Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT DIY Shop

[RickP]

splotchy green/tan bark

I'll bet it's a sycamore tree (we call them buttonwoods too).
The knots didn't really look like a tulip tree, and I think the mottled bark really points to a sycamore.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I'll bet it's a sycamore tree (we call them buttonwoods too).
The knots didn't really look like a tulip tree, and I think the mottled bark really points to a sycamore.

Well, I just looked up sycamore tree on the internet and neither the bark nor wood match what this is. The bark is not splotchy green/tan. The bark on this reminded me of hickory - darker gray, almost black, with strips of bark curling up. However the bark appearance may have been affected by how long this tree had been dead or by whatever killed it. Good suggestions. I tried the only tree book I have, but the bark illustrations in it are almost worthless - book relys mostly on leaves and blooms/seed pods/nuts.

 

[RickP]

Well that's strange -- all the buttonwood trees around here have splotchy bark.

I found these sycamore photos online:

But I'm not too familiar with hickory, so that might be a better match.