little Al]

It looked like maple to

Not true. All wood with steel does that.

You could possibly get discoloration from wet unseasoned wood with ferrous fastenings but it will not be anything like the way Oak turns black