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Small Cabin Forum / Nature / Tree ID help
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Smawgunner
Member
# Posted: 3 Apr 2017 12:49
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This Bark came off our cabin, found attached in between the chinking. It is probably over 150 years old but I can't figure out what type of tree it is. Any guesses?
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Just
Member
# Posted: 3 Apr 2017 12:56
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What state or province ??

Smawgunner
Member
# Posted: 3 Apr 2017 13:14
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Oh sorry, Southern Ohio. Built in 1871.

Just
Member
# Posted: 3 Apr 2017 14:32
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yellow pine? maybe

martym
Member
# Posted: 3 Apr 2017 15:51
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From the look of the grain my guess is red oak.

DaveBell
Moderator
# Posted: 3 Apr 2017 18:52 - Edited by: DaveBell
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That is a pine.
Loblolly probably looking at Ohio Pine Species.
Loblolly Pine is commonly used for construction.

Smawgunner
Member
# Posted: 3 Apr 2017 19:07 - Edited by: Smawgunner
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Thank. Some type of pine what I was leaning toward. I should have taken a profile picture. But it looks very similar to cedar chips like you would find in mulch. The back looks cedarish to me as well. Interesting because I had always thought they were popular. And maybe some are I don't know without having the bark.

Littlecooner
Member
# Posted: 5 Apr 2017 10:50
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150 years ago? Well,it was all done by hand and on site, we can agree on that one. What type logs is the cabin constructed with? I would bet that piece of bark was something peeled from the logs in the wall and was laying on the ground nearby when it can time to chink. It does look like pine bark from the photograph.

Smawgunner
Member
# Posted: 5 Apr 2017 20:20
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Quoting: Littlecooner
150 years ago? Well,it was all done by hand and on site, we can agree on that one. What type logs is the cabin constructed with? I would bet that piece of bark was something peeled from the logs in the wall and was laying on the ground nearby when it can time to chink. It does look like pine bark from the photograph.


I pealed it off the top of one of the logs where the chinking would be. There are no pine in that part of Ohio anymore but my guess is that there once was?

buckybuck
Member
# Posted: 5 Apr 2017 21:47 - Edited by: buckybuck
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I bet I'm the only person here who minored in botany at a prestigious party school that's located close to your cabin, Smawgunner. From what little I remember from those halcyon days, there weren't a lot of pine trees around that part of Ohio that far back; more likely, it'd be from a hardwood tree. Have you ruled out chestnut?

Smawgunner
Member
# Posted: 6 Apr 2017 07:06
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Quoting: buckybuck
I bet I'm the only person here who minored in botany at a prestigious party school that's located close to your cabin, Smawgunner. From what little I remember from those halcyon days, there weren't a lot of pine trees around that part of Ohio that far back; more likely, it'd be from a hardwood tree. Have you ruled out chestnut?


Ah, my wife and I are proud alumni to that fine university as well. Honestly, I have no idea. Could be chestnut. The back of the bark looks almost like a cedar closet and the bark has a pine look to it. But I'm clueless. I emailed pictures to our ODNR representative who oversees our forest tax law program...see what he says.

Smawgunner
Member
# Posted: 6 Apr 2017 11:27
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Our forester asked around the office and said it is probably White Oak although to confirm he'd need a cross section of the log where the wood grain is visible. That's not going to happen so we'll stick with White Oak. Martym is on it! Hmmm.

Shadyacres
Member
# Posted: 6 Apr 2017 23:01
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Definitely some kind of pine I would say.

DaveBell
Moderator
# Posted: 7 Apr 2017 18:00
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Yeah, the valleys too deep for white oak.
I think it's pine.

Smawgunner
Member
# Posted: 7 Apr 2017 21:22
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We have lots of white oak in southern Ohio. But I'm leaning more toward a pine too although several foresters looked at the pic and the consensus was White Oak

DaveBell
Moderator
# Posted: 7 Apr 2017 22:31
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I looked at your other pictures on previous posts. I see pine knots.

buckybuck
Member
# Posted: 8 Apr 2017 09:39 - Edited by: buckybuck
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I still argue for hardwood.

Here's my reasoning. The cabin is over 150 years old, meaning it was probably built before all the original forests in southeast Ohio were cut down and the wood used to fire the iron furnaces that dominated industry in that area at the time. The original forest was mostly beech and oak trees; nary a pine tree to be found in those days.

I suggested chestnut in an earlier post because that tree was also around in those days (before an unintended consequence of early 20th century global trade brought a pest that killed off the chestnut trees, much like today's ash borer), and not a lot of people today have ever seen chestnut wood. Chestnut wood was preferred for eastern U.S. cabins because it was rot resistant.

If you're interested in seeing a chestnut tree, there are a couple of blight-resistant ones growing at the Vinton Furnace State Experimental Forest near MacArthur. The hope is possibly reestablishing the tree in the wild from seedlings from the trees there.

Wayne National Forest URL

Dysart Woods URL

DaveBell
Moderator
# Posted: 8 Apr 2017 12:05
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Yep, could be Horse Chestnut.

KinAlberta
Member
# Posted: 9 Apr 2017 18:53 - Edited by: KinAlberta
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As an aside:

Having read about it in National Geographic years or decades ago I still recall the history of the chestnut and it's loss being absolutely fascinating. I don't have time to watch this video but it looks like it would cover the basics:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-xgbedXnbfw

I see a TED link too.

Actually, two TED talks:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WYHQDLCmgyg



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bz_NgKnVKxE

manny
Member
# Posted: 10 Apr 2017 10:08
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Very very interesting

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