Getting to be nice enough to wander the woods a bit...

Prometheus wrote: snip

I haven't found a bark ID reference yet that's both portable and useful. Most I've seen aren't either. Bill Gumbine has a video out onhis website,

that will takeyou from log-on-the-ground to bowl-in-your-hand. Standarddisclaimer, yada yada yada. I stock up on fallen wood so that Idon't have to do glue-ups. Makes my wife a bit testy at times,but she calms down when I make presents on demand.Dave in Fairfax

That's how my dad used to do it. He always shook his head when I couldn't -- but I did not walk the woods every day..

We have a number of books on trees here. Last time I got one I looked through it to make sure it had bark characteristics -- it was so-so as I recall.

Try Lone Pine Publishing -- Trees of Ontario is I believe re-cycled under another name for US audiences.

has a tree for leaves and twigs -- but no tree for bark. No pun intended. They call a "tree" a "key" - for obvious reasons of avoiding confusion I guess.

Strange you should mention it. Just came in to brew up another cup before doing just that. In my case, from a neighbor's heap. He got veneer trims, some of which were 24" or so in length. As the bark was still firm, the end checks run in about 2-3 inches at most. Makes about 18" available to me, which is 2" more than the 3000 can handle. I'm cutting circles with the chainsaw where the depth will exceed the 6 1/4 " available at the bandsaw, trimming the endgrain to the approximate slope of the remaining long-grain contour to reduce weight and promote balance.

Aside from that, any split firewood is a potential treasure. Once split, it loses its tendency toward radial checks as long as the surface is sheltered. Not uncommon to set aside pieces rather than using them to feed the furnace at my house.

Check with your county extension service for lists of trees native to your area, so you can limit your search through whatever book you choose. Field Guide series are pretty good.

In answer to your last question about turning firewood, I would at least make sure it's out first since there are already heat issues during sanding. Just kidding...

I wouldn't be afraid to tackle anything at least once. I've personally turned some cherry and walnut I grabbed before it got thrown into the fireplace as well as even getting my hands on some mahogany and some Spalted and Tiger Maple that was from skids at work.

They turned rather well and the pens I made from them never split from drying out further.

On one occasion, I brought home a skid that came in under some tools we imported from Japan. The wood was a tropical hardwood that I couldn't really identify but it had some great color!

Prometheus wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

======================== Pallets are a good source of free hardwood. I hear recently (I don't know the accurracy) that over 70% of the US hardwood went to build pallets. That sound like an enormous amount, but every thing you buy comes from the factory on a pallet or in a box. When I worked for a German company, I was able to get lots of good Black Forest hardwoods from the shipping boxes. They build great boxes to transport big medical equipment across the Atlantic. Fire wood can have some great pieces if you learn what to look for. In the spring in Texas you can follow behind tornadoes and get some fantastic pieces, and they may even pay you to take it away. They say every cloud has a silver lining, even those nasty funnel shaped ones. Been lucky so far this season, just a few tornado watches, but the next 2-3 weeks is usually the worst for big storms here. Then maybe I can restock my mesquite pile. :-)

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

some trees are easy to id from bark alone (paper birch would be a good example). most are not. for most species i have not found pictures of bark in a book to be very helpful. one book that i have found to be verry helpful is Taunton's "Identifying Wood" by R. Bruce Hoadley. HTH

That's not the first time I've heard of that one- I'm going to have to pick it up, I think. Thanks for all the good replies- now hopefully work stays slow for another couple of weeks so I can get out there and hunt for wood!

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Hello (Find a way)(to find some wood ?)

I do turn wood that was destined to be burned, chipped up or just left to rot. I also (pat myself on the back here ) do know a lot of trees by just looking at them, bark, shape, twigs and flower and leaf all help to get the probable answer, still scratch my head often enough though. Then I use a couple of books I have to get answers and also extend the number of trees I will recognize. Two of my favorite books are, The Audubon Society field guide to north american trees (Comes in a eastern and western region volumes) and my most favorite one, Trees in Canada, it covers native and introduced trees in Canada and the northern US, this one is sold by Lee Valley. It shows growing region, size, shape of trees, flowers, seeds/berrys/fruit, mature bark and young bark in large pictures, it also describes the wood in a lot of cases, like weight strength and color of the wood. It is a HAVE TO HAVE ONE, and not just for people that work with wood in the raw, imo. I get more wood than I can turn, and take some to the monthly turners club meeting to be raffled of, the city here has a lot where logs are dumped, and you can find all kinds of wood there, just for the taking, there is probably some place where the local park or road crews dump their wood, and that would also be a good place to visit, beside the woods.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Prometheus wrote: