# Identifying driftwood



## peterrum (Jan 22, 2011)

I have a piece of wood that I picked up on the shore of one of our local rivers. There is no bark on it and obviously no leaves or needles to help me identify it. The outer part of the wood has turned gray with age. I sanded some of it off and the wood is a nice medium brown colour with some purple streaking. Can anyone tell me of any websites I could go to that might help me identify the species or any method that i can use with the limited information I have.


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## del schisler (Feb 2, 2006)

peterrum said:


> I have a piece of wood that I picked up on the shore of one of our local rivers. There is no bark on it and obviously no leaves or needles to help me identify it. The outer part of the wood has turned gray with age. I sanded some of it off and the wood is a nice medium brown colour with some purple streaking. Can anyone tell me of any websites I could go to that might help me identify the species or any method that i can use with the limited information I have.


a guess Walnut for brown color but i don't belive purple streak's ? What kind of tree's in your area may be a clue? If you can post a close up pic of the color and a cut off end would help?


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## Maurice (Sep 24, 2004)

The purple suggests Sumach or Jubiper.


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## Maurice (Sep 24, 2004)

Sorry , I meant Juniper.


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## peterrum (Jan 22, 2011)

I wish it was walnut, no we don't have much walnut in our area. Most of the Juniper in our area is very tight grained and the piece I have is not. I don't have enough posts yet to put any photos on this site so a few more and |I will. I suspect it is a softwood or a soft deciduous such as aspen or cottonwood which is what we have in abundance in Southern British Columbia. I will leave it until I can get the photos on and see what you think. Thanks


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## peterrum (Jan 22, 2011)

*Photos*

Here are some photos of the grain of the piece and the colouring of one of the roots. This piece is a stump with roots and there are rocks intertwined amongst the roots. I picked it up on the bank of one of our rivers.


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

See if this site helps:

Species_Guide


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi

That's going to be a hard one I think, it looks like a root ball or what's left of one..

========


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## del schisler (Feb 2, 2006)

peterrum said:


> Here are some photos of the grain of the piece and the colouring of one of the roots. This piece is a stump with roots and there are rocks intertwined amongst the roots. I picked it up on the bank of one of our rivers.


look's like butternut or elm ?? When you sanded off the wood did you get a smell of the wood ?? Go here to this site 

http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

If you want to send me a small piece of end grain I would be glad to identify it for you. I need to look at the end grain under magnification and match it up. It is the only way to positively identify the wood, anything else is simply a guess.


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## peterrum (Jan 22, 2011)

Thanks for the replies so far and the sites that have been provided.

Bobj3, yes it is a bit of a root ball. The main thread for this project is under
Jigs and Fixtures - Large router sled. 

Del, not butternut as we dont have that here, elm in very very limited quantities. There was no smell either when I routed the top or did any sanding.

Upstream of where I retrieved this piece the river runs through millions of acres of softwood such as fir, pine,cedar, spruce. Mixed amongst this are aspens, cottonwood, and there are some lowland valley farms which could have anything planted on their banks. 

Dovetail has kindly offered to examine a piece of this driftwood and provide a scientific identification. So thanks all for now and we will await Dovetails results which will be posted on the original thread for the project.


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## endsuz (Jan 30, 2011)

thank you for your post


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## peterrum (Jan 22, 2011)

Well I started this thread over a year ago and still havent identified the driftwood. I mailed off a package to Dovetail 65 and havent heard from him since. No reponse to any of my PM's either. Does anyone know what might have happened to him.

Thanks


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Pete; knowing exactly where you picked it up would be extremely helpful; altitude and very accurate location are critical! As you know the local flora changes dramatically between Hope and Princeton, for example, even though they're relatively close together.
Huge difference in Summer/Winter temperatures, and Hope is in a high precip area while Princeton is almost desert. Your guess of Alder or Cottonwood makes sense as the original plant obviously grew close to a stream. Sumac, not so much. Don't forget, it could also be from a large shrub!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Does your coloration/staining look anything like in these pics? If it does then you likely have a chunk of beetle killed pine, euphemistically marketed as 'Denim pine'.
Denim Pine Products | Facebook
With the vast areas of BC decimated by the pine beetle, finding streams clogged with bits of dead pine trees will come as no surprise. 
Other than that inspired guess, I'm out of ideas.


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## peterrum (Jan 22, 2011)

Hi Dan, I picked this up in the Christian Valley just north of Westbridge. I don't think its denim pine but i will bring a piece down with me this week and see what you think.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Flotsam and Jetsam*



peterrum said:


> Hi Dan, I picked this up in the Christian Valley just north of Westbridge. I don't think its denim pine but i will bring a piece down with me this week and see what you think.


'Morning, Pete; I looked at a Google Earth view...
Rock Creek Map | Canada Google Satellite Maps
Looks like a lot of logging and reforestation going on(?). If it were _me_, I'd ask one of the Foresters working the projects in that area; this time of the year they must be everywhere!  If a guy that spends his whole working life tramping around in the bush couldn't tell me, I'd just call it a day...
The main reason I suggested the beetle killed pine, was your first comment about the 'purple' streaking. That staining is pretty incriminating. Also, Pine is a very dominant species in the Kettle Valley. 
Pete, I don't make any claims to be an authority on wood species, just the construction varieties up here. Remember, as I mentioned earlier, it could also be a big shrub, not a tree.


