Old Sugar Maple Splits

[KodiakII]

Whatever...... smart guy. You Canadians usually think your smarter than anyone else anyway. You win you burned the evidence.

And guys like you are known for giving Americans a sterling reputation worldwide!

 

[jdp1152]

And an interesting story at that.

My elderly neighbors gave me a bunch of bucked red oak in the fall of last year. Said their basement was full and they would likely not be living there (looking at retirement homes) or alive to see it all used. When they do leave, they said I could have what is in the basement. I haven't been down in there to see it yet, but am certainly curious about how long some of it has been stored and the shape that its in. I haven't seen them have a fire in the year and a half I've lived here.

That's a long story. I designed my home with 5 Rumford Fireplaces. Spent a long time looking for a mason to build them. Since I was going to have all those fireplaces, I needed firewood.

Area for the foundation was blasted. I inspected the site, then went home to NYS. Came back to check the house as the framework was done. Roof on, and I cut/split/stack a nice maple that was too close to the house for comfort; that way I'd have some firewood stacked and seasoning. Go to put the tools in the basement, look over at the huge chimney foundation, and think something isn't right. Well, somethings were not right, including the chimney foundation was not aligned with the framing above for the chimney.

At that point I really regretted framing for the big chimney, since I no longer trusted the jokers to build the fireplaces. So I filled in the framework and built the house without any chimneys. Meanwhile, I had all that nice wood. So I took it into the basement and stacked it against the chimney foundation, since it was beautiful, bug free maple. There is sat for three decades while we brought up the children and put them through college. When I retired, I decided to put in a soapstone stove, so started s/s downed trees. Since 2005, I have burned a few pieces of the maple in the basement from time to time.

That's the story of that tree. I love/hate burning it now that the pile is diminished....burns very nicely, but i'll be sorry when it's gone.

 

[tcassavaugh]

If that piece is Hard Maple I'll eat it. That's ASH.

would you like a little salt and pepper with that sir? sorry, couldn't resist.

cass

 

[nrford]

Well, I just pulled some splits from my wood pile, one happened to be sugar maple and one ash.View attachment 96962 View attachment 96958

Folks please note in the above photo's the distinct differance in the end grain of the Hard maple on the left and the Ash on the right . Notice the very open capillary tubes in the growth rings of the ash and the very tight growth ring capillaries of the Hard Maple. Now go back and look and the OP. That tells the whole story right there

 

[Havendalefarm]

In my thirty years of being around sawmills and logging I get reminded from time to time how species can vary by region and growing conditions. Our acidic soil produces trees of similar species that may look somewhat different if grown on limestone. Every man is most familiar with his own wood...

 

[Woody Stover]

This split has a radius of 7 or 8 inches...started counting. Eyes got a bit bleary, but about 120.

Contrast that to the monster Pin Oak I posted on last year which was in a valley (plenty of water) and probably fertilized by hog manure runoff from the field above; ~65" DBH in 100 years.
I've got wood that's almost sixty years old, but only one very small round.

Notice the very open capillary tubes in the growth rings of the ash and the very tight growth ring capillaries of the Hard Maple. Now go back and look and the OP. That tells the whole story right there

That can happen in punky wood, which you probably didn't see much of at the mill. Some areas of the OP's end grain pic, the grain looks really tight with hardly any capillaries visible, but other parts (slightly punked?) look more open. Also note the discoloration (dark) in some of the sapwood. Classic slightly-punked look there. A split pic would have removed all doubt. Let that be a lesson to you, rideau. Just like stacked wood, you can never have too many pics!
FWIW, I would guess Maple on the basis of the scant pics offered. Never saw darker heartwood on White Ash here, maybe some other Ash varieties have that...

 

[bogydave]

Old wood is good wood!
Should close the " can wood get to dry?" question
After over 30 years seasoning , still burns great