Wood ID?

[Kyle VanMeter]

I am 90% sure that is Osage Orange. The end grain shot is almost a dead ringer, and the orangish yellow color is very characteristic of Osage. North Central TX is also in the tree's native range.

It is definitely not a maple, as maple is a diffuse porus hardwood, and the wood you have pictured is definitely ring porus. If you can get a clearer shot of the end grain, I imagine you could rule out elm if the earlywood pores are filled with tyloses. Slippery elm, american elm, and rock elm can all share similarities with osage, but the over abundance of tyloses will always set Osage apart.

Osage End Grain:
osage-orange-endgrain.jpg
Slippery (Red) Elm End Grain:
red-elm-endgrain.jpg

Kyle VanMeter

[robert baccus]

Hey--even an aggie knows how to google up the various species. look hard at the end grain pics.

[robert baccus]

Alex--Adrian is a genius--Hobbithouse is the best thing ever for woodworkers. Look at the endgrain pics for maple, hickory, and whatever. Notice elm has these wiggly snakey lines between the growth rings. Its a giveaway and so easy to see.

[Adrian Anguiano]

Kyle that first pic is real deceiving. It really is a pretty white wood. Every Osage around here cuts yellow and goes golden. I agree on the end grain and after taking Roberts comments and doing some more studying on end grain, the bark, the burl.... I think it has to be Elm.

[Steve Trauthwein]

If it is like cutting stone, and from the looks of it I will vote for hickory.

[Cody Armstrong]

In the second pic of original post the round in the background with the bark looks like winged elm.
I'm in North LA. We have alot of it around here. The tight grain in the turning looks awfully suspicious.

[alex grams]

After too much time on this, I'm going to lean towards rock/winged elm. The description of a browner heart wood with a very white sapwood fits perfectly to what I see.

Reference: http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-...oods/rock-elm/

I found this picture of rock elm, and the grain matches pretty spot on. I've always thought of elm as a softer, less desirable wood, but then again I never had much experience with it. The only thing that doesn't mesh with what I can find about it is that this has really no odor when turning.

[robert baccus]

You are close Steve--Winged Elm has a SG of 0.66, real close to hickory. Do you see those w shaped grains 4 rings below the knot. If you've ever shot a Wigeon for supper they have that exact pattern in the feathers. The squiggles in the end grain cause that. Very easy to see. Also the red or winged elms are the stinky ones--American Elm seldom smells bad. An extremely shock resistant and split resistant wood. Everyone hunts ducks---right?