Update on the mystery orange wood thread

[Hedgerow]

I googled up some pics of mulberry bark and the texture seems to vary quite a bit. Check out the Paper Mulberry and Red Mulberry.

Google

Hmmmm.... About 50% of the wood I cut this year is Red Mulberry... It's quite yellow when cut fresh, and dry's gold/tan after a few months being exposed. There is one characteristic I forgot to ask DeeJay about. When it was cut green, did the pieces ooze a sticky white sap?

 

[wackydeejay]

Hmmmm.... About 50% of the wood I cut this year is Red Mulberry... It's quite yellow when cut fresh, and dry's gold/tan after a few months being exposed. There is one characteristic I forgot to ask DeeJay about. When it was cut green, did the pieces ooze a sticky white sap?

No, there was no noticeable sap oozing. The inside was just really wet just like the live red elm I've cut.

 

[3fordasho]

Looks just like the siberian elm I have too much of around here, both the fresh split and the dried split. I've got some fresh cut unsplit rounds in the back of my truck right now. If I remember I'll split some later and post pics of it.

 

[Dale]

I read the posts in you other thread on your mystery wood. It's kind of hard to believe some of the guesses that came up. I am very familiar with Locust, Oak, Elm, Cherry, Hickory, and Osage Orange (monkeyball). All were guesses (and wrong I may add). Your pictures are very good and show a superb indication my friend that you have Hornbeam. The pic that shows the dark split "meat wood" denotes the wood in a very wet, just split state. Your second pic shows the typical "chocolate" type appearance once it starts the drying process. A couple of things 1. If you split this wood when wet, it smells like SH$%, I'll guarantee ya that. 2. If you lift a moderate sized round, you will think it is lined with lead. A verrrrrrrrrrrry dense wood indeed.

What I CAN'T tell you would be the burning properties (although you can look it up). I never burnt this wood because of how it smells when split... fearing spousal retribution.

 

[Hedgerow]

I read the posts in you other thread on your mystery wood. It's kind of hard to believe some of the guesses that came up. I am very familiar with Locust, Oak, Elm, Cherry, Hickory, and Osage Orange (monkeyball). All were guesses (and wrong I may add). Your pictures are very good and show a superb indication my friend that you have Hornbeam. The pic that shows the dark split "meat wood" denotes the wood in a very wet, just split state. Your second pic shows the typical "chocolate" type appearance once it starts the drying process. A couple of things 1. If you split this wood when wet, it smells like SH$%, I'll guarantee ya that. 2. If you lift a moderate sized round, you will think it is lined with lead. A verrrrrrrrrrrry dense wood indeed.

What I CAN'T tell you would be the burning properties (although you can look it up). I never burnt this wood because of how it smells when split... fearing spousal retribution.

Thank you Dale... I was beginning to pull my hair out! By the way, Hop Hornbeam is second only to Hedge in BTU's among Eastern hardwoods. So feel free to "Stink things up"

 

[Dale]

Just looked at the burning properties, and YIKES, as I suspected, it is extremely high in BTU's. Second only to Osage Orage (monkey ball tree in my parts). What I DON'T know, is what it would smell like when burning. I would also think that fresh wood will need TWO (2) seasons to completely dry after splitting due to how dense it is.

 

[wackydeejay]

I read the posts in you other thread on your mystery wood. It's kind of hard to believe some of the guesses that came up. I am very familiar with Locust, Oak, Elm, Cherry, Hickory, and Osage Orange (monkeyball). All were guesses (and wrong I may add). Your pictures are very good and show a superb indication my friend that you have Hornbeam. The pic that shows the dark split "meat wood" denotes the wood in a very wet, just split state. Your second pic shows the typical "chocolate" type appearance once it starts the drying process. A couple of things 1. If you split this wood when wet, it smells like SH$%, I'll guarantee ya that. 2. If you lift a moderate sized round, you will think it is lined with lead. A verrrrrrrrrrrry dense wood indeed.

What I CAN'T tell you would be the burning properties (although you can look it up). I never burnt this wood because of how it smells when split... fearing spousal retribution.

I kind of like the smell of it. It's not nasty like the red elm I have split! This is definitely a strong-smelling scent, though. It is definitely heavy stuff while wet. Thanks for the input!

 

[wackydeejay]

Just looked at the burning properties, and YIKES, as I suspected, it is extremely high in BTU's. Second only to Osage Orage (monkey ball tree in my parts). What I DON'T know, is what it would smell like when burning. I would also think that fresh wood will need TWO (2) seasons to completely dry after splitting due to how dense it is.

