# Silver Maple - Worth the Effort?



## babzog (Mar 23, 2012)

So, fellow called me today asking if I'd be interested in some silver maple. Figure there's probably 3-4 4x8 trailer loads worth. It's about 20 min from work and 40 min from home. Trees to be cut and bucked onsite. Easy access for loading, can drive pretty much right to it. Plan would be to cut on a weekend and take the remaining loads home during the week, after work  I know it's not high on the btu scale and I don't need it for kindling (have lots of cedar for that).  I'm about 2 faces shy of having '13-'14 wood supply on hand. Not sure if it's worth the effort or not. What say you?


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## rdust (Mar 23, 2012)

I really like silver maple, I'd take all I can get.  I find mixing it with my oak/ash type woods works great.


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## jeff_t (Mar 23, 2012)

I really like silver maple, too. If it's nice and straight and solid, and  if I had nothing closer, I would get it. It's on the edge of being too far for any wood for me.


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## tfdchief (Mar 23, 2012)

Sure, it is on the bottom end of the BTU charts but it splits easy and drys fast.  Some wood is better than others but it all burns.


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## DexterDay (Mar 23, 2012)

I love it also. This was my 1st year burning and over 50% of what I burned was Silver Maple that I C/S/S in April and May. 

All was about 20% M/C (or lower) by November. A box packed full for me will still make it through the night (and then some  ) Split them big and its a very good wood. 

I would grab it... Still have about a cord left from last season and about 2 cords of Silver already C/S/S for next year and beyond._
Worth getting IMO. Makes great kindling also...


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## Thistle (Mar 23, 2012)

I like it too.Most years I grab a little.Definitely worth going after.


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## Pallet Pete (Mar 23, 2012)

I had quite a bit at the beginning of winter this year. We burned most of it up because it was so warm the ash and oak would cook our behinds out of the house while the silver maple would get hot fast but not for long.

Pete


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## ScotO (Mar 23, 2012)

I cut several cords of it every year. I like to use it in the fall and spring, and also mix it with locust and white oak in the cold months to get those harder woods started. It's a great all-around firewood, the best part is that it seasons fast!


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## weatherguy (Mar 24, 2012)

Absolutely get it, I just split some up yesterday, like everyone says I put some aside for kindling as it dries pretty fast and lights quick.


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## smokinj (Mar 24, 2012)

Heated two years with just silver....Its great in seasoning fast and the trunk is alot better wood than you would think. (Cherry pic the trunk)


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## ohlongarm (Mar 24, 2012)

smokinj said:


> Heated two years with just silver....Its great in seasoning fast and the trunk is alot better wood than you would think. (Cherry pic the trunk)


 I never thought I'd like silver maple but I tried some and it burned great.My neighbor had a small pile in his storage shed and he no longer burns,so he gave it to me,the stuff was debarked and as hard as a rock good stuff.


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## babzog (Mar 27, 2012)

Well, not quite what I expected (or wanted - LOL) to hear but all thoughts taken in the spirit in which they were offered - thank you everyone. I've already got 6+ faces of silver maple which I've split pretty big as I want mostly "all nighters" for gettIng through the day and night when the fire is untended (10hrs during the day). This year burning locust (all I had and look how the winter turned out) is a rarity; most years it will be sugar maple at best, with birch and ash plus some elm as normal fare. IOW, I don't have much really good wood to mix it into, which makes me wonder if I can get those kinds of burn times (while throwing useful heat) from the silver maple.


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## smokinj (Mar 27, 2012)

babzog said:


> Well, not quite what I expected (or wanted - LOL) to hear but all thoughts taken in the spirit in which they were offered - thank you everyone. I've already got 6+ faces of silver maple which I've split pretty big as I want mostly "all nighters" for gettIng through the day and night when the fire is untended (10hrs during the day). This year burning locust (all I had and look how the winter turned out) is a rarity; most years it will be sugar maple at best, with birch and ash plus some elm as normal fare. IOW, I don't have much really good wood to mix it into, which makes me wonder if I can get those kinds of burn times (while throwing useful heat) from the silver maple.


 
No your burn times will be less, but silver is just about like cherry with out the nice smell.


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## Woody Stover (Mar 27, 2012)

smokinj said:


> No your burn times will be less, but silver is just about like cherry with out the nice smell.


About like Elm for burn time, too...medium-heat wood.


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## golfandwoodnut (Mar 28, 2012)

It may be the fastest drying wood there is, even faster than cherry.


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## Dune (Mar 28, 2012)

Definitely take it if you have the room. I burn a lot of soft maple.


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## Ratherbfishin (Mar 29, 2012)

I have burned a bunch of 2yr seasoned silver maple, burns very hot and quick. I learned it is best to mix it with other stuff or a nuclear meltdown is possible.


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## Backwoods Savage (Mar 29, 2012)

Don't let wood that is short on the btu scale bother you too much. You will still get good heat from it. The difference is just that the fires don't last as long and that is usually mostly in the coaling of the wood. For example, oak will give you some big coals and there is a lot of heat there. Maple will still coal but not as much.


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## babzog (Mar 31, 2012)

Fires not lasting long is a concern for me. Need them to last throughout the day when we're at the salt mine. 

Been thinking hard over this one, reading all of the encouraging notes and considering the thoughts contained therein).  I figure I've got wood to last through '13-'14 so I'm thInking I might start being a bit more picky about the wood I scrounge (calls from the local tree service notwithstanding.). By my last count, I've got probably 14 cords of silver maple now (after picking up some sugar maple, it was easy to discern silver from sugar and I realized that what I thought was sugar, was not); I pushed hard on quantity over the winter; time now to focus on quality, I think.


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