Most of the good lumber trees in mid-Missouri are hardwoods: black walnut, white and red oak, hickory, cherry, sycamore, maple, ash and elm, with eastern red cedar along the fence rows. Each one saws, dries and works differently. Here's what to expect from the logs and lumber of the species you're most likely to have in a Boone County yard or woodlot.
If you have a tree and aren't sure what it is, send us photos of the bark, a leaf if it has any, and the cut end of the log. We'll help you identify it.
Black walnut
Missouri is the country's leading black walnut state, and walnut is the tree people most often want to save. The heartwood is chocolate brown to purple-brown; the sapwood under the bark is pale cream and can be several inches wide on fast-growing yard trees.
- How it saws: cleanly and easily. Walnut is moderately hard and mills well. Yard walnuts are notorious for hidden metal.
- How it dries: well, with modest shrinkage and little warping. It's one of the more forgiving hardwoods to air dry.
- Uses: furniture, tabletops, gunstocks, cabinets, mantels and anything meant to be looked at.
- Worth knowing: a single yard walnut is usually worth far more to you as lumber than as a log sold to a buyer. Short trunks, wide sapwood, low branches and metal all cut into its value on the log market.
White oak
White oak is the classic Missouri hardwood for anything that has to hold up. Its pores are plugged with growths called tyloses, which makes it close to watertight. That's why it's the wood for whiskey barrels, and why it holds up outdoors better than red oak.
- How it saws: hard and heavy, but it saws well on a sharp blade.
- How it dries: slowly. Thick white oak is prone to surface checks and internal cracks if it dries too fast, so it needs patience and shelter from sun and wind.
- Uses: furniture, flooring, trim, trailer decking, fence boards, outdoor benches, timber framing.
- Worth knowing: quarter-sawn white oak shows bold ray fleck, the figure you see in Arts and Crafts furniture.
Red oak
Red oak is the most common sawlog in Missouri and the everyday hardwood of the lumber world. The wood is light tan with a pinkish cast and open, porous grain.
- How it saws: easily, and big red oak logs are common.
- How it dries: fairly well, though thick stock can check and the wood shrinks a good deal as it dries.
- Uses: furniture, cabinets, flooring, trim, barn siding, pallets and crating.
- Worth knowing: red oak's open pores let water travel through it, and it rots quickly in contact with the ground or standing water. For outdoor work, white oak or cedar is the better pick.
Eastern red cedar
Eastern red cedar is technically a juniper. It grows in old pastures and fence rows all over mid-Missouri. The heartwood is red to purple with cream sapwood, and it smells unmistakably of cedar.
- How it saws: easily. Logs are usually small, knotty and sometimes twisted, so boards are often narrow and short.
- How it dries: quickly and with little trouble, especially in thin stock.
- Uses: closet and chest lining, fence posts, outdoor furniture, siding, birdhouses, small decorative work.
- Worth knowing: the heartwood resists rot and insects, which is why old cedar fence posts last for decades.
Sycamore
Sycamore grows big along Missouri creeks and rivers and is common in older yards. The wood is pale tan to light brown with a fine texture.
- How it saws: well, and large logs give wide boards and slabs.
- How it dries: with difficulty when flat-sawn. The grain is interlocked, so flat-sawn boards tend to warp and twist. Quarter-sawn sycamore is much more stable. Like other light woods, it can stain if it's left to dry slowly in warm weather.
- Uses: furniture, drawer parts, cutting boards, trim.
- Worth knowing: quarter-sawn sycamore shows a speckled figure often called lacewood.
Ash
Ash makes strong, straight-grained, light-colored lumber, and a lot of it is coming down. The emerald ash borer is killing ash trees across Missouri.
- How it saws: easily and cleanly.
- How it dries: well, with little trouble.
- Uses: furniture, flooring, trim, tool handles, ball bats.
- Worth knowing: a borer-killed ash is still good lumber if it's milled soon. The longer a dead ash stands, the drier, more cracked and more brittle it gets. See our storm-downed trees page.
Hickory and pecan
Hickory and pecan are among the hardest, heaviest and toughest woods in Missouri. Pecan is a member of the hickory family, and their lumber is often sold together.
- How it saws: hard on blades. Expect slower cutting and more frequent sharpening.
- How it dries: with large shrinkage. It can check and warp, and it needs careful stacking.
- Uses: tool handles, flooring, cabinets, chairs, smoking wood.
- Worth knowing: hickory sapwood is a favorite of powderpost beetles, so lumber should be dried and kept dry, and checked for the small exit holes they leave.
Cherry, maple, elm, hackberry and honey locust
- Black cherry. Local cherry logs tend to be small, but the wood is prized. It saws and dries well, and its pinkish heartwood darkens to a deep reddish brown with exposure to light.
- Maple. Most yard maples in mid-Missouri are silver maple, a soft maple that is lighter and easier to work than sugar maple. Maple can stain if it isn't sawn and dried quickly, and a log left to start decaying can develop spalting, the dark lines some woodworkers seek out.
- Elm. Elm has interlocked grain that makes it hard to split and prone to moving as it dries. That same toughness makes it good for slabs, chair seats and benches.
- Hackberry. Pale and plain, and quick to develop blue stain in warm weather, so logs should be sawn and dried fast.
- Honey locust. Hard, heavy and fairly rot resistant, with attractive reddish-brown heartwood. Watch for thorns on the bark.
Species we turn away
Some trees rarely make lumber worth the cost of milling. In general, small ornamental trees like Bradford pear, trees that are hollow or rotten through, and small, crooked trunks give little usable wood. Trees full of metal can be milled, but the blade fees and lost wood add up.
Not sure about yours? Send photos and we'll tell you honestly whether it's worth it. See custom sawmilling for how the process works and lumber for what's in the yard.
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Have a Missouri tree you'd like to turn into lumber, or need boards of a particular species? Send us photos and sizes.