Wood ID help needed

[272super]

Hi, I'm from northern Indiana. I'd like some help getting an id on some wood I've been splitting. The wood has been sitting unsplit for a few years,is still very heavy and is also pretty stringy when splitting so not that easy to split. I don't have any bark to help id. It has a distinct smell to it that I'm not familiar with. Not a pleasant scent,kind of musty, hard to describe. Not oak. I'm guessing some type of elm or maybe Hickory? Thanks for any help.

 

[Turkeyslayer]

White oak

 

[Tash329]

I second that.

 

[Blackbruin]

ahhhhh. barkless white oak.

 

[Whitespider]

White Oak my achin' butt... that there is Red Elm (Slippery Elm)... And I know what I'm talkin' about.

 

[stumpy75]

White Oak my achin' butt... that there is Red Elm (Slippery Elm)... And I know what I'm talkin' about.

I have to agree that this is not oak.

I'm not real familiar with Red(Slippery) Elm, but I know it's not oak. We do have a lot of Slippery Elm around here, but I have not cut a lot of it. Never had the chance...

 

[Guido Salvage]

Here are the pictures:

While it looks weathered like oak, it appears too stringy to me.

 

[Hedgerow]

White Oak my achin' butt... that there is Red Elm (Slippery Elm)... And I know what I'm talkin' about.

Does the elm you cut split that clean? That seems too perfect. Notice the outer layer on the splits. It's weathered, but you can still see the grain... My head hurts... He needs to smell it and tell us what he thinks... Whiskey barrel? Or funky? Or nothing at all?

 

[stumpy75]

It has a distinct smell to it that I'm not familiar with. Not a pleasant scent,kind of musty, hard to describe. Not oak. I'm guessing some type of elm or maybe Hickory? Thanks for any help.

OP did mention an odor.

 

[Stihl-in-Ky]

That is red elm they have been dying here in No. Ky for the last several years.They die and then the bark falls off it is a good firewood tree the straight grained part of the tree will split good but if there is any knots at all it is tough to splt.I cut several this year that had fallen down in the woods where I have been cleaning up after loggers,The land owner said I could cut all the tops and any thing that was dead,I would say they were down 3-5 years min. and were still solid.
and yes they have an unplesant odor.:msp_smile:

 

[Hedgerow]

OP did mention an odor.

Red Elm it may be then... But that grain is great... The ones I get around here just ain't that pretty. But then again, they ain't growing in wood lots or groves either. That may play a big factor in grain... I'll just have to yield the floor to WS on this one since that's his primary wood...

 

[redoakneck]

Redoak splits very clean. If it is stringy and you need to run the ram to the end to split it then I say elm.

Redoak smells like cat pee to me.

 

[AIM]

Looks like red elm to me as well. The lengthwise cracks and blackened outer shell kinda clinches it for me. I've been wrong before though.

TAKE ALL YOU CAN GET!!!