Wood identity

[cpolubin]

I got this log from a friend. He didn't know what it is but he had been told by a university botanist that the trees on his property were primarily white, red, and he thinks, pin oak. This doesn't look like white or red oak that I'm familiar with. Could it be pin oak? The log was down for a few years. I'm planning to slice it up and steam it to make some shaker oval boxes.

Here's photos of the long and end grain.

[EdL]

IME, pin oak looks like red oak...pretty sure it's not an oak.

Looks like basswood, How hard is it?

Ed

[MichaelMouse]

IME, pin oak looks like red oak...pretty sure it's not an oak.

Looks like basswood, How hard is it?

Basswood up north is diffuse-porous, with little difference in color between early and latewood.  

Absence of rays says it's not any "Oak" I know.

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

Hard to tell from the pics. See if you can take a hand plane to it and get a better picture of the grain.

[FS7]

Doesn't look like any oak. 

Flat sawn sycamore, maybe? The color seems to indicate basswood, sycamore, or even maple with light spalting. There aren't that many woods that are that white.

[cpolubin]

Could it be spalted hickory? I've always worked with the heartwood but I understand the sapwood is much lighter. The log was only 10"-12" in diameter so I'd think it would have been mostly sapwood. Here's some better photos.

[cpolubin]

Could it be spalted hickory? I've always worked with the heartwood but I understand the sapwood is much lighter. The log was only 10"-12" in diameter so I'd think it would have been mostly sapwood. Here's some better photos.

Cliff

[Scoony]

Kind of looks like Hackberry

[MichaelMouse]

Kind of looks like Hackberry

Sure, why not?  Don't have it around here, but it's ring-porous wood with indistinct rays, according to the data.  Hackberry (woodmagazine.com) Like its cousin, elm, which it might be as well.

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

I had a piece of elm once that I ram through the planer. A urine like smell was very obvious.