Seems like the stinkiest wood actually smells pretty good when it's dry enough to burn. Odd, huh?

 

[Dale]

By the way, Hop Hornbeam is second only to Hedge in BTU's among Eastern hardwoods. So feel free to "Stink things up"

Not married are ya ? :msp_tongue:

we musta been postin at the same time.

 

[Hedgerow]

Not married are ya ? :msp_tongue:

we musta been postin at the same time.

Yeah, I am... But I'm a little weird... And she knew what she was gettin'.. I'm an "indiscriminant burner"...:msp_thumbup:

 

[Dale]

Seems like the stinkiest wood actually smells pretty good when it's dry enough to burn. Odd, huh?

You make a good point my friend. Fresh split oak smells like..... well....... :cool2:

 

[wackydeejay]

Yeah, I am... But I'm a little weird... And she knew what she was gettin'.. I'm an "indiscriminant burner"...:msp_thumbup:

Crazy man with a chainsaw, huh? LOL

 

[wackydeejay]

You make a good point my friend. Fresh split oak smells like..... well....... :cool2:

That's a fact. Same for red elm. I can't stand the smell of it freshly split, but I got to burn a couple of pieces of it recently that were dry. It's not bad at all. People around here use it to smoke beef. Who would have thought?

 

[Hedgerow]

That's a fact. Same for red elm. I can't stand the smell of it freshly split, but I got to burn a couple of pieces of it recently that were dry. It's not bad at all. People around here use it to smoke beef. Who would have thought?

I just took down the biggest Elm I've ever cut. Growing in the open for 97 "Rings" has given this tree some strange characteristics. Since you've been dealing with some Red Elm lately, can you confirm this as red? Or just a mystery?

[/IMG][/IMG]

 

[Dale]

I ain't him, but it looks it to me. Goodness is that huge for an Elm. I have one growing on my farm at a field edge that is very big, but not THAT big. To me, once Elm hit that silly big diameter size, the bark seems to take on different characteristics, and makes them a bit harder to ID.

Her in SW PA, I target the Elm trees that have Dutch Elm for Morel Mushrooms. Not sure if you've heard of em, but.... yum.

 

[Hedgerow]

I ain't him, but it looks it to me. Goodness is that huge for an Elm. I have one growing on my farm at a field edge that is very big, but not THAT big. To me, once Elm hit that silly big diameter size, the bark seems to take on different characteristics, and makes them a bit harder to ID.

Her in SW PA, I target the Elm trees that have Dutch Elm for Morel Mushrooms. Not sure if you've heard of em, but.... yum.

Morels? Oh yeah... Very tasty... As far as the Elm, I assumed it was an American Elm due to size, but the more I mess with it, the more I think it might be Red... Oh and it smells like horse manure... Here's a pic of a pic of a chunk I've been carving on.

 

[wackydeejay]

I just took down the biggest Elm I've ever cut. Growing in the open for 97 "Rings" has given this tree some strange characteristics. Since you've been dealing with some Red Elm lately, can you confirm this as red? Or just a mystery?

[/IMG][/IMG]

Yes, sir. That right there is red elm!

 

[Dale]

Here's atip for ya. When you see a standing dead tree with no bark left on, look close and see if you see wormlike paths on the tree. I believe those are made from the larvae of the killer if I'm not mistaken.

 

[wackydeejay]

Here's a big ol' red elm trunk I cut up a few weeks ago.

View attachment 179223

 

[Geez]

Here's atip for ya. When you see a standing dead tree with no bark left on, look close and see if you see wormlike paths on the tree. I believe those are made from the larvae of the killer if I'm not mistaken.

Dutch Elm Disease only attacks American Elms. There are many different kinds of borers and they leave different tunnels behind them. The American Elm Bark Beetle and the European Elm Bark Beetles carry the Dutch Elm disease fungus in the tiny hairs on their shoulders. They then feed on tender new shoots and rub their shoulders into the wound, almost as if they were TRYING to infect the tree. Maybe they are, because the only place they can reproduce is under the bark of a dead or dying elm. One 6 foot log can produce as many as 600,000 beetles.
The female burrows under the bark laying eggs as she goes, and dies at the end of the tunnel. As the eggs hatch the larva eat their way away from the main gallery growing as they go, and finally emerge at the end, where they fly to the top of the tree (or a different one) to infect it.
The way the eggs hatch and progress creates unique "galleries" that kind of resemble centipedes. If the main gallery tunnel goes with the grain, it is the American Beetle, if across the grain, it is the European.

Elm Bark Beetle

I used to be 'in the business' many years ago when the disease nearly wiped out all our elms.