Black walnut? If so best way to mill please..

[Talltom]

It bark and grain certainly look like it could be sassafras but that's not native to Wisconsin. Based on the fact that sassafras is an understory tree that seldom gets very large, the odds of finding a large specimen outside it's native range are low. My guess is back to burr oak. Leaves of both burr oak and sassafras are very distinctive and would help i.d. the tree.

Whatever it is, the plain sawn surface looks great, so just keep cutting it that way. If you cut it through and through and get ray fleck on the center boards, it's probably oak.

If you still can't identify the wood and really want to know, the International Wood Collectors Society probably has a member near you.

 

[cjk]

chestnut oak. any way to get some leaves from around the base of the tree?

No, this tree never had any leaves this year. That would help a lot though.

 

[WadePatton]

aroma, smell, odor, nose--whatever you want to call it. i promise you dozens and dozens of folks 'round here can identify the wood with a sniff of fresh dust. i'm one.

as wondrous as forums and visuals are, there's no substitute for the olfactory sense--even at the limited human level of smell.

imina say it one more time. if it smells like red wine (cabernet-not mogen david) OR TN/KY whiskey then it _is_ Oak.

surely to hell somebody has a bottle of jack you can sniff/compare. i personally don't care for oaked whiskeys.

Sass is more citrus-like and similar to Black Locust, but less cat-pissy.

Walnut, well eff that, i'm the only one who ever thought that, and that smell is much harder to describe to someone who hasn't worked known walnut before--like a 1972 Remington 700 stock...Cherry smells like Maybelline, toasted Persimmon smells like vanilla and sugar...

THIS is part of my BBQ making process-- _knowing_ the aroma of the woods i'm cooking with.


cheers and get to sniffing--find something that the dust smells like without clogging your sinuses then report that back here.

 

[smokinj]

aroma, smell, odor, nose--whatever you want to call it. i promise you dozens and dozens of folks 'round here can identify the wood with a sniff of fresh dust. i'm one.

as wondrous as forums and visuals are, there's no substitute for the olfactory sense--even at the limited human level of smell.

imina say it one more time. if it smells like red wine (cabernet-not mogen david) OR TN/KY whiskey then it _is_ Oak.

surely to hell somebody has a bottle of jack you can sniff/compare. i personally don't care for oaked whiskeys.

Sass is more citrus-like and similar to Black Locust, but less cat-pissy.

Walnut, well eff that, i'm the only one who ever thought that, and that smell is much harder to describe to someone who hasn't worked known walnut before--like a 1972 Remington 700 stock...Cherry smells like Maybelline, toasted Persimmon smells like vanilla and sugar...

THIS is part of my BBQ making process-- _knowing_ the aroma of the woods i'm cooking with.


cheers and get to sniffing--find something that the dust smells like without clogging your sinuses then report that back here.

After working with wood for many years I do not smell a thing.......Now people around me will smell a strong oder. Some even love the smoke smell. Cant smell it anymore either.

 

[lone wolf]

aroma, smell, odor, nose--whatever you want to call it. i promise you dozens and dozens of folks 'round here can identify the wood with a sniff of fresh dust. i'm one.

as wondrous as forums and visuals are, there's no substitute for the olfactory sense--even at the limited human level of smell.

imina say it one more time. if it smells like red wine (cabernet-not mogen david) OR TN/KY whiskey then it _is_ Oak.

surely to hell somebody has a bottle of jack you can sniff/compare. i personally don't care for oaked whiskeys.

Sass is more citrus-like and similar to Black Locust, but less cat-pissy.

Walnut, well eff that, i'm the only one who ever thought that, and that smell is much harder to describe to someone who hasn't worked known walnut before--like a 1972 Remington 700 stock...Cherry smells like Maybelline, toasted Persimmon smells like vanilla and sugar...

THIS is part of my BBQ making process-- _knowing_ the aroma of the woods i'm cooking with.


cheers and get to sniffing--find something that the dust smells like without clogging your sinuses then report that back here.

Walnut is in the olive family and fresh cut Walnut smells like Olives!Oak smells like aged cheese or Horse poop.And BTW OP that is Chestnut Oak no doubt!

 

[WadePatton]

aged cheese eh?

yeah, thassright he's up there(cheeseheadville). ...maybe bourbon whiskey isn't exported that far.

let's develop an odor-wheel tree identification system.

 

[gemniii]

aged cheese eh?

yeah, thassright he's up there(cheeseheadville). ...maybe bourbon whiskey isn't exported that far.

let's develop an odor-wheel tree identification system.

All I need is a scratch n' sniff field guide to trees!

 

[betterbuilt]

All I need is a scratch n' sniff field guide to trees!

Especially with so many woods smelling like Urine. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[cjk]

The smell to me reminds me of a load of new pallets. I don't know if any of you have ever built or worked with new pallets, but when we get a new load at work I can smell it as I walk in the place. That may not help much as I don't know what they are made of, some type or hardwood, but I also used to build timber frames and we used oak beams a lot. I didn't notice the smell much until it warmed up some but then the smell reminded my of pallets and timber framing. The smell doesn't seem as strong as when sawing other trees.

I agree with the posters saying oak. The rays, the grain, the smell. The color is what confused me right away as I haven't seen oak this dark.

Whatever it is, it is stacked and drying in the shed. Thanks for all the info and opinions guys. Tomorrow I will be dropping a few more smaller trees that I believe are oaks, but different than this one, so I will study and try to ID them before I post pics for you guys.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Great minds link alike...

Betterbuilt, thanks for the link to the wood ID. Those will come in handy for me.

 

[lone wolf]

aged cheese eh?

yeah, thassright he's up there(cheeseheadville). ...maybe bourbon whiskey isn't exported that far.

let's develop an odor-wheel tree identification system.

Alright yup lets.

 

[betterbuilt]

Betterbuilt, thanks for the link to the wood ID. Those will come in handy for me.

No problem.