What wood is this?

[wapiti1997]

It would help to know what state, where, upland or lowland?

It looks like it could be: silver maple, cottonwood, willow, maybe black gum or even Bradford pear..?  A pic of the twig and buds would be a help too..

[Ross.m.]

It was cut in north west Ohio on level ground at the top of a hill. It was relatively hard to cut down and saw through.

[Ross.m.]

The heartwood is white and sort of shiny.

[TacticalFate]

That describes pretty much all whitewoods. please post a pic of the cut end of the log

[wapiti1997]

From the bark, I can see basswood as a possibility, but it is soft wood... the wood pic to me looks like maple, the bark more like red or silver maple.  Silver would be near water most likely, so my best educated guess would be red maple... still relatively soft wood.  The branching pattern of the tree would have been opposite..

[JW_Halverson]

"What wood is this, who, laid to work, on Ross.m.'s bench is working?
Whom archers greet with anthems sweet, while game wardens watch are keeping?
This, this is not osage the king, whom Blackhawk raves and PearlDrums sings:
Haste, haste to bring him tiller, the bow, the Sons of Archery!"

I love Bowmas carols!  I think Bowmas should live in our hearts year round.

[Ross.m.]

That was clever JW! This wood has me beat and it's already sealed with paint. I'll make another cut tomorrow but I hope it is actually something I can make a decent bow out of. If its basswood or soft maple I am screwed.

[Ross.m.]

Finally got out and cut it. Ignore the saw burns and such.

[Pat B]

Not osage for sure. From here it looks pretty weak structurally speaking but I'm a long way from Ohio.   

[bubby]

If it's Basswood it's great for carving, not what u wanted to hear I know

[mikekeswick]

The bark looks like our young oaks...but I'm an awful long way from you.
Before you cut a tree get a good tree id book. Even in winter it's fairly easy to identify the common bow wood worthy trees from the twigs/bark.

[burchett.donald]

 My vote would be Red Maple...Here's a pic of the bark. Your tree is around 37yrs old, has to be some leaves around although this time of year they have been decaying for a while.

[Blaflair2]

Def not yeller wood.it looks like a young oak

[DarkSoul]

The heartwood is white and sort of shiny.

http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx358/rossmartin98/B3688615-9ED6-4466-A32D-A99B4F4D8745_zpseeuzsdrf.jpg

No, that is not the heartwood. It is the sapwood. Get yourself a book about trees or wood in general and brush up your terminology. You've already mixed up the wood, bark and heartwood, all of which are vital terms in bowyery. The wood directly underneath the bark is sapwood, and turns into heartwood in SOME (but not all!) tree species as the wood gets older.

That is not an oak for sure, since it does not have clearly visible heartwood and because it is not ring porous wood.
That tree looks like either a maple (I'm not sure which species) or basswood. They are easy to tell apart, but not once they are cut based on pictures alone. The smell of both woods is very different. Easiest for you to ID it is by looking at the buds. If the buds are opposite, it will be a maple. If the buds are alternate, it will be basswood. "Opposite/alternate" is probably again new terminology for you, so that is why you need a tree or woodworking book and do your homework. It is much better to ID a tree first, and then cut it down. It would be a shame and a waste of energy to cut a basswood tree and try to make a bow from that.

[wapiti1997]

There is also a tree ID app from Virginia tech for smartphones..