# Saved from the wood stove



## JR Custom Calls (Apr 23, 2014)

Free craigslist find. She thought it was hackberry, but the guy cuttin it up for firewood thought it was catalpa. Any thoughts? It's really pretty wood.



















And yes... I need to get my bandsaw tuned better. But... I'm still learning it.


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## woodtickgreg (Apr 23, 2014)

Doesn't look like Catalpa.


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## phinds (Apr 23, 2014)

Is there some reason you did not post a face grain pic?

I've seen both catalpa and hackberry that have end grain that looks like what I can see of this piece although if the batch of end grains is showing heartwood/sapwood, then it can't be catalpa 'cause there's too much sapwood. That fairly small cylinder of dark wood in around the pith looks like hackberry. At this point I wouldn't bet money that it's either one but hackberry is a good first guess.

Compare it to both sets of pics on my site and see what you think.


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## JR Custom Calls (Apr 23, 2014)

There's really no face grain to take a pic of. The chunk I cut was a crotch piece that was all rounded like a burl. The grain is all swirly, and there's really no pieces that show the grain any different than what's in the pics.

Once I get a sled built for the saw, I'll rip a slab off one of the 3' pieces and see what the normal grain looks like. In the mean time, I'll take a look at your site and see.


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## Tclem (Apr 23, 2014)

Here's some catalpa

Reactions: Like 1


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## hobbit-hut (Apr 23, 2014)

Those crotch pieces will make some nice pots and calls


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## Tclem (Apr 23, 2014)

phinds said:


> Is there some reason you did not post a face grain pic?
> 
> I've seen both catalpa and hackberry that have end grain that looks like what I can see of this piece although if the batch of end grains is showing heartwood/sapwood, then it can't be catalpa 'cause there's too much sapwood. That fairly small cylinder of dark wood in around the pith looks like hackberry. At this point I wouldn't bet money that it's either one but hackberry is a good first guess.
> 
> Compare it to both sets of pics on my site and see what you think.


Doesn't hackberry trees have knots on them


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## phinds (Apr 24, 2014)

Tclem said:


> Doesn't hackberry trees have knots on them


 
You've lost me here. What is the relevance of your question?

In any case, lots and lots of trees can have knots but my site is full of pics of hackberry and hardly a knot in sight.


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## Tclem (Apr 24, 2014)

phinds said:


> You've lost me here. What is the relevance of your question?
> 
> In any case, lots and lots of trees can have knots but my site is full of pics of hackberry and hardly a knot in sight.


The relevance of my question is all of our hackberry trees that I know of have knots all over them. I see no knots on those logs in the above pics Now I may not be the wood genius you and have not seen every hackberry tree or other species in the world or have a website listing every known species to man but that's the relevance


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## Tclem (Apr 24, 2014)

And here is one of the many pictures of "knots" unless all of them and ever old timer around my neck of the woods is wrong about this tree


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## phinds (Apr 24, 2014)

Ah. I think of knots as the INTERNAL things that you get when tree branches have growth that remains inside the tree. I had not heard it used to describe those things on the bark, which is why I didn't understand what you meant. Thanks for that correction. I don't know squat about bark.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Apr 24, 2014)

Hack berry does have unique bark and it also has pretty light colored wood. I would say the original sample is not hack berry based on the pix of the bark.


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