Last April I helped my wife's uncle take down a 24"DBH red maple that was sickly near his house. I just cut it into rounds and dropped it off between some fields at my inlaws.
I was worried it wouldn't be in very good shape because it had some punk in spots when I cut it and it was just piled up sitting on the ground. Add to that we had an extremely wet June and July for Indiana.
![Red Maple-ought oh Red Maple-ought oh](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/170/170417-9109f9675462d8c4f43b46c06129ba1b.jpg)
I split a couple on top if the pile and they were solid. Next I dug some out of the grass on the edges. Split it and it had some spalting, but not too awful.
![Red Maple-ought oh Red Maple-ought oh](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/170/170418-b23d316197704b977b2a7ebacf899f4b.jpg)
A couple of the large rounds I didn't mess with splitting. They were punky in places when I cut it and water was squirting g out of them when I drove a wedge.
In all I ended up with just shy of 2/3 cord. I tossed maybe 1/3 of a cord into the woods to become dirt. This is next years shoulder wood. I wish I would have got it split sooner, but it just didn't work out.
![Red Maple-ought oh Red Maple-ought oh](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/170/170421-37df758a88c43a6249a556aa9c3cca78.jpg)
I was worried it wouldn't be in very good shape because it had some punk in spots when I cut it and it was just piled up sitting on the ground. Add to that we had an extremely wet June and July for Indiana.
![Red Maple-ought oh Red Maple-ought oh](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/170/170417-9109f9675462d8c4f43b46c06129ba1b.jpg)
I split a couple on top if the pile and they were solid. Next I dug some out of the grass on the edges. Split it and it had some spalting, but not too awful.
![Red Maple-ought oh Red Maple-ought oh](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/170/170418-b23d316197704b977b2a7ebacf899f4b.jpg)
A couple of the large rounds I didn't mess with splitting. They were punky in places when I cut it and water was squirting g out of them when I drove a wedge.
![Red Maple-ought oh Red Maple-ought oh](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/170/170420-9d229f759319a3cee65a89dd76457ddc.jpg)
In all I ended up with just shy of 2/3 cord. I tossed maybe 1/3 of a cord into the woods to become dirt. This is next years shoulder wood. I wish I would have got it split sooner, but it just didn't work out.
![Red Maple-ought oh Red Maple-ought oh](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/170/170421-37df758a88c43a6249a556aa9c3cca78.jpg)