unknown logs

[pigman]

A tree service guy brought me these nice logs to saw last week. Can anyone tell me what kind of tree they were from? Please, no one tell me they came from a crooked tree.

 

[Tom]

The heartwood looks a bit like Hickory but the bark could also fit an old mulberry or even a black willow.  Both of the latter could also have a heartwood configuration like that. 

That's just a guess, cause I don't know.

[Radar67]

It's notsweetgum! 

[WDH]

Could be elm.

[pigman]

Radar is correct for sure. I will get a picture of some of the wood tomorrow if I remember.

[WDH]

If it is elm, it will have noticeable wavy bands in the latewood.  A closer pic of the bark would be nice.  They are a little crooked .

[pigman]

They are a little crooked

Yes they were, but the boards came out nice and straight.

[Ron Wenrich]

I'm leaning towards an ornamental elm, either Chinese or Siberian. 

[Gary_C]

It would have to be an elm to be that ugly. You going to make ugly sticks with that wood? 

Could be a rock elm. Would make some good handles. Hope you sawed some thicker than one inch. 

[WDH]

One man's elm is another man's elm  .

[pigman]

Some bark and a small scrap board I planed.

 

[metalspinner]

That wood looks like elm to me.

[Ironwood]

I thought elm too, but that bark is odd for elm. Perhaps an upper?

 Ironwood

[WDH]

Very elmy as you can see the wavy pattern of the latewood pores in the outer portion of each growth ring.

[pigman]

A picture of the end grain.
 


After talking to the tree service guy that brought the logs, Ron is half right.

[WDH]

Uh oh.  That is not classic elm.  Back to the drawing board.  Is the wood hard like hickory?  It really looks like pecan from the end grain, but that is definitely not pecan bark. 

[pigman]

The logs sawed about like red oak. Definitely not hickory or pecan.

[HOOF-ER]

Looks like what I call a red elm. Have some stacked up to saw.

[LeeB]

The wood kinda looks like honey locust.

[SwampDonkey]

Those upper sections look like a walnut (not black), but butternut is a real possibility. I'm seeing gray and brown interlacing in that sawed section. Looks like a lustre to the end grain shot as well. As far as looking at those rings from that first image, I've seen a number or species show that wavy edge to a ring, including butternut. The waviness of elm is in the late wood poor pattern across the ring, not so much the edge. I think we can rule out any hard elms as the early wood pores are very faint in those species. It's not American elm because the late wood pores are easily visible with their ribbon pattern in that species.

Bob, ya shouldn't wink in these tests cause it tells me you know already.

[Holmes]

Could it be chinese chestnut?  Holmes

[WDH]

By golly, my Dear Holmes, I think that you have got it  .

[pigman]

As Sherlock Holmes would say " it is elementary my dear Watson".
The tree service person said it was chinese chestnut, but I never complely trust those guys.

[SwampDonkey]

There ya  go, I can go with that I suppose.

[WDH]

Absolutely no doubt about it.

[SwampDonkey]

I'll have to show ya an upper on butternut.

[SwampDonkey]

Butternut here, is a more ash gray color, but similar bark pattern. The squirrels have been using this as a perch to shell spruce cones.   The tree grew on a sugar maple ridge on back of the farm.