Wood ID - ash?

Re: Wood ID - ash?

Ellis Walentine

>The bark and the color and the ring-porous structure could easily be white ash, but there's not enough detail in your photo to draw a firm conclusion. Where are you? Is ash common in your area?

Ellis Walentine, Host

Re: Wood ID - ash?

Don O.

>Bark looks like it could be Hackberry, related to Elm. Hard to tell from this photo though.

Sorry, I never met those logs before. :-)

Ray Carson, New Jersey

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Re: Wood ID - ash?

Dale Stansbery

>The bark definitely looks a lot more like hackberry than ash to me, but it's hard to tell from the photo. The white wood could be either, though I've cut hackberry that ranged from white to a light greenish yellow.

Re: Wood ID - ash?

Keith Newton

>I am with Don, it looks like Hackberry, or Sugarberry.

Re: Wood ID - ash?

Dale Stansbery

>BTW, hackberry was used in some furniture 100 years ago that people mistake for ash today. I have an antique commode that I'm 99% sure is hackberry, so it can be a useful wood.

Re: Wood ID - ash?

K. Goring

>I'm in Southern Illinois, definitely ash and hackberry country.

Re: Wood ID - ash?

Dale Lenz

>The picture HIGHLY suggest hackberry/sugarberry, all lumber is called hackberry. Hackberry trees can usually be ID from a distance because of the warty growth on the bark, as is the case, large area of white wood. I feel safe in what I'm seeing, as hackberry. Of course, nothing is as good as being there to view the logs. Dale

Re: Wood ID - ash?

Ted Wong

>The ash bark has a more regular varigated texture.

http://demeter.hampshire.edu/~treeproject/whash02.htm

and the hackberry bark isn't so regularly varigated.

http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/image/c/ceoco2brlarge30988.htm

Re: Wood ID - ash?

Larry Clinton At Frankfort (Central)., Indiana

>Sure looks like Hackberry bark to me. IMHO Hackberry generally doesn't have quite the pronounced grain figure of Ash, it is a very white wood. When I was heating with wood, I cut and split a lot of Hackberry. It is a very common wood in central Indiana. Hackberry is a member of the Elm family. Attached are links to pictures of the elm and hackberry bark.

http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/ceoc.html (hackberry)

http://www.pbase.com/hjsteed/bark_elm (elm)

Re: Wood ID - ash?

Grant Smith

>Based on going through this with my sawyer a few weeks ago, the bark on the log at left appears to be Hackberry or possibly locust.

Hackberry bark looks like vericose veins sort of running up the otherwise mostly smooth bark. Ash bark (at least green and white ash) is a closely meshed series of intersecting bark lines. Looks like a net of bark to me.

I'll post some pics to clarify:

The first is White Ash bark

Re: black locust bark

Grant Smith

>Black locust

Re: Hackberry bark

Grant Smith

>Hackberry

Note that when the tree is younger there is a lot more smooth area on the bark than raised areas. The tree shown is older and thus has closely spaced ribs or veins.

Re: younger hackberry

Grant Smith

>younger hackberry.

Note the areas of smooth bark between the ribs or veins. The smooth areas grow smaller as the tree matures.

for a certain ID...

Grant Smith

>Cut a portion of the wood about 4 or more inches long and thencut it in your shop to see the side grain. Smooth the cut with a jointer (if your piece is long enough to do so safely) and then take a picture of the grain and post that for us.

Hackberry lumber is a useful furniture wood. Often mistaken for Oak or Ash by antique shops, it works and finishes fine. It can be difficult to dry straight, so make sure to use plenty of stickers and weight if you have it milled. It must be dried quickly and carefully by someone knowledgeable to prevent sticker stain. It turns and carves nicely.

FWIW...hackberry boards

Thanks all. I have declared it hackberry.

K. Goring

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