help: how to identify cherry, apple, pear wood
 

found an add on the local craigs list for free wood for smoking. i have no idea how to identify wood types, i have always bought them from the local firewood store already cut in chunks. picked up quite a few limbs of what the people said should be cherry, apple, peach, or pear. i have no idea what i got and if it is safe to smoke. does anyone have a website they know of that has pictures to identify different types of smoking wood?:confused: i will try and post some pics of what i got when i get home from work later today........

any help is greatly appreciated!:hail:

I had a similar situation recently...found it on CL, said it was cherry wood (downed in storm). Loaded up the back of my car with a bunch of nice sized pieces on the way in to work that night. I checked on the listing the next day to see if I could grab some more, but the listing had been changed to say it was a mix of cherry and box elder. Now I'm not sure what I've got, and if it'll be ok to use.

Cherry bark looks like pine bark a bit. The real give away for cherry is the color of the heart wood. It should be a salmon pink color.

Black cherry bark-

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y...ryccarter2.jpg

black cherry wood-

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y...ryccarter4.jpg

Does any of yours look like it?

This is what I got:
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/...4E55FA92F7.jpg

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/...4E4DA5D8D3.jpg

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/...4E53D1BA74.jpg

Crappy pics --- hope someone can identify what i got! :)

I can get more pics if needed

Safe to say that you didn't get any black cherry. It all looks like fruit wood IMHO, the two larger pieces to the front of the pile look to be cherry of some sort. Burn some, "if it smells good, it is good" is a good rule of thumb.

Thanks cliff. Any other wood experts? :).

Im thinking its all Apple

I'm thinking apple also.

Sweet! Gonna give it a whirl tomorrow on some wings and maybe a chuckie

It looks like cherry to me.

Another vote for apple there. When in doubt, make a fresh cut and use your nose; cherry has a distinct almond/cherry scent, hickory and oak have a nutty smell, apple is a little trickier, but the bark helps identify it. Usually young apple is reddish brown (like the photos) and ages to gray, lots of knots and if they are from an orchard, scars from trimming.

Hard to tell what it was . I don't have a keen sense of smell lol. I'm thinking it was apple, hard to say though----- I posted a post on my first chuckie and have pics of product there--- before I let it rest it turned a little mahogany so maybe it was cherry?

Black cherry also has a very dark bark when young. The wood in the photos is some variety of Prunus, but not Prunus nigra (black cherry). There are several Prunus varieties. Apricot, cherry, etc. A quick Google search will hit the nail for you.

sorry Prunus serotina.