# Tree/firewood ID (maple ?)



## woofer (Jan 21, 2012)

I obtained about 3 cords of this wood for free..... I am almost certain it is of the maple variety....... but I was curious if anyone out there could identify from the attached pictures if it is hard (sugar) or soft (silver)....there are almost no leaves left in the area where the trees were felled, so I couldn't really couldn't really id by the leaf type.


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## fireview2788 (Jan 21, 2012)

Looks like silver maple but would need some pics a little further away to say for sure.


fv


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## jimosufan (Jan 21, 2012)

if it was in someones yard I'd say silver. However if it was close to the woods I would go with sugar. 1st pic looks like sugar to me.


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## woofer (Jan 21, 2012)

I resized the pictures


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## woofer (Jan 21, 2012)

They were in someone's yard, but it is a heavily wooded area/ yard. They had 22 large trees taken down in an area less than one acre


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## fireview2788 (Jan 21, 2012)

Bark doesn't look rough enough to be silver in the new pics.

fv


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## Wood Duck (Jan 21, 2012)

I think it is Red Maple - a 'soft' maple but still pretty good firewood.


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## nrford (Jan 21, 2012)

From someone that has sawn millions of board feet of Hard Maple,..... 100% H.Maple! Final Answer


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## clemsonfor (Jan 21, 2012)

With that heart it dosent look like red maple as much, but we really dont have the other maples other than Silver in folks yards. All other maple besides red here is just ornamental plantings. So even as a forester this tree is really out of my knowledge i just have so little mape exp.


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## ScotO (Jan 21, 2012)

Yep that's sugar maple (hard maple).  We've been making maple syrup in the spring and that bark is what I look for when selecting my tapping trees.....that stuff is great wood for burning, I've been using it mixed with honey locust for overnight burns for the last two weeks......good score!


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## John the Painter (Jan 21, 2012)

I'd say sugar Maple.Good wood.Easy to split.Good haul.


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## woofer (Jan 21, 2012)

Thanks for the replies..... the owner told me originally that it was all red oak.....I was a little disappointed when I discovered it wasn't , (I did get about 1/2 cord of the oak),  but hey if this is hard maple vs soft I sure won't complain.....


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## Wood Duck (Jan 22, 2012)

How do you tell Sugar Maple from Red Maple from a picture?


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## ScotO (Jan 22, 2012)

Wood Duck said:
			
		

> How do you tell Sugar Maple from Red Maple from a picture?


 Wood duck, mostly by the bark, on the trunk of a red maple the bark spacing isn't as pronounced as it is on hard maple.  The smaller hard maple trees (as well as branches of hard maple) almost have the consistency of (for lack of description) cellulite ....lol....as the tree grows and the trunk gets bigger the bark gets deeper and shaggier.  Red maple bark is more shallow and almost thin and flaky bark.  The branches of a red maple are generally smooth.  Silver maples have smooth bark on most of the tree (except when the trunk gets larger), the trunk bark will get like red maple but the bark flakes are larger.   We tap sugar and red maples, I don't bother with the silver as it has a much lower sugar content.  Hard maple is an excellent wood for burning, plus it smells great when burning and is a great wood for cooking......


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## iod0816 (Jan 22, 2012)

Sugar maple. Red for my locale is typically smaller heart. And a more flakier bark compared to the thicker bark in the pics too.


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## Superlite (Jan 23, 2012)

I would say Norway maple, makes good firewood if it gets split n' stacked quickly after bucked


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## dannynelson77 (Jan 23, 2012)

Superlite said:
			
		

> I would say Norway maple, makes good firewood if it gets split n' stacked quickly after bucked



Definitely not Norway maple....


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## Waulie (Jan 23, 2012)

Sugar Maple for sure!

Excellelent score!  One of my favorites.


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