+1 I'm leaning towards maple, but if it has the rays, there is no doubt it's oak. In the first pic, I do not see any rays on the end grain.
Yes, it looks like it had three trunks. At first glance I thought cherry by the way the tree had grown. Ive seen some oaks grow like that. I’m going to burn a few splits today. It’s in a hard to get spot. If it’s oak I’ll get it but if it’s cherry I’ll pass.
The leaf doesn't look like it's from an oak tree. The wood screams oak to me. The leaf might have blown in on the breeze.
I have no experience with a type of maple that will hold up especially laying on the ground. Lots of spalting usually. Is there a type that holds up to weather that I don’t know of?
First pic I was convinced it was oak, but after looking at the splits I am going with cherry. I have come across dead cherry that looked a lot like that.
I've seen cherry with that grain pattern. I didn't see the white stringy fungus or rays or the big open pores that oak should have.
Around my area, I have seen hard maple hold up for several years on the ground. That would be either sugar or black maple. Black maple is thought to be a subspecies of Sugar maple by some people. Norway maple holds up pretty well too, but it's not usually found in a forest setting. I see that you are really not that far from me. I see both oak and maple leaves in that 1st pic. That grain on the split piece is saying maple to me...
I see that where it fell seems to be on the top of a ridge, or at least a higher area? Maybe drier than other areas? Please let us know, as right now it's a mystery!
I have cut both dead white oak and cherry. The white oak will turn pinkish when air hits it. The end grain and splits look like cherry. The sap will rot off fast, but the heart dries out hard, can't drive a nail in it. Both are great wood. That is some great cooking wood...
Another way to get clued in is the size of chips coming from the saw chain. Oak chips will be noticeably smaller than Cherry or Maple.
25% moisture. Just noodled a piece. Looks like cherry to me. Going to put a couple splits in fire pit. The smoke will tell the story.
Awesome, I’ll buy the cherry conclusion. Here’s a picture of some black cherry I cut in October 2020. You can see the horizontal lines running perpendicular to the grain.
The fire is started and the wife says I’m cookin lunch! My priorities have changed though. Look at the BL in this brush pile!!!!! Also the wind blew HARD yesterday. Found a ash casualty.
That wood has a closed grain so not oak. I'd say it's an old stump sprout cherry. Probably been dead 20 years.
