# what species is this?



## leroy (Aug 24, 2010)

found in Florida,has very ruff bark, white wood. was very hard green and hard to cut. it was dried in a shady almost tropical spot covered with tin, after 2 years it has softened quite a bit and has spalded like crazy, some logs more than others. turns almost grity but has a unreal spalded look.
thanks:Leroy


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Looks like shagbark hickory to me. Like in your other post, that bark is not as pronounced as the shagbark here but I have seen a few trees looking just like that.



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## leroy (Aug 24, 2010)

i thought hickory to. when it was green i thought it would make good ax handles. someone said they thought Ash when green also.

Why would you think it softened up so much?
Leroy


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

I'm about 1/10 as smart as TT and 1/3 of even that with ID'n logs not native to my area but !dang! that bark looks like the pine trees round here. I'm sure there wouldn't be much confusion in person, but the general consensus round here is it looks like a cross between pine and pecan.

~tom ...it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt...


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## del schisler (Nov 5, 2009)

leroy said:


> found in Florida,has very ruff bark, white wood. was very hard green and hard to cut. it was dried in a shady almost tropical spot covered with tin, after 2 years it has softened quite a bit and has spalded like crazy, some logs more than others. turns almost grity but has a unreal spalded look.
> thanks:Leroy


Look like old florida pine. I live in florida and have a few on my lot's. Cut it and it will smell like pine ??? Doesn't look like water oak but if it is spolted it will be very nice looking.


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## leroy (Aug 24, 2010)

its definatly not Pine, from Fla anyway. i live in a forest of Yellow Pine. for one thing it has no sap.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

It is not pine. He said it'd been laying for two years. If it was pine it would be . . . gone. It would be a heap of bug doo by now. 




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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

leroy said:


> Why would you think it softened up so much?
> Leroy


Shagbark hickory logs don't last very long lying in the forest. Ash is worse. But that's not any kind of ash bark. 

The reason I ruled out pine immediately was because you said it had been down for 2 years. A pine tree will be so soft in two years it has already started caving in on itself, but a shag hickory will do exactly what you described. It will get soft (but not yet mushy rotten) and it will spalt. I know because I've dropped them before and left the higher sections - and a couple years later that's exactly what they do here too. get soft and spalt. But they are not usually workable at that stage. Cut a chunk and put a saw to it and you'll see what I mean.


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

I just brought home some silver maple (shagbark maple) with a bark near identical.
Mine looks very similar to red oak in the bark but a bit looser
Shagbark hickory has long sections of bark that hang loose, especially in drying form (and great soaked and thrown on bbq coals...hickory smoked). If hickory, the bark will have that odor when broken open.
I don't think there is enough photo to really tell what we are looking at.


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## leroy (Aug 24, 2010)

i.m thinking it is shagbark hickory. it is quite soft now and has spalted. im glad i decided to uncover it and check it out. Im turnning vessels out of it and they do make some pretty cool pieces. i coat with boiled linseed oil. like i said before it seems to cut kind of gritty, sounds weird i know but only way i can explain it. a few more months it would have been gone. was alot of work briging this log home,10 or so logs.
Thanks for all the input yall. im calling it shagbark hickory.
Leroy


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

It very well could be hickory but I see no "shagged bark".
Then again as I commented, the photo doesn't tell us much.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

aardvark said:


> It very well could be hickory but I see no "shagged bark". . . .


Keep in mind the log has been moved. If you've never moved a shag hickory you may not realize the long ends of the bark pieces get knocked off whenh you roll it on the forks and into the trailer, back on the forks at the mill (or wherever) and roll it around to wherever it needs to go. It most likely had plenty of shag. 

If not, it's likely one that just didn't get as shaggy as most do. I have seen that here a few times but my guess is it was "de-shagged" during removal and transport etc. . That pic is not great as you say but even from that I can tell it isn't pine on the end. Never seen pine with that color hue even if not rotten.





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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

Yeah, good point.
When I've stripped some shagbark, it leaves light areas where the bark was.
But if moved and sitting for a time, you make a valid point.


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## leroy (Aug 24, 2010)

in person it does have quite alot of shag bark. more on other logs. it was transported in a trailor for 30 miles and unloaded with a tractor which may have knocked off some bark. also rolled over some to load and unload. 

what region is shag bark hickory expected to be? ive been in florida 50 or so years and haven't came across before
leroy


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

Very common here in Illinois, as is red oak.
Actually my area is mostly oak, unless subdivisions plant in things to grow faster...so, the midwest for sure is loaded with them, and hickory nuts are very tasty (but a pain to get into).


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