[GrumpyGolfGuy]

I don't know if the pictures do justice but I'm trying to put a name to this wood type. It's from my barn dating to 1932. I'm sure it's not pine, color and smell are wrong
Thanks, Chris

 

[tomsteve]

lookin a bit mapley

 

[woodnek]

Poplar

 

[splintergroup]

I'd vote maple, but poplar is a possibility. You should be able to see lots of small pores with poplar, maple is quite pore-less.

 

[GrumpyGolfGuy]

I was thinking maple also. But the board seems kinda light weight wise, but it is 90 years old.
I take a closer look for pores though

 

[Phil32]

In 1932 a barn would have been built of local wood. It is likely that the wood is still grown in Beaverton, Michigan. What choices does that leave you with? I was born in 1932 but that doesn't qualify me to answer your question.

 

[GrumpyGolfGuy]

The 3 most I see are oak, maple and elm. And pine, lots of pine (lol)

 

[builtinbkyn]

Cedar elm

 

[JCamp]

By looks alone I would guess maple. In my experience though maple is fairly hard and heavy so with it being light weight it could be something else. It’s 90 years old though so it could just be very very dry. I’ve never seen poplar without a darkness or green hue to it so I wouldn’t suspect that. I have never heard of cedar elm that was mentioned above. If you know any real old farmers or carpenters that work on those old barns they wouldn’t probably have a better guess

 

[GrumpyGolfGuy]

After I ran it thru the planner my first thought, based on color and grain was maple, but the weight is off for what I know maple is. It's too brown for poplar but sure looks like maple to me. I know some farmers near by who are in their 80's, I'll have to check with them.

 

[Phil32]

After you have gotten ten different opinions on the identity of the wood, how will you determine which is correct? Will it matter if you are wrong?
I recall trying to identify a piece of wood I bought at a wood working shop in Nicaragua. I asked the owner the name of the wood. "Cenisaro," he said, and he wrote the name on a piece of paper. After returning home I took it into a local exotic wood store and told them the name. "That means 'ashtray' in Spanish," they said. They guessed it was some variety of Acacia.
A year later I was on another volunteer trip to Nicaragua. One of our co-workers was an expert on native trees of Nicaragua. He immediately identified it as Genizaro, a variety of Monkeypod.
But even that name has other connections:
Genízaro - Wikipedia

 

[CaptainKlutz]

Barnwood from Michigan in 1932?
+1 local species.

Since you mention pine, will assume it's soft?
What is density?
Could be one of the soft maples, silver and big leaf tend to have darker beige/brown tones. Might also be basswood/linden, elm, chestnut, or even willow if property had creek running though it. Close up picture of polished end grain will help differentiate the possibilities.

Willow can be easy to determine, as it has a distinctive smell when wet; often called cat piss, or a moldy urine odor.

FWIW - "Pine" from 1932 would most likely be old growth, which has higher density, hardness, with tighter rings of early/late wood. Managed softwood forests were not started in USA till 1940's. Softwood species like pine/hemlock/spruce; also tend to have strong amber color with age/oxidation, thanks to rosin content. I do not see any of these properties in the flat sawn pics shown?

Best Luck.

 

[GrumpyGolfGuy]

Barnwood from Michigan in 1932?
+1 local species.

Since you mention pine, will assume it's soft?
What is density?
Could be one of the soft maples, silver and big leaf tend to have darker beige/brown tones. Might also be basswood/linden, elm, chestnut, or even willow if property had creek running though it. Close up picture of polished end grain will help differentiate the possibilities.

Willow can be easy to determine, as it has a distinctive smell when wet; often called cat piss, or a moldy urine odor.

FWIW - "Pine" from 1932 would most likely be old growth, which has higher density, hardness, with tighter rings of early/late wood. Managed softwood forests were not started in USA till 1940's. Softwood species like pine/hemlock/spruce; also tend to have strong amber color with age/oxidation, thanks to rosin content. I do not see any of these properties in the flat sawn pics shown?

Best Luck.

You may be onto something there, I never considered soft maple, that would make sense. When I get back home I'll post a pic of the end grain.

After you have gotten ten different opinions on the identity of the wood, how will you determine which is correct? Will it matter if you are wrong?
I recall trying to identify a piece of wood I bought at a wood working shop in Nicaragua. I asked the owner the name of the wood. "Cenisaro," he said, and he wrote the name on a piece of paper. After returning home I took it into a local exotic wood store and told them the name. "That means 'ashtray' in Spanish," they said. They guessed it was some variety of Acacia.
A year later I was on another volunteer trip to Nicaragua. One of our co-workers was an expert on native trees of Nicaragua. He immediately identified it as Genizaro, a variety of Monkeypod.
But even that name has other connections:
Genízaro - Wikipedia

You're absolutely right, in the end the type of wood doesn't matter, just curious because I have a huge pile of it, My barn fell this past summer and I've been busy salvaging all that I can. I'm running out of storage at this point. Not a bad problem to have.

 

[KelleyCrafts]

Silver maple, looks like there are some spots where the ambrosia beetle got in there as well. Very small spots but I've had maple like that before.

 

[GrumpyGolfGuy]

Barnwood from Michigan in 1932?
+1 local species.

Since you mention pine, will assume it's soft?
What is density?
Could be one of the soft maples, silver and big leaf tend to have darker beige/brown tones. Might also be basswood/linden, elm, chestnut, or even willow if property had creek running though it. Close up picture of polished end grain will help differentiate the possibilities.

Willow can be easy to determine, as it has a distinctive smell when wet; often called cat piss, or a moldy urine odor.

FWIW - "Pine" from 1932 would most likely be old growth, which has higher density, hardness, with tighter rings of early/late wood. Managed softwood forests were not started in USA till 1940's. Softwood species like pine/hemlock/spruce; also tend to have strong amber color with age/oxidation, thanks to rosin content. I do not see any of these properties in the flat sawn pics shown?

Best Luck.

Here is the end grain. I'm pretty confident with all the input here that it's silver maple. I've been noticing that type of tree more these days

 

[jay1]

I believe it is the USDA-Forest Service, that has a service that will identify a wood sample. Last time that I used them, they had a limit of 3 samples per address per year. At that time there was no charge other than your shipping costs to get the sample to them. Check their website.

 

[rwe2156]

Ambrosia maple. IOW soft maple that's been bug damaged.

 

[northwoodsman]

Beech?

 

[GrumpyGolfGuy]

I believe it is the USDA-Forest Service, that has a service that will identify a wood sample. Last time that I used them, they had a limit of 3 samples per address per year. At that time there was no charge other than your shipping costs to get the sample to them. Check their website.

Thanks, I think I will look into this. It'll help identifying the wood from the barn.

Chris

 

[CFP]

Kind of looks like silver leaf soft maple to me. I’ve used some out of Missouri/Tennessee that had wider growth rings, lower density and creamier sapwood color than typically associated with red leaf or sugar maple.