# Split wood ID



## ADAM SMITH (Feb 7, 2019)

Alright y'all,  as I asked in my introduction for some help identifying split wood I had on hand. I'm in East Tennessee. The wood with the reddish core I think might be hickory but the light colored wood I'm not sure. Thought it might be elm but I no longer think so,  maple maybe?  Anyways tried to include as many pics with possible identification as possible,  bark,  ect. Thanks!


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## Preacher Man (Feb 7, 2019)

Ah, you fooled me. I thought you were advertising split wood in Idaho. I got way too excited!

Sorry, I can't help with the identification.


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## SecondHandSmoker (Feb 7, 2019)

Did you try burning a couple of splinters from each?


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## ADAM SMITH (Feb 7, 2019)

SecondHandSmoker said:


> Did you try burning a couple of splinters from each?


Ah!  No but that's a brilliant idea!


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## SecondHandSmoker (Feb 7, 2019)

Just going by your pics, the first does look like hickory. But I'd be hard pressed to say which species.  
The other does look like maple but could be a red maple.
My eyes aren't the greatest anymore, so that is why I suggested burning some splinters and then you'll know for sure.


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## yankee2bbq (Feb 7, 2019)

The pics with the bark: maple.


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## ADAM SMITH (Feb 7, 2019)

SecondHandSmoker said:


> Just going by your pics, the first does look like hickory. But I'd be hard pressed to say which species.
> The other does look like maple but could be a red maple.
> My eyes aren't the greatest anymore, so that is why I suggested burning some splinters and then you'll know for sure.



So does that mean that red maple is undesirable or just not typical?  I guess the same for hickory?  Does it matter what kind? I mean as long as I don't get bad flavor,  I'm just getting started so I'm just looking to learn as of now.


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## yankee2bbq (Feb 7, 2019)

ADAM SMITH said:


> So does that mean that red maple is undesirable or just not typical?  I guess the same for hickory?  Does it matter what kind? I mean as long as I don't get bad flavor,  I'm just getting started so I'm just looking to learn as of now.


From the research that I’ve done, all maple is good to smoke with. It a soft wood and will give a lighter smoke. I have a silver maple in my yard that I trimmed last spring and plan on using that this summer in my smoker.  You just have to make sure is it is dry.  Hickory is great to use in the smoker. It is a hard wood and will give a pungent smoke.
Hope this helps.  
Also, for the future, if the tree you got this wood from is still standing, a picture of it’s blossoms or leaves would definitely help in identifying the tree type!


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## SmokinVOLfan (Feb 7, 2019)

Where are you at in East Tennessee?

I love in E TN also and might be able to help. Where did you get the wood? Looks a lot like red oak to me but could also be hickory maple etc...


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## SonnyE (Feb 8, 2019)

Preacher Man said:


> Ah, you fooled me. I thought you were advertising split wood in Idaho. I got way too excited!
> 
> Sorry, I can't help with the identification.



I bet you were half way to your truck when you realized...


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## SonnyE (Feb 8, 2019)

I won't second guess what wood you have Adam.
I want to see much more. I want to see the tree (s) it is coming from, the leaves on the trees, etc.

This is what Hickory looks like to me.





If it isn't, I know who to go throw it at...


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## ADAM SMITH (Feb 8, 2019)

yankee2bbq said:


> From the research that I’ve done, all maple is good to smoke with. It a soft wood and will give a lighter smoke. I have a silver maple in my yard that I trimmed last spring and plan on using that this summer in my smoker.  You just have to make sure is it is dry.  Hickory is great to use in the smoker. It is a hard wood and will give a pungent smoke.
> Hope this helps.
> Also, for the future, if the tree you got this wood from is still standing, a picture of it’s blossoms or leaves would definitely help in identifying the tree type!





SmokinVOLfan said:


> Where are you at in East Tennessee?
> 
> I love in E TN also and might be able to help. Where did you get the wood? Looks a lot like red oak to me but could also be hickory maple etc...



Fellas I don't know where the wood came from,  a couple of years back my wife got paranoid of a cold winter and we bought a load and had it delivered,  that's where this came from. I'm pretty decent at identifying trees still standing,  especially with leaves still on,  haha. 

Volfan I'm from Knox Vegas baby!


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## Preacher Man (Feb 8, 2019)

SonnyE said:


> I bet you were half way to your truck when you realized...


You're dad-gum right I was! It's so hard to find hardwoods up here in Western Montana.


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## LanceR (Feb 8, 2019)

I'd advise against using it for smoking foods.  Some of the pieces have fungus on the bark and the fifth picture of the soft maple(?) split held sideways shows the dark streaks of "spalting" from fungus stains.  That wood had gone too far down the road to decay to be any good for smoking.

If you see maple with the leaves still on it look at the "valleys" (sinuses, really" between the lobes of the leaves.  Hard (Sugar) maple has rounded sinuses and soft (Red or Bigleaf) maple has V shaped sinuses.  Personally I prefer hard maple for smoking.


