I'm dismantling a old barn I'm guessing 1920s.I'm having a hard time identifying the poles, which are very straight light gray slightly yellowish look on out side, the inside is yellow very few knot's in the poles. Any ideals what I have?

Pic

hit them with a hammer and smell
no termite damage?

A picture would help greatly, but I am thinking it may be tulip poplar. It's colored like that when weathered, has few knots, was commonly used for barn construction and is very straight.

Keith

Pics?

By location, MO, I'd rule out chestnut which was common further east. Yellow interior down here would say yellow pine often longleaf or shortleaf. Shortleaf was often preferred for poles if used in the round as they grow long with minimal taper. Longleaf more often would be squared into beams.
Yellow could also be poplar though it is almost never used for structural as its softer and not at all rot resistant. Cypress can also be yellow though older stuff was often red. It'll age to a silvery grey though. Also most often not used for structural framing but preferred for sheathing due to its rot and weather resistance.

Sounds personal.

Southern pines used to be called "yellow pine". Older individuals of the main lumber southern pine species; longleaf, loblolly, and short-leaf would have few branches in the lower length of the main pole. By the 1920s, most of the older growth of Southern pine had been cleared but that doesn't mean a barn built in the 1920s couldn't have timbers in it that were cut some years earlier. One of the last pockets of old growth short-leaf pine may have not been too far from you if you live in Missouri. The Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and extending into eastern Oklahoma were being cut during WWI and into the 1920s. Your poles may come from the Ouachitas...

Yellow Locust. It will last 100 years and turn to stone.

Must refrain.

These are poles that are in the ground, I would think pine would rot fairly rapidly??I'm not up on tulip popular never even heard of it, would it last in the ground?? It does resemble pine but there's no pitch in it and like I said I think it would have rotted by now.

I was gonna say Black Locust if it is extremely hard. I believe Yellow Locust and Black Locust are one in the same.

Old growth long-leaf pine heartwood will last for a long, long time. There are bare wood clap board houses in parts of the South have unpainted old growth pine heart wood. But that's old growth. Most Southern pines never live long enough nowadays to grow substantial heartwood. There are niche marketers of old tree Southern pine heartwood for high end flooring and such. It will cost you some coin. Its not what you'd find in a common lumber store.

Tulip poplar is moderately rot resistant. It looks like this:



I have a 16', mixed bunk of tulip poplar and beech in my front barn, that a friend gave me when I bought my farm, that I have barely used.

Black locust is yellowish too and would make the most sense, if set in the ground. Around here, it's usually lighter colored than this picture.



Tulip poplar is mostly used higher up in barns.

Keith

I'd wager it's locust. It's commonly used in the ground, especially for fence posts.

Osage Orange Fellas. Maclara Pomafara. Specially in that State. Bob

Not from your area, but in 1920 a barn building was probably using the best material. That timber would very likely have grown and been produced not too awful far from that barn. I would be looking at trees native to your area, less than 10 or 20 miles away, perhaps closer. Transportation then is a bit different than now.

Does bodock grow big and straight enough to make poles? All I've ever seen down here were round headed well branched. Definitely of a good size but nothing straight enough or long enough for a pole.

Warrior, it will grow straight in a timber environment. Be hard to find enough straight hedge to build a barn though!

Locust would be the best choice if these poles are in the ground. Locust is probably the single best for that use.

Yes, lots of the old pole barns around here are made with hedge/osage orange poles.