Wood ID Help

Hey everyone! Been a while since I've posted but I have a new species in my wood yard that I can't nail down. I have a guy who is dropping wood at my place from a lot he's clearing about a mile down the road. So far he's left me about 8 dump trailers worth of wood and he says he's going to drop probably another 10 in the next couple of weeks. It's a pretty sweet score and ought to leave me with about 3 years worth of wood.

Being in SE South Dakota we don't have a whole lot of variety in our tree species. I can ID pretty much all the wood he's dropped off - it's mostly hackberry, mulberry, ash, elm, and black walnut. The attached photos are of the one species that's giving me fits. I'm guessing it's from an ornamental or wind break tree someone planted as I've never seen anything exactly like it growing naturally around here. My guess it's either some kind of locust or maple. It is very dense and heavy, heavier than the other species I've mentioned. Any help would be appreciated!

P.S. AI thinks it's red oak...

 

Looks like oak to me. Can you post a pic of a split piece?

 

I don't have any experience with the wood you have in your neck of the woods, but it does look like oak from here. After looking at a few species maps on line I don't see that red oak is native to South Dakota, but it doesn't rule out some species of oak. Can you see medullary rays in the cut? Does it smell vinegary?

 

Well maybe AI was right. The only oak I've ever gotten around here is burr oak which looks different from this. The inside of the splits has kind of a pinkish color.

 

Pretty confident that is oak!

 

Doesn't really have a smell to me but I don't have the best sense of smell. Not seeing the rays either.

 

Nice! Well if it's oak I'm stoked. Oak is really hard to come by here and I've got two full trailer loads of it. Must have been an ornamental or windbreak tree that someone planted. These don't grow native around here.

 

Yeah a pleasant surprise for sure!

 

Thanks for the help!

 

I’m 100% seeing honey locust…

 

Oh man. Good call! Looks nothing like the locust that I am familiar with but looking up photos online it definitely could be!

 

I agree 100% with Eric. Honey locust

 

HONEY LOCUST FOR THE WIN!!!
Im totally with the Locust crowd. Good wood with about equal dry time as Oak. You will like it.

 

Definitely not oak. I agree with honey locust. Were there any thorns? The honey locust around here is nothing but thorns

 

With my aging mind I’m never 100% sure of anything but I’m with Eric, that’s honey locust LOL
Sort of rare around these parts unless you find someone knocking down cultivars that were planted as ornamentals.
Do keep an eye out for thorns. Even the cultivars bred as thornless can sometimes sprout an errant batch. And we’re not talking about a prick from a Rosebush here. You can kill a knight in armor with one of those spears LOL
Darn good firewood tho. I’d be happy to get it.

 

Honey locust X6 (I think) Excellent btu's, BUT needs a looooooong time to dry. Ideally 3-4 years once split for optimal burning and heat output. Splits easily. I will stack alone or with oak and hickory that need more than a year to dry as well.

 

Honey locust is a very common commercial landscape tree around here. Hydrid thornless variety. Im still not 100% sure they grow wild here. My last score of it from April 2025 had the huge thorns. If yours were thornless you lucked out. Here's that thread for wood comparisons.
A Thorn in my Side

 

I've found a few wild ones that sprang up close to the planted parent trees. Rare sight but it does happen. If there's a few planted close to each other cross pollination can happen.

 

I'm with the crowd, first thing I thought of was HL and the split confirmed it for me. I prefer it over oak myself.