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Sunday morning ID this tree game

 
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genuis edition: this tree was just cut down yesterday and the wood offered on CL. I went to get as much as I could. Primary plan is to use it for a hugel bed. backup plan is firewood!

I used my biology education to sleuth around for any kind of remnant leaf or any other clue...alas there are none but the size, bark, wood and location.

this guy was at least 40 feet tall with a havy trunk. The logs are quite heavy but may be from the moisture still inside. the different colored interior wood has me puzzled. This was a street tree in colorado springs so it may be one of the now 'unsuitable' species listed by the city forester as obviously it was planted very long ago. Hey there is a sycamore growing 20 feet away from it in another yard.

Super bragging rights if you can ID this. Consolation prize and much appreciation if you can at least tell me if this is one of the alleopathic woods. Have a great day!
tree2.jpg
40 feet tall with a heavy trunk
40 feet tall with a heavy trunk
tree1.jpg
this tree was just cut down yesterday
this tree was just cut down yesterday
tree3.jpg
Primary plan is to use it for a hugel bed
Primary plan is to use it for a hugel bed
 
pollinator
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Location: southern Illinois, USA
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wow! That looks like black walnut! Might be very valuable to a woodworker....
 
steward
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Location: Currently in Lake Stevens, WA. Home in Spokane
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Looks like it to me too.
Anybody in town make rifle stocks? Ka-ching!

If it's black walnut, it'll weigh over 3,000# per cord. & 20,000,000 BTU/cord.
Grab as much as you can before somebody else does!

 
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Location: SW KY--out in the sticks in zone 6.
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Honestly, to me, the bark is too deeply furrowed for Black Walnut. Looks more like a big ash to me. (Have a big one by the driveway-->3' in diameter, 60+' tall...one of equal size had to be cut down as it was leaning over the highway.)
 
gardener
Posts: 912
Location: North Georgia / Appalachian mountains , Zone 7B/8A
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firewood???

Drop by some local cabinet shops and see if they want to buy some of that. That is beautiful wood, whatever it is.

 
pollinator
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Location: Zones 2-4 Wyoming and 4-5 Colorado
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Hey Rich do you have any pictures of the smaller branches and buds? Were they a different color or bark pattern?

In Colorado there were a lot of cottonwood, willow, and white poplar ,planted that have bark like that.
 
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that's not black walnut, that is siberian elm, I'm pretty sure.
 
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Chinese elm.
Smells like sewer doesn't it?
Whitish Grey sap bleed out where it has been wounded in the past.
Very high water content.
Hit it with a splitting mall and you will see what a wooden trampoline would feel like, as it has a twisted grain and is hard to split.
Notice the v check mark in the center of the wood water will actually pump from this when cut from above (all the way until the stump).
Sewer smell on hands when handling it.
If you notice there is one growing in the neighbors yard in your picture.
This species is poor fire wood until very dry as the high moisture content is slow in drying out. Would be good if left to dry until next year though.
 
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My guess is elm as well.

Which species I'm not sure. It has elements that make me think it is Siberian elm and others American elm. We don't have Dutch Elm Disease in my area and there are numerous American elms remaining. I have cut one down and its wood looked very similar to that in the pictures. The last picture with cut surface shows very fast early growth, maybe too fast for an American elm but maybe not. The bark is a little bit rough for an American elm more like a Siberian elm. If the tree in the adjacent yard is the same species, the branching pattern looks more like an American elm.

Check the small branches in the upper part of the tree. On elms the buds just behind the tips will be dormant flowering buds and are noticeably larger than the last few buds which are vegetative. The flowering buds on American elm are much larger than the Siberian elm. American elm flower buds are 1/4 inch long and shaped like a pointed egg while on Siberian elm they are round and less than 1/8 of an inch.

I believe American elm wood has an interlocking grain and is very difficult to split.
 
Denis Huel
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Didn't realize this was an old thread. Hopefully you answered your query a long time ago.
 
Liar, liar, pants on fire! refreshing plug:
Heat your home with the twigs that naturally fall of the trees in your yard
http://woodheat.net
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