Had a nice little fire started last night, and found something....Well, strange. Was digging into my covered, dry-as-dust woodpile, and found some branches I'd helped a neighbor remove two years ago, after he'd pruned them off his mother's property. The trees they came off of looked sort of like a redbud, but I didn't bother to find out exactly what they were. Very smooth, medium-gray bark, fat oval leaves with a pointed end, heavy for their size, averaging about the same diameter as a corn cob. Figured they'd make acceptable tinder. I left them out the rest of the summer to dry as much as possible, and then stacked in the woodpile - And, when I found them last night, they were not only still damp, but they had some pale gray, ashy fuzz growing on them - While every single other piece if firewood near them was bone dry. No fuzz, no rot, no nothing. I threw them into the fire anyway, which was when I discovered just how un-cured they still were. They would NOT burn at first, even though it was a good fire. Piled more dry wood on top of them, and soon they were hissing and spitting and bubbling from the cut ends - but virtually no flame, while the other wood was blazing away. Finally crumbled, and left an unusually small amount of ash. Burned completely, not a speck of charcoal. Practically vaporized. Anybody have any ideas what kinda Frankenwood that stuff might have been ? Thanks.
I suggest you go back over to your neighbor’s house and ask him to photograph that beast, and then post a pic here.
Welcome to the forum, Snagg, And happy birthday! Could your branches have been sycamore? It has patchy light colored bark, and holds water a long time if not split.
