Another Lumber ID thread

I should mention that what really baffles me, is no sapwood/heartwood boundary…. it seems to be the same consistency all the way through!

-- I'd rather be a hammer than a nail

That looks a lot like Palo Verde, but to my knowledge, it only grows in arid climates. That wouldn’t be spalting if it is PV. Does it smell like you stepped in something a dog would deposit? ............. Jerry (in Tucson)

-- Jerry (in Tucson) www.woodturnerstools.com

Any pictures of the bark or the tree’s shape before cutting it down? How big was the tree?

-- Nathan, TX -- Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

Jerry, it does not have much of a smell that I can detect, including while cutting and planing.

Nathan, The logs were about 12” across. At the base, maybe 16” across. Height – not certain, as it was in my neighbors’ back yard. As to shape, they did mention that it was unusual in that it didn’t have much “spread” – they felt like the branches didn’t reach out very far compared to the typical trees here.
Pics of bark, on the live edges of what I have milled:

-- I'd rather be a hammer than a nail

Lots of magnolia around here, endgrain looks similar.

But magnolia bark doesn’t look like oak bark.

My guess I’s some ornamental like China berry

-- Hunter, Houston TX

The bark and color look like Elm to me. Rapid spalting is pretty common in Elm as well IIRC.

-- Kenny, SW VA, Go Hokies!!!

My guess I s some ornamental like China berry

- HunterDS

I’ll have to respectfully disagree with the Chinaberry – it has a much more open grain and is redder:

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I don’t know if it grows down there or not, but your tree kind of looks like a quaking aspen inside. The bark on QA’s is kind of funny – it looks like birch on the younger growth, but turns “oaky” looking as it ages. Its a real soft wood. I’ve seen a lot of punky (That’s a wood cutter’s name for spalted, lol) quaking aspen, which I just get frustrated with, since I burn it for firewood, and it doesn’t have many BTU’s…

-- Pete

Spalder a.k.a. Spalted Alder.

-- "You know, I'm such a great driver, it's incomprehensible that they took my license away." --Vince Ricardo

spalted beech?

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I looked up quaking aspen, and noticed it has a low Janka hardness – softer than pine – and this wood I have is definitely soft. So QA is definitely in the running.
Perhaps I’ll never know… or I’ll just say Spalder ya dope!

-- I'd rather be a hammer than a nail

John that’s definitely not aspen bark. Aspen bark is really quite smooth.

basswood?

-- if it is to be it is up to me

Possibly cottonwood. Are there any dead leaves on the ground near stump?

-- Bondo Gaposis

Bark doesn’t look quite right to me for cottonwood. It usually lighter/grayer in color and more deeply furrowed in a tree that large but the wood grain and upright/non-spreading habit look like a possibility. Cottonwood and quaking aspen are in the same genus (Populus) so the wood might be similar.

-- Nathan, TX -- Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.