Top blown

[Al Smith]

I didn't even know this thing got wind blown until yesterday .I got no idea when it happened except it's got a top full of died on the vine leaves .So it must have been in summer .

I just couldn't leave that widow maker .My Lawd if that thing got one of my grand kids I could never forgive myself .
I got no idea what it is though .Not hard like an oak and not soft like a basswood .

Must have been ,70- 80 feet because I got two 16's and a 20 log out of it plus whatever the blown top was .

 

[gf beranek]

And you got a clear saw log out of it to boot. Would make some nice boards I suspect.

 

[Al Smith]

True but I'd like to know what it is . If it had green leaves I could figure it out but just bark and dark heartwood I'm clueless .

 

[MasterBlaster]

I see an interesting coffee table in there...

 

[Altissimus]

Nice Hazard Reduction Al

 

[Tucker943]

Elm

 

[Al Smith]

It's not elm that I can be fairly sure of .Now there are scattered little elm saplings here and there but the remains of dutch elm disease kills them by the time they get 6-8 inches in diameter .Now those SOB's are hard as a rock dead .

There's like a little nut like seed pod of a sorts in those leaf clusters .The dried out leaves I first thought of beech but the wood is too soft and the bark doesn't match up .

 

[Cobleskill]

Could be Chinese Elm. American Elm tops rarely blow out. The bark looks a bit chinesey. I haven't cut enough to remember what the heartwood looks like.

 

[Tucker943]

Butternut

 

[woodworkingboy]

Al, is there anybody around that can identify wood, like some agricultural research place or something? Some species require a systematic identification process that is more than just the basic exposed appearance. It sometimes can be hard to decipher, the experts look at end grain, sometimes with a lens.

 

[Underwor]

When you said the leaves looked like beech, I wondered about a stray American Chestnut. Bark and wood color would match. We used to find the rare one in the woods in central and southern IL.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I defer to your expertise, Bob, but the wood color sure looks dark for Chestnut, at least compared to what we have in these parts.

 

[Cobleskill]

I am not sure what chinese or siberian elm wood look like but the leaves are similar to beech. I would think id could be done with dried out leaf.

 

[woodworkingboy]

What about Pecan or some other member of the Hickory genus?

 

[Cobleskill]

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/elm.htm

Siberian Elm does have a dark heartwood. The bark looks similar and they do break out tops and limbs.

 

[pigwot]

Not chinese elm, maybe Kentucky Coffee Tree?
Gymnocladus dioicus, is a tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to the midwest of North America.

KentuckyCoffeeTreeImages

...although the bark does look more like Ulmus pumila, Siberian Elm...

 

[vharrison]

I see an interesting coffee table in there...

Me too!

 

[flushcut]

My gut says elm, but I will be waiting for the final answer.

 

[Al Smith]

According to what I see referenced on the net the bark matchs ,the dark wood matchs but the fruit pods do not with Ky coffee .In addition it says the coffee tree has little sap wood but this thing must have an inch and a half of light colored wood on the outside .

What ever it is I'll snake out the logs and cut a couple cookies about 3 thick off the stump and drown them with anchor seal .It has a nice rich brown coloration to the wood I'll have to say that .

Gotta get that dang bandsaw mill built .

After thought : I'll just trot a chunk of this stuff down to the sawmill which is 5 miles away .They should know if anybody .

 

[Al Smith]

I should have known but over looked the fact the top was wind blown before the leaves matured .Bitter nut hickory .

One of the northern cousins to a pecan and related to a walnut which explains the nice color .According to the man at the sawmill it's prefered over shag bark because it has tighter growth rings .

I've got several more in the woods but being more matured the bark has taken on the criss cross pattern .Those are pushing 100 feet and 36" at the cut .Learned something today .

 

[woodworkingboy]

I thought that it had the Pecan vibe. Wood tells it's tale.

 

[Al Smith]

The dead give away was when he sawed it on an end cutter saw they use to end trim boards to length .Then I smelled the hickory smell .Fact he was even stumped for short while until he made the cut .

BS'd with the lumberman a while and he showed me a small stack of American elm which I thought had all but disappeared but evidently they find a few here and there every so often .The largest log was only about 18" though which is a far cry from the 3 and a half footers I remember as a kid .

 

[pigwot]

So it is a hickory. Nice heartwood color/grain. We still have large American Elms out here, though their ranks keep dwindling. I heard elm is good wood for toolboxes and crates. The City of Baltimore planted tons of Red Elm a hundred years ago or so, all of which died. A local wood carver salvaged a lot of that and used it for quite nice, life-sized animals which are very detailed.

 

[Al Smith]

It's about splt proof plus it will bend like a noodle where as oak will just break .They used to use it for things like wagon tongues and stock gates .

As it dries elm gets lighter and oak really doesn't seem to loose much weight .Just stays heavy forever .The older you get the heavier it gets too let me assure you .

 

[pigwot]

Sadly I know all about that; my shoulders and back hurt just watching these young fellas hefting pieces of oak into the truck...