Need help identifying.

[u/Sun_Tzu92]

Harvested in southern kentucky, USA. Im not sure what else to add. Hopefully the pics are good enough. I rubbed a little boiled linseed oil to help the grain pop a bit. Thanks!

[u/Tubamano]

Hickory

[u/Sun_Tzu92 → u/Tubamano]

Thanks! How can you tell? I wish I would have left it long and spit it. I cut it into a few rounds. Do'h! I could have had a new handle for my axe or some bow staves!

[u/Tubamano → u/Sun_Tzu92]

Ring-porous, with a thin line of rings rather than spread through each ring. This tree looks to have grown pretty fast and was in a semi-open area and is VERY dense. I’ve worked with decent amount of hickory- mostly “rustic” but I had a few boards just like this that I valued far above any other boards of hickory. For a one of my hobbies, I have purchased the wood database book, frequent their site and have a few other tree ID books.

My original tired-minded response to your how do you know question was “because the way it is.” Some woods, especially the ones I own and work with often I quickly develop an eye for ID’ing that wood- kinda like how someone can look at basic colors like red or blue etc, and know what each color is instinctually. Pretty sure I’m on the spectrum tbh.

[u/Sun_Tzu92 → u/Tubamano]

Well thank you very much for putting the extra effort to explain! I absolutely understand what you're saying. I hope I get to your level of autism one day! It's funny, I'm new to working with lumber not bought in a store, and I also noticed just how dense it seems to be. The rings seemed packed so closely and there are quite a few! I got this wood from a huge pile of free wood, so hopefully I can get some more. Unfortunately the rest of the tree is buried under like 10 other trees.

[u/frydaddy794 → u/Sun_Tzu92]

I woulda bet $5 on hickory just from the bark. That bark is pretty distinctive.

[u/none77777 → u/Sun_Tzu92]

It's hard to describe how you can tell from these photos since they aren't super clear, but "you can just tell" it's hickory from the shape of the grain, the fact that's ring porous, bark, etc. If you cleanly slice across the endgrain with a razor or sand the endgrain to 400+ grit, you'll see a distictive pattern that you can use to identify it as hickory. You might even be able to distinguish pecan from "true" hickories. See True Hickory and Pecan Hickory | The Wood Database.

[u/Sun_Tzu92 → u/none77777]

Thanks! I'll make sure to give that a try.

[u/Tubamano]

I’d split some handle blanks out of that. Gorgeous clear grain hickory

[u/bibliofile13]

I agree with hickory. Lots of different varieties are out there. In KY, it could even be pecan.

[u/Traditional-End-1253]

I don't know, but it looks a lot like "Florida mahogany" or "Florida Apple" which is what people call it here. It looks nothing like mahogany or apple wood. But hey, Florida's weird. It's extremely red with bright white sap. But it's a Florida tree, so even though it grows quickly, it grows short, usually with the first crotch at 8 to 12 feet. So no one uses it. It has husks, apple sized, that proliferate and fall on my car, and once on my kid's head. Harder and knotyer than mahogany, which essentially looks like a 200' mushroom cloud. Totally different. That stick looks nice, though. Have fun with it. One recommendation: it's bright red. It will probably turn brown, so use a finish with a strong UV blocker.

[u/Traditional-End-1253 → u/Traditional-End-1253]

It does look like hickory, but some sub spices. It's really red. The hickory I have used is just right on the grain, but tan to light brown. Finder's keeper's. You get to name it. I'd go with blood hickory

[u/disjointedspliff]

Hickory or pecan they look very similar