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This ones got me Stumped. Tree ID?

Started by YoungStump, September 01, 2014, 10:15:14 PM

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YoungStump

I've been cutting some firewood in our woods and came across these trees, I've seen them before but never gave much thought to species til now and it's driving me crazy! ???










Whatever it is it's a very hard and heavy wood.
Echo Enterprises 45HD2 production series band mill, Cook's Edger, sawing mostly pallet cants, rr ties, and grade lumber.

colincb183

Looks like Eastern Hophornbeam to me. Ostrya virginiana.  I don't know what you call it out there but we call it Ironwood here

WDH

That is exactly what it is.  Nice call, Colin. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Silvanus

"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot."  -AL

YoungStump

Thanks guys! I've heard people talk about Ironwood around here already, but I didn't know what it's supposed to look like, it did cross my mind that this might be it but thanks to you guys I know now.  :)
Echo Enterprises 45HD2 production series band mill, Cook's Edger, sawing mostly pallet cants, rr ties, and grade lumber.

wetdog

What I have always called "Ironwood" down here has a slick bark. I have never seen one that big. The leaf and the wood looks identical.

Andy White

Young Stump,
You have a great quantity of the best turning stock for mallets and tool handles that is available. Block some up and dry it, or tell anyone that does turnings and you will have a friend for life! Good looking stuff that is.
Andy
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

GAB

I cut one of those that was 51" in circumference at BH on my property a few years back.  I find that it saws well, however you need to slow down and let the saw chew its way through. 
According to a chart that I have Hop Hornbeam weighs 4250 #/Cord and has 26.4 MBTU/Cord.
The only wood listed that is heavier is Osage Orange at 4845/Cord and 30.0 MBTU/Cord.
For comparison Red Maple numbers are 3230 and 20.0 and Red Oak numbers are  3570 and 22.1.
Gerald
W-M LT40HDD34, SLR, JD 420, JD 950w/loader and Woods backhoe, V3507 Fransguard winch, Cordwood Saw, 18' flat bed trailer, and other toys.

SwampDonkey

Foresters up here in NB call it ironwood. When a college graduate tells his grandpa and uncle it's ironwood. They tell ya that's a new one. It's always been hornbeam since they've been on the planet. :D

It's excellent firewood, but prized for handle and tool wood in the past. My uncle used one as a whiffle tree for horse work.

I like it as an ornamental for the hop-like fruit sacs. It can be like beech and take over a sugar bush or firewood lot. Spreads like a weed and thick.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

Quote from: wetdog on September 02, 2014, 03:26:26 PM
What I have always called "Ironwood" down here has a slick bark. I have never seen one that big. The leaf and the wood looks identical.

Blue beech maybe. That's what they call in in southern Ontario. Different species.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

colincb183

If you're using it for firewood split it as soon as you can. If you wait till its dry, unless you have a splitter, its near impossible

curdog

I've heard of hornbeam and hophornbeam called ironwood. Around here the hornbeam is more common and is sometimes called muscle wood.

Dave Shepard

We have ironwood, but I think it's the blue beech, or carpinus caroliniana, that SwampDonkey is talking about.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

WDH

American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana, and hophornbeam, Ostrya virginiana, are both in the birch family.  The leaves of both species are doubly serrate. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

YoungStump

Great info. I only cut up 2 trees one was a blowdown and another standing dead. If I had known it I probably wouldn't have sold it for firewood. There's some more here and there thru our woods, and we also have some little trees with slick bark like wetdog described that I heard someone call ironwood once.
Echo Enterprises 45HD2 production series band mill, Cook's Edger, sawing mostly pallet cants, rr ties, and grade lumber.

davidlarson

This kind of conversation is one reason I love Forestry Forum
David L.

Dave Shepard

Is American hornbeam good for tool handles?
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

WDH

Not much good for anything that I know of.  However, a fiddle player once told me it was food wood for a fiddle bow.   
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

SwampDonkey

Which part, the string or the back? ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

VTFORESTER802

Its great firewood, we call it hardhack or iron wood. Split it up and stack it and give it a couple years. Such high density takes a while to dry. Once its dry, you get some wicked heat.

Kodiakmac

We call it ironwood in this part of Ontario too.  My kids called them warthog trees because of the carbunkles that grew out from the trunk around dead branch stems...they do look like the warts on warthog. 

Got the other kind too - blue beech.  I have never seen it very big around here.  Maybe 6 inches max.
Robin Hood had it just about right:  as long as a man has family, friends, deer and beer...he needs very little government!
Kioti rx7320, Wallenstein fx110 winch, Echo CS510, Stihl MS362cm, Stihl 051AV, Wallenstein wx980  Mark 8:36

Ljohnsaw

Interesting.  Not the same "ironwood" I knew growing up in southern New York state.  That "ironwood" was maybe 10-12" DBH for a really big tree, had deep furrowed bark, like a redwood tree, but yellow-brown color.  The wood was nearly impossible to cut green and you could just forget about cutting it when dead.  The wood was yellowish on the sap wood and almost black in the heart.  From what I remember (40 years ago!), it had lots of tiny leaves (1") set up like a fern leaf, making a fan about a foot long and a few inches wide.  Any idea what that was?  I remember it being used as posts in old outbuildings - it wouldn't rot that you could see.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Klunker

Quote from: ljohnsaw on October 21, 2014, 11:40:24 PM
Interesting.  Not the same "ironwood" I knew growing up in southern New York state.  That "ironwood" was maybe 10-12" DBH for a really big tree, had deep furrowed bark, like a redwood tree, but yellow-brown color.  The wood was nearly impossible to cut green and you could just forget about cutting it when dead.  The wood was yellowish on the sap wood and almost black in the heart.  From what I remember (40 years ago!), it had lots of tiny leaves (1") set up like a fern leaf, making a fan about a foot long and a few inches wide.  Any idea what that was?  I remember it being used as posts in old outbuildings - it wouldn't rot that you could see.

my guess would be some type of locust

SwampDonkey

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Ljohnsaw

Quote from: SwampDonkey on October 22, 2014, 06:38:43 PM
Sounds like black locust.

Thanks guys!  An old dog learned something new (sort of an old saying).
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

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