Wood ID - Hawthorn?

[Scrums]

Hi all,

Tree surgeons phoned me yesterday and said did I want a few logs of Hawthorn.....got in this am and I've got an entire tree in flatpack form.

It's certainly got thorns, but I wasn't expecting the colour, the older guy that seems to have a slight idea of what he's about thinks it's Black Hawthorn....'blah blah - douglasii' but as far as I can see that's strictly N USA.

Anyone like to confirm Hawthorn, by the way the bark looks right.

Chris.

 

[DavidE]

Hi Chris,

I have cut a lot of Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) up and the heartwood is not like that at all. However, I did wonder if that colour has been caused by metal in the soil?? I know Yew get's purple streaks if there is Steel(iron) around. Have you got a picture of the bark. Hawthorn tends to have an interlocked spiral grain, and it can often be seen in the bark twisting round.

Whatever it is... it sure looks a good haul.

Cheers David

 

[Scrums]

Haven't got a photo of the bark to hand - but it's straight up, no spiral at all.

 

[MIGNAL]

No idea what it is but it looks very interesting. Will it stay that colour though? I've got my doubts.

 

[DavidE]

Hi Chris,

Okay no problems, the Sapwood and the bit of bark that is visible does look pretty convincing for Hawthorn anyway. I think there are around three variations that grow in the UK so it could well be a different one to ones that grow round here. It's a times like this the leafs/flowers are useful to have :wink: Roll on Spring.

This is a useful resource:
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/forestry/hough/WoodsPart_IX.html

The left image on the fourth row down has some pictures of the Black Hawthorn - it doesn't seem to have the mad purple heartwood.

Cheers
David

 

[Wanlock Dod]

Chris,

I've used a little bit of hawthorn, it had much more sapwood and it had rather less of the purple colouration, although it does have a few hints of purple. The log was a pretty uneven shape and probably no more than 8 inches in diameter, and I've only made one bowl out of it so far. It does seem to be a very nice hard wood, I have a piece that I'm keeping aside for a mallet head. Turned very nicely, you could almost have eaten the shavings that came off :shock:

Cheers,

Dod

 

[Russell]

Lovely colour, my immediate thought was yew I have some with similar figure but its not yew. It may be hawthorn but I suspect its not. I would like to see the figure when dry I am sure those colours will fade a little. I would be tempted if its cheap enough to buy as much as I could afford of it.

 

[greybeard]

No idea what the wood is, but the colours and the resultant contrasts are absolutely fabulous!

Envy envy envy - even if the colour only lasts for a short while! Do some shapes, take some snaps!

 

[RogerS]

Damson?

 

[Russell]

Could it be plum I have some similar that looks like that when fresh cut

 

[Scrums]

Hmmmm....hugely puzzled.......

People say it doesn't look like Hawthorn, because of the red/purple bits, others suggest Plum or Damson.

All I know is that it's got thorns - bloody lethal things, a bit like Blackthorn (Sloe) but from the lumps I've got - this would have been some mega Blackthorn!!

But, Blackthorn is Prunus Spinosa - the mother of all Plums/Damsons etc....but they're all thornless aren't they?

I'd really like a definitive answer - but I don't think it's going to happen, looking at Kew's website - they don't get involved in individual emails, perhaps the RHS - I have a cousin who's a member....

Meanwhile a couple of pics of a bit of branchwood turned and microwaved a few times.

 

[PowerTool]

The bark looks nothing like the plum I've got (too green and rough,looks more like hawthorn...)

Bit of a mystery,this one. :-k

Nice bit of turning,though

Andrew

 

[Keith Smith]

I've just cut down some very old hawthorns and quite a few are hollow, I'm wondering if this is the first stage of decay. It doesn't look like a natural chacteristic of the wood; the black line round the figuring looks more like decay to me.

 

[Russell]

I have spoken to some of my tree feller friends and shown them the pictures they are of the opinion that the timber is an ornamental cherry its a fast growing cherry that has thorns and is coloured as the picture. Never seen any myself so Im not sure but one to consider

 

[dickm]

I cut down an ornamental hawthorn in our garden a couple of years ago, and the heartwood was definitely purpleish-pink, so my bet would be on it being Crataegus. But there are also all sorts of hybrids among the Prunus species, quite a lot of which have thorns, not just blackthorn, and which, on our soil at least, have red/pink/purple marking of the heartwood.

 

[ajrolfe]

I used to have a mobile sawmill business and cut up lots of strange woods 'cos they were there and free and I did a fair bit of turning.
For what its worth it looks like some hawthorn I cot up but it varies enormously from being without any purple colouring to your example.
If its hard ,dense slow grown and fine grained I'd say it was hawthorn.
By the way some plum does have thorns; I cut up a victim of the gales in my garden last week and i can assure you it had 1.5" thorns v painful.