wood--heart of darkness?

I found a nice 4 ft piece of driftwood in a reservoir. I don't know what type of wood, it seems heavy for it's size unlike pine. It could be a large root. No bark is left & it's quite weathered.

I cut of the still wet, rotted end & have been dremelling out the last darkened area in the center of the larger end. It doesn't feel softer than the pinkish wood like the rot & seems to get darker again after cutting. Is this from the heat of the cutting? Still a tiny bit wet?

I thought maybe sap but isn't that in the outer layers not the center? Any guess on wood? Red cedar? :help:

Well, since many people have looked but not answered here's an update. I think it's mostly just still wet in the center after more than a week out of water. I was able to see "normal" pinkish-reddish looking wood & it hasn't darkened in almost all areas so I'm calling it done & will start soaking it in a bathtub.

Hopefully it will draw in water as well as it held onto it. My 55g is cycled! & ready for both the wood & fish any time plus more plants. Hard to scape without this big wood in place but it looks good in an empty basement tank.

Now that it's drier I can smell it better, more cherry than cedar I think. Thanks for the link, I hadn't found that site, I was looking for cross sections to try & tell what the darkness was.

Is cherry safe in tanks? I'll be searching...

Thank you! I could only find 1 reference to cherry being safe & I like more than 1 source on the web to believe anything.