Tree id help?

[Ifrit617]

This may be a hard one since none of the trees have leaves yet here in upstate New York, but I was wondering if anyone could help me to id this small sapling that has a pipe straight bottom trunk that is relatively knot free. I have made a quickie survival bow out of this wood before and have found that it is almost impossible to break... Take a stab at it...

Jon

[Hrothgar]

Jon, what color is the wood; and is it mostly sapwood or dark core?

[Ifrit617]

The wood is very white and is mostly sapwood with no visible heart wood...

Jon

[Ifrit617]

It also has a thick cambium layer but once you get past the wood is very smooth with fine growth rings... I know for a fact that it is not any type of maple or oak.

Jon

[Mangeur de lard]

Just looking a the bark with the greenish streaks in it I'd say striped maple ( Acer pennsylvanicum). Even though the trees have not grown their leaves yet they do have winter buds. It's often enough to ID trees in the winter.
cheers!

[Ifrit617]

I agree the bark does look like that of striped maple but from what I remember the leaves were definitely not maple... Any other guesses?

Jon

[Buckeye Guy]

It has a cottonwood look to it !
I cant tell for sure .
Guy

[blackhawk]

thats a hickory sapling...i beleive its a shagbark,if not it might be a pignut sapling,but def hickory sapling

[Ifrit617]

If your right blackhawk you just made my day!  Buck I know it is definitely not a cottonwood, based on its leaves.

Jon

[Buckeye Guy]

What did the leaves look like ?
5-7 leaflets on a stem !
You said no heartwood so I did not think it was a hickory!
Guy

[UserNameTaken]

I'm going with hickory.

[beetlebailey1977]

I would say also pignut hickory......it looks like that down here.  If not, it is a hickory of some sort.

[blackhawk]

at approx 3" dia hickories wont have any discernable heartwood yet,and just a pith  of it. im pretty much 100% sure its hickory,by your pictures it looks just like a shagbark sapling.they dont get there shaggy(mature) bark untill there older and bigger. there is one way for you to tell for certain if its hickory,and thats to smell the wood once cut. hickory is very discernable to identify by smell. another give away is your quote of "impossible to break" 

[jcrich01]

That really looks like a hickory sapling to me also.  If you take a close up photo of a twig with buds on it I could probably tell you what species.  If it has big thick hairy twigs and buds that are slightly wider than the twig that look kinda shaggy i.e. the scales look partly peeled apart, it is a mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa).  If it has large hairy twigs and buds but the bud is about the same diameter as the twig and the scales are not peeling away (they will have already fallen off in early winter) then it is a shagbark hickory (Carya ovata).  If it has twigs that are average diameter i.e. about the same size as the other trees around it and has no hairs on the twig and buds then it is a pignut hickory (Carya glabra).  If it has two orangish yellow scales on the buds that are long and skinny then it is a bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis).  There is another possibility but it is a species that only grows along streams so it is also likely not your hickory.  The bark makes me think it is not a bitternut but one of the other three. 
Hope this helps.

[Ifrit617]

Sweet guys thanks for the info!


Jon