Wood ID?

[Does’ Leap]

I cut a large, old tree that was in serious decline. I was relatively sure it was white ash, but I often have trouble with older trees whose bark changes in mysterious ways (at least to my eye). I took a 14′ log to a local cant mill to be sawed into poles and the sawyer was unable to identify the species. They are a softwood mill but do a fair bit of custom hardwood sawing. He suspected it might be green ash, but wasn’t sure. Below are some pictures. Any ideas?

George

[Ed Thayer]

Hard for me to tell, but I do know Basswood looks very familiar to old ash.

[Carl Russell]

Why do you think it isn’t white ash?. Green ash wood would be so similar, that it would be insignificant.

Basswood is defuse porous, while ashes are ring porous. This wood looks to be ring porous.

We need an end-grain shot.

Carl

[Does’ Leap]

Sorry Carl, I never got around to an end-grain shot you requested. I had a fellow up to my farm with his wood processor. He has been logging for 40 years and identified logs from the same tree – “without a doubt” – as basswood. I had a bunch of 3 1/2″ poles sawed out. Any thoughts on using them? I generally taper my poles but could leave them untapered to increase strength.

George

[Author]

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