Please help identify this wood

marekz

marekz

Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Messages
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HELLO, I FOUND A FAIRLY LARGE SIZE PIECE OF WOOD on the road in a wood trash area. it was a crotch piece and i could not lift over the truck bed. so i let down the gate- and in she went. i just got home and expected nothing-it seemed old and crumbly. Question -what do you think it is--maple???
#2 the bark is coming off--should i take the rest of the bark off before I--seal
#3 should i anchor seal the enitire piece with the bark off-should i wait a day or 2. Im worried there is too much moisture and if i sealed it it would all just turn black like my pecan did.--thank you Marekz- the pics arent that great but its mostly solid through and through.
 

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Yeah, looks like spalted maple to me too. I would remove the bark and seal the ends with wax, an old candle works fine, and set it someplace inside for about a year. Then cut it to scales and send it off to be stabilized if it is not too soft from rot.
 
Hey Mark,
It looks like maple from the bark but a lot of others can look like that as well. You really won't know until you cut and see the grain. Whatever it is you scored.

Is the wood green or old dead stuff? Usually don't get that much blackline with live wood. If it is old dead wet stuff I would not seal it. If green wood, I would but just the cut surface.

I vote yes on removing the bark. Bugs like to hang out there. We use a pressure washer to remove bark on our wood.
 
Looks like maple to me too. My dad got his hands on a log like that and cut it down to "boards" for his own projects. Its spalted as well and I've been thinking about using some of it for handle scales. Seems hard enough to not need to be stabilized though.
 
hello, so what the consensus, the day i got it , i tpped it -it was pretting hard. on one piece though parts of the wood seemed spongy. i went ahead and sealed it and those spongy parts seemed to just soak in the sealnt. i covered all exposed areas-even the barkless areas. my bandsaw is not up and running yet, but i think i should cut it into smaller pieces and examin the inside. noe the spongy parts i gather are useles?should i take the seal off and just let it all air dry?Im sure is red maple. i was thinking of cutting it into 2' blocks with the chainsaw and then air dry it keep it sealed. No cracks are apparent on any corners-just the spongy parts are noticible???--thanks-mark--btw i want be getting to mess with this wood as far as sawing for while-just wanted to here some ffedback
 
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Larry D. Davis said:
Good!! The photo of red maple bark I sent to you matched up...nice.
Click to expand...

Yes Larry, it was a good match, Red maples are very common here in georgia. I learned 90% of the trees with leaf identification. As far as bark identification i know a few but im learning more and more. sycomore,beech. the oaks are fairly easy, i still get confused with the hickory family and others. Standing alone i thought that piece might have beed oak but i had strong doubts---thats why i even picked it up. i usually wouldnt mess with the oaks down here. After many times cutting into oak crotches and burls- i never really found anything interesting.--thanks for the photo-mark--i was asked if the wood was weyt--well out in the elements--so i sealed it up really good--i hope thats a good thing--mark
 
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When you do cut it up and seal it up, date the wood. It cures about an inch of thickness per year. Trying to stabilize wet wood is like trying to but=rst a water bomb. Everything gets really messy before it's over.

The wood looks like it will be really nice when it's all dried and stabilized. Just be patient with it.

Gene
 
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