I was thinking this is black gum, anyone know? Good firewood or not? I know sweetgum smells bad when burned and doesnt split well. I do not at all think this is sweetgum. This wood is real heavy! Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
RUN,Run away fast. Got some this spring and it is the most miserable stuff to split. Don't know how it burns. Did some research on it and it was the only tree the settlers wouldn't cut down. Taking slabs from the outside was the easiest way to split.
Do you have any pictures of leaves? The pictures of the 2 smaller rounds (bark and end grain) is either live or water oak... great wood. Don't know about the big chunks on the truck.
Farmer Steve, I know around here, they have over the past decade or so logging every gum they can find... sweetgum and black gum. I don't know how they use it, maybe they chip it up. I think it brings even more than pine. Or maybe hardwood is hardwood these days around here... the gums being 'same' as oak, load-wise. Just load and sell it all together as hardwood? I don't know for sure, need to talk to a timber guy around here. Sweetgums grow uber fast and get real big around here. Black gums can get pretty big but I don't they grow as fast. Sweetgum is like weeds. Even if you could split it readily, it stinks upon burning, so, forget it for a campfire! Jeff, dang it, no leaves, I found it at the tree dump, a tree service dumped it. It isn't water oak, I am uber familiar with that tree, I cut quite a bit of it around here; as for live oak, I don't think it's that either but I am not certain on that one. It doesn't grow native around here, it's only planted in yards and along lanes/roads. As for what I put on my truck, the bark on some of the other pieces that were too muddy to get... is very dark brown. Closest thing I could surmise is black gum. I am going to go look at a black gum in my brother's yard. One thing for sure... when black gum gets real mature (big), the bark is very deeply furrowed... whatever that's called. Seems like I recall it can even look kinda like an alligator. Yeah... here is an image of mature black gum... https://www.carolinanature.com/trees/nysy0036.jpg
That picture is black gum. What you have on the truck isn't...I bet it is some type of oak, looking bar the Ray's across the growth rings, split a piece and show that...I did get some Japanese oak from a friend one time, very heavy and similar to that bark.
Looks like the red oak we have around here. Black gum isn’t terribly heavy and is absolutely miserable to split
