Is this hophornbeam

[gumboman]

Found these trees in the woods back of my house. I think they are eastern hophornbeam. Can anyone tell for sure.

[gumboman]

I am struggling with inserting pictures. Here is another.

[PatM]

Looks well within the variation possible in the bark of that tree.

[Jim Davis]

Leaves don't look right...

[gumboman]

This is a better shot of the leaves.

[gumboman]

BTW the last photo is a different tree. The leaves show up better.
The botanical info I can glean from the internet such as leaves, stems, bark and environment in which they grow line up pretty close with what I see. The one thing on the leaves which creates doubt is some of the descriptions state slightly hairy underneath. I don't see hairy at all. But the bark and leaves look right or very close to right.

[Eric Krewson]

Nope, the bark should look like this and the leaves look like an elm.

[gumboman]

Looks like a misidentification. I will keep looking. And watch out in late summer for any possible hop like nut clusters to form.

[Scallorn]

  That definitely looks like elm to me. I dont know if you are specifically looking for one type of tree, but elm makes an outstanding bow and has been used for millennia.

[PatM]

Picture don't really show that clearly but the bark does not have to look like what Eric posted.     
 
   Any chance for a few more close-ups?

 

[gumboman]

Maybe this pic will help. I scraped some of the bark off to look at the inner bark. It is red brown in color. You can see that just behind my bow limb.

If it is elm I will consider harvesting the tree and making staves.

[aja0]

if it is Elm, the bark will feel like cork when you push a finger into it.

[gumboman]

Here is a picture of the blooms and leaves of the tree I first posted about. Sure looks like hop hornbeam to me.

[gumboman]

Cut one of the trees down today. It was about 10 inches diameter at the base. Split into 4 staves and picture shows end of staves. When making a bow, how far down into the wood do I go before getting past sap wood. I don't see the sapwood heart wood line. That is obvious in osage but in this hornbeam I don't see it. There is a thin bark line then wood. I just wonder how to see where sap wood ends and heartwood starts.

[TimBo]

Pop the bark off and use the nice clean wood you see for the back - no reason to chase a ring on whitewood.