Help needed to identify heartwood.

[Swedish Pride]

Anyone skilled in the are of spotting heartwood by a glance please chime in now.

I've of course done the obligatory goggling and looking at images but it's all inconclusive and seems to depend on wood type and age.

As I know nothing on trees here is some additional info that may or may not be useful.
Type is Bramley apple also referred to as cooking apples, very low sugar content, taste horrible if you eat them off the tree.
The log is about a foot across and it fell down last august, so have seasoned for the best part of a year

I would be inclined to think that the heartwood starts by the red arrow but not sure, would suck if it was the blue one as that would only give me a handful of sticks rather than years worth of supply

Without much more ado this is one of the crosscuts that i have from my fallen Apple tree.


Let me know what you think, educated guess or otherwise, any help would be appreciated.
Cheers

[Nutmegmooner]

Red arrow is pointing to the boundary between the heartwood and the sapwood. Some of the dark near the center may be rot, apple is not very rot resistant. I suspect it will be less dry than you think if it's a foot thick but split it up or saw it into boards and you'll be going soon enough!

[S-Cackalacky]

I don't know a whole lot about it other than avoiding the sapwood. It's hard to tell with that section of applewood you have there. Usually with something like white oak, the sapwood will be a distinctive lighter color band around the outer edge of the section - sometimes an inch or more in width.

If Nutmegmooner is correct about the dark stuff in the middle, you might want to avoid using that part as well. Otherwise, it looks like a decent hunk of wood.

[Swedish Pride]

Thanks Guys.

The darker part does not seem to be obvious rot, as in no foul smell or different feel that the surrounding wood.
It there a way to know/ find out if it's rot by testing it somehow?
If not I'll just exclude it to be sure, should have plenty as is but just keen to learn a bit more as I go.

Cheers

[SassyFrass]

SP,
I would use everything from dead center out to 2" from bark. As long as that dark section isn't soft or insect infested, it should be ok.

I've noticed dark sections in a lot of my firewood and was told that it was mineral that was in the ground when the tree was young. I thought only poplar showed the mineral stains, but this fella from the sawmill said it can happen to just about any tree.

If the dark center bothers you, do a small experiment and see how it turns out.

I'm no expert, but I think you're gonna like that apple wood for flavoring.

SF

[Swedish Pride]

Cheers Sassy, will make a few samples when I get about to toasting it meaning when the wife is out of the house for a few hours so I can stink it up without getting it to too much trouble

[DAD300]

Here is a picture that shows how barrel staves are or can be cut

barrel staves.jpg (10.96 KiB) Viewed 1266 times

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They all seem to use the entire log. I don't think that is true. I think they avoid the center and the outside edge.

[bentstick]

SP,
I would use everything from dead center out to 2" from bark. As long as that dark section isn't soft or insect infested, it should be ok.

I've noticed dark sections in a lot of my firewood and was told that it was mineral that was in the ground when the tree was young. I thought only poplar showed the mineral stains, but this fella from the sawmill said it can happen to just about any tree.

If the dark center bothers you, do a small experiment and see how it turns out.

I'm no expert, but I think you're gonna like that apple wood for flavoring.

SF

Spot on Sassy,dark spots are not rot!

[Swedish Pride]

[quote="DAD300"]Here is a picture that shows how barrel staves are or can be cut

barrel staves.jpg

Whoa, that's some crazy patterns
I have an axe and a skill saw if I get something that looks like sticks and get to keep all 10 fingers I'm calling it a win.

Thanks though, good to know that there are more than one way to gut a fish

[DAD300]

I have been drying cherry wood from trees I trimmed.

To make sticks for my jugs, I cut 6" dia branches into six inch lengths and split with an axe. Toast all and char some...

[aceswired]

I'm running a similar experiment with some applewood I recently cut. I split the smallish logs I have. Not going to get a ton of sticks, but it's really more for experimenting than anything. Using a hatchet, I've got a small pile of heartwood sticks. Right now, they're sitting on the deck drying out.

I've seen some talk of letting them stay outside to leach out the lignins (new word to me!). Any suggestions for optimizing this? Do I want to be doing a lot of wet/dry cycles before toasting? Is it safe to assume that the smaller the stick, the more quickly it will "season?" I was thinking of cutting some really thin in hopes that I can do some small batch experimentation sooner rather than later.

Also, for those who use applewood, do you generally prefer a toast or a good char?

[Swedish Pride]

Hi ace
I'm so far removed from an expert as you can possible get but the majority of the folks toast and char, some toast only, or have a stick of unchared in each jar amongst the chared.
But the toasting itself is vital to full out the goodness from the wood, something about the oils in the wood are cooking. don't quote me on that one though.