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## peterrum (Jan 22, 2011)

Good idea, I know a couple of loggers in the area, I just have to hang around the pub and they will show up. Geez I hate it when that happens.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Pete; I don't know what happened to my previous/last comment but I found out what it (the driftwood) is.
Coincidentally with our 'chat' we had a visitor to dinner, turns out he's a a Forester working out of Cranbrook. As soon as I queried him, and mentioned the purple streaking, he identified it as _Rocky Mountain Juniper_. He's also a woodworker and has used it in projects. Quite liked working with it, and had definitely seen it growing in the Rock Creek and Christian Valley areas.
Species: Juniperus scopulorum


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## marlinjenson (Jul 24, 2012)

Now this 1 is really a hard 1 to guess by those images.


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## Hellohellobbbb (Feb 2, 2020)

*Odd beautiful wood*

I have some wood I can’t seem to identify either, I am from Missouri and found the price in my backyard. It’s brown, with some darker areas on it and many large lumps and small holes. I really like it and want to put it in my cycling ten gallon, but I need to make sure it’s safe for the fish I will add in the future. I don’t know how to send a pic also so.


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## dman2 (Sep 4, 2019)

I built a log house with native lodgepole pine that was streaked with blue throughout. People told me the blue was a fungus that had no deleterious effect on the wood. This was in WY, and the house is still standing like new after 40+ years.. I assume this isn't your wood, as pine is pretty easy to identify, and you are talking about hardwoods...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Hellohellobbbb said:


> I have some wood I can’t seem to identify either, I am from Missouri and found the price in my backyard. It’s brown, with some darker areas on it and many large lumps and small holes. I really like it and want to put it in my cycling ten gallon, but I need to make sure it’s safe for the fish I will add in the future. I don’t know how to send a pic also so.


welcome to the forums N/A...

w/o a DNA test on it...
anybuddy's guess will be right...

as for getting it ready for an aquarium..

place it in pure white vinegar solution first, then boil it briefly....
Remove it from vinegar then swirl it around and rinse it extremely thoroughly in tap water. 
Next, put the wood in hot to boiling water, completely submerged, to get rid of those little critters, bugs, bacteria, diseases and etc. that are living in it..
Driftwood does not sink unless you allow it to absorb/soak enough water. This is were boiling/soaking comes in. Grab a large pot and try to submerge as much of the wood in water as possible. Next, crank the heat to the max and let wood boil till the water level gets down to 50% water level. Once you’re at 50%, drain the pot, rinse it and repeat.
This can take from 1 hour to over 10+ hours of boiling a piece of driftwood, depending on the size of said wood.

When you boil your wood, you will notice the water in the pot turn VERY brown, almost a red-like colour. That’s the Tannins releasing due to the extreme heat. The more you boil your wood, the more the Tannins are released. The more tannin is released, the less coloration your aquarium water will have.

that is what my folks did for their fish side business.....
actually I was the labor...

you might want to read the information *in this link...*


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

dman2 said:


> I built a log house with native lodgepole pine that was streaked with blue throughout. People told me the blue was a fungus that had no deleterious effect on the wood. This was in WY, and the house is still standing like new after 40+ years.. I assume this isn't your wood, as pine is pretty easy to identify, and you are talking about hardwoods...


Blue Stain Pine (Beetle Kill Pine)
Beetle Kill Pine is the result of blue stain fungus that spreads from bark beetles to Lodgepole Pine, Douglas Fir, and Whitebark Pine trees...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Blue Pine...
this is what it looks like in board form...
it is often referred to as Denim Pine and commands top dollar under that moniker...

.


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## Leia Gamache (Apr 23, 2020)

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone can identify this wood I found by the reservoir in Alberta?


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Hi Leia and welcome. Which reservoir? That would narrow it down a bit maybe. There are areas where jackpine is common and areas in Alberta where is is very uncommon. Is the soil fairly sandy in that area? The tracks on the wood appear to be made by bark beetles and jackpine is their victim over there. They burrow just under the bark in the cambium layer. They do not bore into the wood. If there are bore holes that go deeper then it is another beetle, possibly the ambrosia beetle. They make pin sized holes. Sawyer beetles make pencil sized holes. Usually jackpine is straighter than that though. Is there some fresh end grain on that staff that we could see? Pine tends to be a creamy color white.


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

I need help identifying these. I found them in a container in the back of a kitchen cupboard. I sent a picture of them to the administrator of the Small Bits of Unknown Stuff Organization and after waiting apprehensively for months they haven't come up with an answer. I've sat around having a beer with the boys at times and together we think we've got the answer. I just need confirmation so I'm asking you guys. We here have arrived at the conclusion that they're a collection of firewood for little people. I know they only come out at night and I'm sure I've heard faint sawing noises in the wee small hours. Any thoughts? It's driving me crazy not knowing.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

that's not firewood...
those are the key components to a little person's life raft...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I think Stick's onto something...
Parts from a scale model of Kon-Tiki?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> I think Stick's onto something...
> Parts from a scale model of Kon-Tiki?


Thor Heyerdahl's littler brother's Kon-Tiki II???


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Kon-Tiny?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Kon-Tiny?


Kon-Itty Bitty


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

And now, back to our regular programming...


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