Is this Beech??

[MWirwicki]

Looks like beech to me, too.  I made a bow out of beech once, long ago.  It tended to follow the string a bit.  Never tried heat treating it, though.   

[Buckeye Guy]

Yes that looks like Beech
And good beech at that ,most of ours is hollow no bow wood in it ,like Pappy says good fire wood and good dens for critters !!
I wood give it a go if it was here Have fun !

[PatM]

It can't be Beech. There are no name's carved in it.

[crooketarrow]

   It's beach .here we have them growing in woods along water ways. My granddad called them INDAIN UMBREALAS. Lighting won't hit them because there such a light wood. My old friend and bowyer CROOKETARROW told me the wood was to light and brittle for bows. He's was half IROQOUIS and had been makeing bows for over 50 years so I figgered he knew what he was talking about and never tryed it.
  I know it carves like butter I found and know where there's quite a few along cliff tops I found sanging and gobbler hunting. They had LOTS of names and dates carved into them. Iv'e added my name to a few when I was a kid. I know of one that has dozzens of names and dates. It's above a ford in the river. One is TODD DOMER 1863 1 DIV, 2 ND,BRG STONEWALL JACKSON . Another about 2 miles up river a single name J. N. 1836

[turmoiler]

It totally looks like european hackberry (celtis australis):


http://tree-species.blogspot.com/2008/06/eurpean-hackberry-celtis-australis.html
http://www.floravascular.com/index.php?spp=Celtis%20australis#

It's a common tree where I live, I am 90% sure.

Make a picture of the wood and I will tell it for sure.

[RBLusthaus]

Looks like beech to me - and although I never made a bow from one, plane soles and workbench tops made from beech are sought after items.

Russ

[Prarie Bowyer]

At a glance I think it's beech.

[H Rhodes]

Pictures sure can be misleading...  if it is beech, it is a darker color than what we have growing here...

 Anyway, I was reading somewhere about the sawdust from beech being bad for your lungs, carcinogenic was the word they used...  I think I would where a  dust mask and keep the shop ventilated to be on the safe side.

[Mangeur de lard]

Could very well be beech. Especially with the flare at the base of the trunk we see on your 2nd pic. They look like an elephant's foot at the base. As Pat said, look at the buds. If beech they will be alternate, brown, slim, pointy and around 3/4'' long. Never did a bow of it myself, but Baker says its somewhat like maple. Should make a bow for sure.

Cheers!

[footfootfoot]

One characterisitic of identifying Beech in winter is to look for leaves on the branches. Beech trees have persistent leaves that only fall when the new growth pushes the old leaves off.

Take a short sample of the wood and split it, Beech has readily visible, fine ray flecks, The leaf buds are very hard and pointy.

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/DENDROLOGY/wood/beech.jpg <--grain
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/fagr4578.jpg <--leaf bud
http://ilgaleja.com/blog/images/uploads/beech_wood_in_winter_1_400.jpg <--persistent leaves

The other thing to do is to poke around under the bushed to look for fallen leaves and see what you come up with. The owner's rake might have missed a few. You can rule out obvious trees like oak and locust and a fallen leaf may help you narrow down your possibilities.

[okie64]

Looks like southern hackberry to me. We have lots of it around here that looks just like that. Same wood characteristics as regular hackberry. Only difference is the leaves on southern hackberry have smooth margins and the other hackberries have toothed margins on the leaves.

[lesken2011]

Thanks, everyone who responded. I am going over there in a couple of days and take that big limb he already partly cut. While I am over there I will check around for leaves and other potential evidence that might shed some light on it. I am convinced enough to go for trying a bow out of it. I'll keep you all posted on what I find out. Thanks!!

[okie64]

If you can wait another couple of weeks to cut it the bark will peel off of it like a banana. I went back and looked at your pics again and I'm about 99% positive that is southern hackberry(sugarberry). The bark is identical to the stuff we have around here and the witches brooms on the ends of the branches are a dead giveaway. Be careful cutting that big one, its pretty close to the house and it looks like its gonna fall toward it. You got lots of good bow staves in those trees.

[crooketarrow]

  AROUND HEE YOUNGER TREES HAVE THAT BLOCHED BARK WHEN IT OLDED IT'S JUST SOLD GRAY BARK. IT DOS'NT LOOK LIKE OUR HACKBERRY.