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Conifer ID
http://w-ww.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=56165
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Author:  J De Rocher [ Sat Dec 30, 2023 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Conifer ID

The bark from some conifer species can have cool looking patterns inside. I've used Douglas fir bark before to make a nice rosette and end graft. I hike a lot in the Cascade Mountains and I keep an eye out for interesting pieces of bark that are lying about and bring them home to take a look inside. Most of them are uninteresting or too fragile to be useful. I found the piece below last summer and finally got around to slicing it in half on the bandsaw and I like the pattern there. Unfortunately, I don't remember where in the Cascades I found it, which would narrow down the species. I know several species that it is not. Can anyone here positively identify what kind of conifer this came from? It would be nice just to know, but it would also guide me where to look for more on future hikes.

Attachment:
Conifer bark - Cascade Mountains 1.jpg

Attachment:
Conifer bark - Cascade Mountains 2.jpg

Author:  Jim Watts [ Sat Dec 30, 2023 3:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

Attachment:
IMG_0936 Medium.jpeg
Here’s bark from a ponderosa pine. If you had any needles to go along with it that’d help.

Author:  J De Rocher [ Sat Dec 30, 2023 4:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

Jim Watts wrote:
Attachment:
IMG_0936 Medium.jpeg
Here’s bark from a ponderosa pine. If you had any needles to go along with it that’d help.


Yea, having needles would have been a big help. In the future when I find an interesting piece of bark, I'll pick up some needles to bring home too. And, keep a written record of where I got it.

I'm fairly sure this isn't Ponderosa, but maybe. That's one of my favorite trees and they do grow on the eastern slopes of the Cascades. One of my hikes was in area where there were Ponderosas. I've tried Ponderosa bark before and its scaley structure pretty much fell apart when trying to slice it. I would like to find a piece of Ponderosa bark that would work because it often has cool colors and a nice scale pattern.

Author:  George L [ Sun Dec 31, 2023 8:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

Jay, I can’t say definitively, but it looks like it could be from a mature Douglas Fir.

Author:  SnowManSnow [ Sun Dec 31, 2023 8:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

Hmmm if you had enough… stabilize it and use it for a headstock or something! May be cool


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Author:  charliewood [ Mon Jan 01, 2024 10:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

George L wrote:
Jay, I can’t say definitively, but it looks like it could be from a mature Douglas Fir.


Id second this. We end up burning a lot of Doug Fir in the winter and the bark looks a lot like that.

Author:  J De Rocher [ Mon Jan 01, 2024 2:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

Thanks George L. and charliewood. There certainly is a lot of Doug fir in most of the places I go on hikes.

Author:  CarlD [ Tue Jan 02, 2024 5:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

Out of curiosity, I got a piece of bark from a Ponderosa Pine I've been milling up. Here's what it looks like sliced open, about a 10" piece.
Attachment:
pine bark 1.jpg



Been milling some Sugar Pine too. Next log of that I'll check a piece to see if it's different.

Author:  J De Rocher [ Tue Jan 02, 2024 6:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

That looks cool. I think I may need to be looking at larger pieces of Ponderosa bark. How solid is it?

Author:  CarlD [ Tue Jan 02, 2024 10:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

Through the center it is very firm. Looking at the side where I initially cut the piece in two, shows layers similar to QS wood. The piece comes from bark peeled off of a tree cut down 1 1/2 years ago.

Author:  Alaska Splty Woods [ Thu Jan 04, 2024 2:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Conifer ID

Looks to me like a spruce. If it was within 50 or so miles from the coast, western slope of the cascades it is most likely sitka spruce . But if further inland then definitely white spruce. Both of these western spruces have the scale look. It's definitely not fir non-fir Douglas, or any other that all have coarser fluted bark. .

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