Need help id-ing hardwood log w/ powder post problems in my barn

[Kelvin]

Hey was wondering if this type of wood might ring a bell with anyone.  We don't have any bark and the beetles have done a number on the structure, but one big tell tale sign is the trunk itself.  The pattern on the log is similar to the pattern of an ash tree with its bark, i call it ski tracks, kind of a herringbone pattern.  We have stripped the bark of evey type of tree we could think of and found nothing like it.  The reason we want to id it is b/c it is an infection point in my old timber frame barn and the local timber frame restoration specialist says only beech in his long history has been a problem with harboring ppb in timber frames, and this is not a standard beech at all.  We checked a beech log w/o its bark and it is smooth, so is ash.

We live in central michigan so it has to be a type of tree that grows locally here.  The section of the barn was put up in the teens and is a whole log type floor joist.  I'm going to treat it w/ borax, but we are really wanting to know what other species, like this are host species to chronic infestations of ppb in spite of low moisture content.

THe one other tree the log reminds me of is Hornbeam, or muscle wood, iron wood, or the sort, though the pattern on the log is too uniform to actually be this tree.  Does this ring a bell with anyone?  Sinew like looking a bit, but definitely harraingbone, and constistant.  The wood is soft, and obviously suseptable to infestation.  It feels as soft as some pines, the grain is really mild, with hardly and ring deferential between late and early wood.  Not oak, hickory, maple? Box elder does not have the truck pattern that i know of.  It is a very smooth light colored wood.  Poplar doesn't seem to have the pattern.  Where do we find out if no one here knows?   Thanks
Kelvin

[beenthere]

You can send a sample of wood to the Forest Products Lab (One Gifford Pinchot Dr.) in Madison, WI (53705) to get it identified. Try to get more than just a sliver, but something the size of a wood clothspin would likely be helpful. They have the worlds largest collection of wood specimens at that Lab, and the cost is free, last time I checked, as long as it consists of a reasonable number of pieces. The last number I have for them is 608 231-9200.

[Furby]

Kelvin,
I have PPB in my pine/spruce/ or fir (not sure what they are) and also some hard maple logs outside.
I'm not sure your timber frame guy is "in the know".

[Jeff]

Basswood bark looks very much like Ash.

[Tom]

Talking about having wood Institututionally Identified. 

Most State Universities will do it too, along with insects, grasses, flowers, disease symptoms, etc.

You can take a piece of your wood to the county Forester and get an ID  sometimes too.

You're supposed to get info like that from the cooperative extension service (county agent), but, I never had too much  luck with that department.

[pigman]

You're supposed to get info like that from the cooperative extension service (county agent), but, I never had too much luck with that department.

Tom,  does your county agent have a brother in Ky. We have one here that is not much help.

[Kelvin]

Think we got it.  Just looked at cottonwood and its look is the same pattern on the log under the bark, its got the sinewy thing going on, soft, i'm sure bugs love it!

I think what my timber framer is saying is that in the right, dry conditions ppb will not persist unless they have a type of wood to be a host.  THey will sample other things, but are they infested year after year, while also remaining less than 20% MC?

I will try take it to MSU as its nearby, just to check.

Thanks for the replies

KElvin

[SwampDonkey]

Kelvin, up here almost all red maple has that wavy pattern in the butt log for 2 or 3 feet up. It's curly grain and sometimes it will continue throughout the log. Red maple would be heavier than cottonwood though. Also can be found in sugar maple and yellow birch , but not as common. I see it alot at our local Marketing Board wood yard, when the butt end has been scraped or peeled by mechanical injury during logging.