# Mystery Wood Shrub/bush



## Theburlbroker (Oct 20, 2013)

Ok so let me start off with how I had this wood in the first place. There was a spot in our yard of our new property that had a very Thorny tree/shrub/bush. It was quite a pain in the ass to mow around and just not good for children. So They told me to cut it down and down it went, but after seeing the end grain I thought it might be something pretty. I haven't yet had the chance to cut into it but the end grain's pretty enough. After a few recent trips to the woods I've noticed it's almost plague-like around here. There's quite a lot of them about. My grandmother says she thought it was Russian Olive but idk. So I'm asking you guys to help me out here and see if anyone knows what the hell this is. I've got plenty of wood plenty more to harvest if it's even half worth it and plenty of eagerness for information :D 

[attachment=33043] 
This is all the lumber I've got from
Cutting it down. 


[attachment=33044] 
These are the leaves of it from another I found growing in the wild. 


[attachment=33045] 
This was the trunk or the base of the bush/shrub. You can kinda see a thorn or two. 

[attachment=33046] 
This is shoots of new growth, It's really interesting that it's Dark brown instead of grayish like the rest of it. 

[attachment=33047] 
End grain of one of the logs 

[attachment=33048] 
Final Shot Another end grain of a smaller branch 

Hope you guys like it, thanks for your help.


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## Woodman (Oct 20, 2013)

Hawthorn.


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 20, 2013)

Woodman said:


> Hawthorn.


 Really now? Hmm well it grows like wildfire around here. Interesting to know.


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## NYWoodturner (Oct 20, 2013)

Theburlbroker said:


> Woodman said:
> 
> 
> > Hawthorn.
> ...



Yes it does... going into the woods pre-dawn in spring turkey season offers plenty of reminders of that...


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## Woodman (Oct 21, 2013)

Did they flower in the spring? Do the small trees have a tiny(3/8") fruit? If so, does it look like a tiny crabapple or a pear?


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 21, 2013)

Woodman said:


> Did they flower in the spring? Do the small trees have a tiny(3/8") fruit? If so, does it look like a tiny crabapple or a pear?



To be honest I've never seen berries on them and I'm
Not sure how many variations of hawthorn there is but the leaves look different than the ones brought up by google images. The ones I've got look like pointed ovals. The images I found looked like they had more points on the leaf. But I could be wrong. Anyone had experience with it? 

[attachment=33063] 
What Wikipedia refers to as a common hawthorn leaf.


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## pinky (Oct 21, 2013)

One pic of the bark looks like an ornamental cherry to me.


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 21, 2013)

pinky said:


> One pic of the bark looks like an ornamental cherry to me.



Are they thorny? Because these things sure are.


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Oct 21, 2013)

It looks like you have buck thorn. It is a very invasive species in much of the northern stretches of the country. The wood is awesome (from what I hear) I have never worked it personally but have read multiple accounts of it's turning qualities. Buck thorn have thorns about 1/3 the length of most hawthorns. 

1-2" long thorns are common on buck thorns and 3-6" thorns are common on hawthorns. 

The Wiki photo you posted is what most hawthorn leaves look like.


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 21, 2013)

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> It looks like you have buck thorn. It is a very invasive species in much of the northern stretches of the country. The wood is awesome (from what I hear) I have never worked it personally but have read multiple accounts of it's turning qualities. Buck thorn have thorns about 1/3 the length of most hawthorns.
> 
> 1-2" long thorns are common on buck thorns and 3-6" thorns are common on hawthorns.
> 
> The Wiki photo you posted is what most hawthorn leaves look like.


Well the thorn size sounds right , they're long but not 6" long. And yeah invasive sounds right up its alley , on my last outing I found it to be everywhere. If it turns out being useful I'll probably go out and harvest some more. The wood looks super pretty on the end grain, hope the inside is too!


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## Woodman (Oct 21, 2013)

The leaves look similar to Carolina Buckthorn and Pear Hawthorn. Is there any type of berry on the trees?


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 21, 2013)

Woodman said:


> The leaves look similar to Carolina Buckthorn and Pear Hawthorn. Is there any type of berry on the trees?



Sadly no. I can go back and check sometime this week to see if they have any. Another side note when the leaves were dry the bottoms had a very iridescent silver look to them.


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## Woodman (Oct 21, 2013)

Let's lean towards what Treecycle said, Buckthorn.

As a side note, Hawthorn has over a hundred varieties and not all the leaves look like the photo you posted. I was cutting Scarlet Haw last week in Pa. and the leaves are very different than your photo. Think of all the different leaves on the various Oak trees.


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 23, 2013)

Gotcha, I'm still new to everything to I suppose I shouldn't stick with that. Thanks tho!


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 25, 2013)

Hey guys! So I finally got around to half assed trying to cut this wood on the bandsaw and this is what I came up with. I really like that dark coloration in it and it's in all the wood ^___^ see if I can make some turning blanks from it.


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## rdnkmedic (Oct 25, 2013)

If you plan on making this wood into turning blanks, I would suggest removing the pith from all of it. Most of the checking and cracking will originate in that area. Otherwise everything will become really pretty firewood.


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## Woodman (Oct 25, 2013)

You may have a wood there that will also look very good if you crosscut it providing you have crosscuts that are big enough for your intended use. As has been stated you'll have better luck if you do not include the pith. Here's a knife handled in crosscut Oak and the maker was lucky enough to barely squeeze in the pith but he had wood that dried without cracking thankfully.
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/CrossOak-1.jpg

Reactions: Like 2


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Oct 25, 2013)

Lucky is right! Oak is not a friendly dryer. The end grain checks easily and some times the surface will also. Being so close to the pith make it even more likely to check. Really nice knife! The rays show up nicly.


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## Woodman (Oct 25, 2013)

Here's a crosscut Honey Locust kitchen knife I made using a blade cut by waterjet from an old handsaw. This wood was from a very wide tree and as you can see by the radius of the annual rings it was from very far outside the pith. I've made a lot of knives using Honey Locust and for attractive handles I either use crotchwood or crosscuts because the grain shown in the normal fashion is just so-so looking, in my opinion. I get this wood kiln dried from a sawmill so they don't ship it if it has checked/cracked.
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/0d20e9a6-351c-4c03-bc4f-39cf47d9e9aa_zpsc92ee1a9.jpg


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 25, 2013)

okies, so how can I tell how much of this is pith and how much isn't. I'm quite a newb at all this lol the pieces I've got aren't very large but bigger than most I find growing in the wild it's diameter is maybe only 3 or so inches. thanks for all the help guys


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## Woodman (Oct 25, 2013)

If the largest you have is 3" diameter I honestly don't think you can do much with it using crosscuts but it depends on what it is that you want to make. You also have to dry this wood and that takes many months if you don't have a kiln.


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## Theburlbroker (Oct 25, 2013)

I've got access to a kiln and I was aware that the woods quite green. Got a few stumps with some possibly thicker pieces I'll look at.


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