I filled the last tote with this wood. I have a lot of it on my property. The heart wood is a lot darker and very stringy. The bark has a greenish tint to it, and has quite a bit of moss on it typically. I've split a lot of Shagbark Hickory, and this is a similar stringiness but definitely isn't Shagbark. Is it Elm?
The bark could certainly point me towards Elm, but the heartwood looks darker than the Elm I'm accustomed to seeing. I do know that Red Elm (slippery Elm) can have a pretty dark center at times and there can always be regions with unique characteristics. Elm usually stinks like cat urine or something similar....... Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
Looking at pictures of bark online, i still think it’s Elm. Or possibly Bitternut or Pignut Hickory. It’s unlike any Maple I’ve ever split before, but it’s possible.
This is the best I can do to to show a similar heartwood pattern and color from a red maple tree that I took down in my front yard. Bark can be a bad indicator.
Here are some more pictures I noticed as the tree goes up, the bark gets much smoother and the branches are smooth. They almost look like Birch. This is the actual top of the tree that the first pics splits came from
Got any pics of the buds? I suspect they are opposite each other on the branches. Elm, birch and Hickory trees are alternately arranged.
See that last picture where the twigs are opposite each other? That is an indicator that it is not elm, birch or hickory. Two common trees that have opposite leaves and twigs are ash and maple... I still say red maple... This is a good site. But a little difficult to navigate without leaves... What Tree Is That? Tree Identification Guide at arborday.org
You might be able to bring one of the twigs inside, put it in a glass of water and try to get the buds to open to see what the leaves look like inside. Being close to spring, it might work. also, watch for deer. They love to eat the buds off of red maple trees... especially if there is a lot of snow on the ground. Obviously not the case now..
I think you’re right. Not only are they opposite, but they are one of the only red bud trees I could find and are egg shaped buds, where trees like Oak and Hickory have pointed buds. How does Red Maple stack up as firewood?
It’s a mid grade wood. Dries relatively quickly. I’m happy to use it on all but the coldest days of the year. Some use it for shoulder season if they have plenty of better wood such as oak, hickory or black birch.
Are you certain those are the buds from that trunk? The buds do look like Maple but I've never seen maple wood that was stringy like that, exactly like Hickory is. Shagbark Hickory bark is pretty unique among the Hickories, most of the them are very different, much more like the bark you are showing, though from bark alone, I don't know if Hickory would be my first choice. Is the wood ring porous? A couple close up and closer up pictures of a good clean slice of the endgrain would help a lot. Preferably through the darker heartwood.
It is definitely the same tree. I was confused as well. I’ve never split stringy Maple before, but none of the buds for hickory of any kind look like these. Neither does Elm. I’ll go out tomorrow and see if I can get other pics.
This is a different log/tree but I'm 95% sure its the same type of tree. This one was sitting for a number of years and mostly rotten. Wasn't able to get much good wood from it. The heartwood lightened up and rotted away in part of the log.
Red Maple. I have a ton of it growing here. Two trees just feet apart will have completely different bark. They cross breed with other maples easily. I burn it almost exclusively...sometimes it's stringy. Sometimes it's a twisted mess. And other times it splits into pieces equal to dimensional lumber. Cut it. Split it. Stack it. Burn it.