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## SecondHandSmoker (Feb 8, 2019)

ADAM SMITH said:


> So does that mean that red maple is undesirable or just not typical?  I guess the same for hickory?  Does it matter what kind? I mean as long as I don't get bad flavor,  I'm just getting started so I'm just looking to learn as of now.



You can use red maple for smoking too.  
As for the hickory, it won't matter what species.
It's all good.


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## SmokinVOLfan (Feb 8, 2019)

ADAM SMITH said:


> Fellas I don't know where the wood came from,  a couple of years back my wife got paranoid of a cold winter and we bought a load and had it delivered,  that's where this came from. I'm pretty decent at identifying trees still standing,  especially with leaves still on,  haha.
> 
> Volfan I'm from Knox Vegas baby!



Knox Vegas! There’s a few on here from our area. How bought that basketball team man


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## chopsaw (Feb 8, 2019)

It's so hard to tell by pictures . I see some that looks like hickory to me , the light stuff I wouldn't cook with , but I also see some of the pics that look like they could be wild cherry .


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## motolife313 (Feb 8, 2019)

What kind of leaves are on the ground near the wood? And what kind of trees are around it? All same kind?


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## ADAM SMITH (Feb 8, 2019)

motolife313 said:


> What kind of leaves are on the ground near the wood? And what kind of trees are around it? All same kind?


I don't know I bought it from a 3rd party


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## smokin peachey (Feb 8, 2019)

I wouldn’t be scared of that small amount of fungus. You could always clean off the bark. The wood with the dark center almost looks like walnut but the bark isn’t. I would give it a try.


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## tbrtt1 (Feb 8, 2019)

**DISCLAIMER** I ain't no expert:

But..., the lighter colored wood is maple, and it is spalted. This is a very desirable trait for guitars since it stains well and makes a gorgeous finish. Hence the reason I recognize it easily. Can't attest to the darker wood, but looks like hickory to me. Hickory ain't used for guitars so I don't know much about it other than I like it in my smoker. 

Safe to use for BBQ? I will leave that to more knowledgable folks than me. Who knows about your specific load of spalted maple. Spalting looks different in different woods so if you run a stick burner you're bound to have thrown a spalted split or two in the firebox. But again, I will defer.

As for the funky stuff on the bark, I'd hatchet that bark off before using the piece. I typically remove the bark for my splits before I toss them in the firebox unless a particular split is stubborn.


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## ADAM SMITH (Feb 8, 2019)

tbrtt1 said:


> **DISCLAIMER** I ain't no expert:
> 
> But..., the lighter colored wood is maple, and it is spalted. This is a very desirable trait for guitars since it stains well and makes a gorgeous finish. Hence the reason I recognize it easily. Can't attest to the darker wood, but looks like hickory to me. Hickory ain't used for guitars so I don't know much about it other than I like it in my smoker.
> 
> ...



I like your thinking...


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## ADAM SMITH (Feb 9, 2019)

Well it looks like I'm stuck with the good I got for my 1st run. Cut it down to fit in the smoker. About 99% sure it's hickory, I'm fairly certain it's either hickory,  cherry or red oak and I don't think any of those are bad for smoking so we're going to give her a shot.  Cut all the bad parts out....  Let's see what happens. .


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## dave schiller (Feb 9, 2019)

The "funky" stuff on the bark is lichen.  Perfectly normal.


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## Murray (Feb 13, 2019)

ADAM SMITH said:


> Alright y'all,  as I asked in my introduction for some help identifying split wood I had on hand. I'm in East Tennessee. The wood with the reddish core I think might be hickory but the light colored wood I'm not sure. Thought it might be elm but I no longer think so,  maple maybe?  Anyways tried to include as many pics with possible identification as possible,  bark,  ect. Thanks!



https://ag.tennessee.edu/fwf/Pages/default.aspx

Go visit these people, take a tray of smoked goodies and samples of your wood.  I’m assuming Knox Vegas is really Knoxville?


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## ADAM SMITH (Feb 13, 2019)

Murray said:


> https://ag.tennessee.edu/fwf/Pages/default.aspx
> 
> Go visit these people, take a tray of smoked goodies and samples of your wood.  I’m assuming Knox Vegas is really Knoxville?


Yes, lol


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## Murray (Feb 13, 2019)

ADAM SMITH said:


> Yes, lol


We have a place in Northern Alberta that’s called Fox Vegas


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## Fueling Around (Mar 11, 2019)

yankee2bbq said:


> From the research that I’ve done, all maple is good to smoke with.
> ...


Sorry to answer late.  New to forum and way too many categories of threads to read on a regular basis.

There is one group of maple that is not desirable for smoking, box elder.  I don't like the flavor.
I prefer the maples that the Yellow Bellied Sap Suckers prefer. They won't touch box elder.


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## yankee2bbq (Mar 11, 2019)

Fueling Around said:


> Sorry to answer late.  New to forum and way too many categories of threads to read on a regular basis.
> 
> There is one group of maple that is not desirable for smoking, box elder.  I don't like the flavor.
> I prefer the maples that the Yellow Bellied Sap Suckers prefer. They won't touch box elder.


Thank you for that reply.  I wasn’t thinking about subspecies of the maple.


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