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Wood ID?

Tom Albrecht

Tom Albrecht

Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Messages
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Location
Evanston, IL USA
I am cutting up some storm damaged trees for firewood. Here are a couple of shots of a wood that is new to me in Western Wisconsin. It is very white all the way through, cuts easily with the chainsaw, and splits easily. There are no leaves left to id. The only idea I can come up with is Big Leaf Linden?
white chain saw dust - 2.jpg white log - 2.jpg
 
Tom,

Do you have any pictures of the small branches, the structure of the small branches can sometimes help in identifying a tree species.
Leaves, seed pods and nuts are the other key to helping identify a tree species.
The height of the tree can also help narrow the search if the tree was mature.
The smell of the wood can help with certain species of trees.
There are several web-sites that list trees by state and region that can also help narrow the search.
Do a google search in the image section with the tree type you expect it to be and you will find some images of the wood grain.
 
According to the Forest Products Laboratory, domestic hardwoods can be identified by examining the grain pattern. Things like pore size, whether it is ring porous, diffuse porous, whether the pores in even rows, "W" pattern rows, random, wood color of sapwood and heartwood, etc. Bark thickness and pattern also help to narrow the selection. I usually get out Hoadley's book Identifying Wood to ID wood.
 
I've played around with Hoadley's book "Identifying Wood" -- in theory all you need is a sharp knife, a 1/2" cube of the wood, and a hand lens plus the ID photos in the book. I haven't had 100% success, but it can sure tell you if you're on the right track.

The other local option I've used is to ask an arborist or the city groundskeeper who is in charge of trees...wealth of info there. Good luck!
 
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Definitely not Maple (too soft , too white, no distinct grain) and too big for Aspen. This had a trunk base over 30". I showed some locals and we're going with Basswood
 
if it is basswood......the facegrain would need to be hit with sanding sealer before sanding 220 grit.......the facegrain would not have to be perfect surface toolwize, but the sanding sealer and 220 grit u will be happy with the surface
 
Tom it has been an almost lifelong obsession to ID all kinds of trees, just part of growing up with a family tradition of tree cutters and tree maintenance on my mothers side of the family, it is still that way in my native Netherlands where my mother side of the family is still doing this with all kinds of modern equipment, working for cities, government and private consumers.
boomrooierij-weijtmans.jpg
http://www.boomrooierijweijtmans.nl/foto-video/videos/

I’ve turned a few pieces of Linden and yes while it is fairly soft, I don’t remember having problems turning it, I got just one picture here of a rough turned turned Linden bowl
Basswood bowl.jpg

I also have the Woodbook by Romeyn Beck Hough, and at page 748 it gives info on the Linden/Lime family, and if you have to ID a linden tree with the pictures that are printed in there, I’d say good luck.
The discription:
“Wood light, soft and tough.
Heartwood pale brown or often tinged light red; sapwood scarcely distinguishable.

That is all there is, I rather see a standing tree, so I can see what it is.
 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Leo. The bulk of the tree was split for firewood, though it probably doesn't have much in the way of a btu rating. I did put aside some larger chunks to try on the lathe, as I do with most heating wood when I am cutting.

BTW, does the family prefer Stihl or Husqvarna?
 
Tom Albrecht said:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Leo. The bulk of the tree was split for firewood, though it probably doesn't have much in the way of a btu rating. I did put aside some larger chunks to try on the lathe, as I do with most heating wood when I am cutting.

BTW, does the family prefer Stihl or Husqvarna?
Click to expand...

You are very welcome Tom.

I don’t really know Tom, I know they use Stihl, but wouldn’t be surprised they use both, just to have all the options available, after all the professional series from both are very good machines.
 
Leo Van Der Loo said:
Thanks Andy 🙂

I did come here once in a while not being a member, never found much going on here, as it seems to be one of the least used turner forums around, don’t really know why.
Click to expand...

Hey Leo, Do I recognize you from another forum-- the one where your avatar photo looks like you are holding a child?
 
Leo Van Der Loo said:
Tom I have used one with one of out grandchildren (we have 9) this one
View attachment 21072

and this one Bill is referring to 🙂)

View attachment 21073

and a few different ones, just trying to keep up with me and myself 🙄
Click to expand...

Talk about a diversion-- I always start them somehow-- we have 13. One of them is pictured with me on the Robust website with my new lathe.
 
Got nine but that is subject to change without notice. My son has five. He didn't like little kids when he was growing up. Must be the spring water.
 
Tom Albrecht said:
I am cutting up some storm damaged trees for firewood. Here are a couple of shots of a wood that is new to me in Western Wisconsin. It is very white all the way through, cuts easily with the chainsaw, and splits easily. There are no leaves left to id. The only idea I can come up with is Big Leaf Linden?
View attachment 21055 View attachment 21056
Click to expand...

Besides examining the end grain and comparing bark and color, there are two other things you can do:

1) Cut a square block and measure the volume then weigh it. The Wood Database lists dry basswood at 26 lbs/cu ft. The soft maples I checked are heavier, between 33 and 38 lbs/cu ft.

2) Send a small sample to the US forestry wood products laboratory. They will identify up to 5 samples per year at no cost for US citizens.

If it is "northern" basswood it is valuable to chip carvers and other wood carvers. I have had slabs shipped aat a significant cost from Wisconsin to TN for carving. Southern basswood is generally coarser, probably due to faster growth, but may still be useful to carvers. For firewood, I read somewhere that all wood has nearly the same btu content for the same weight - it just takes more volume of lighter-weight wood.

JKJ
 
Thanks John

I have a couple of 16" X 6' logs left if you are interested.

As far as the BTU rating, you may be right on that. But when filling a wood stove, the size of the stove combined with the wood species obviously limits the heat output.
 
John K Jordan said:
2) Send a small sample to the US forestry wood products laboratory. They will identify up to 5 samples per year at no cost for US citizens.
Click to expand...

Thanks, John. That's terrific! I'll be trying that out in the future for sure.

I think it was the same lab that IDed a charcoal tree my oldest son found still standing upright and in position in an eroding bank. Our USFS Geologist came out to the remote beach, took a sample and sent it off to a bunch of labs. It was buried in a volcanic ash deposit just over 13K years ago, and they confirmed our guess: Sitka Spruce.
 
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