I small tree fell in my neighborhood and a tree service company was turning it into mulch. I stopped and started talking to the tree guy about wood and he said he had 20-30, 26ft silver maple logs that he could drop off at my property for free. I have never split silver maple only oak and locust and they split pretty easy by hand and I have read different post's about splitting silver maple and some say it is difficult. I would have to take it all and I am not sure I want that much shoulder season wood. Do you think it will be worth the hassle for a bunch of softer wood and is it difficult to split with a maul? TIA
Score maybe??
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Call him before someone else takes him up on it. There are plenty of opportunities for fuel less dense than oak and locust all the way through the burning season. Splits fine especially if you get lucky with some straight grain logs.
OK I will give him a call today. He also said I could have this much every other week if I wanted. I guess he has to pay to dump them? I will give this first load a go and if it is decent I will get some more. It is amazing what a few cold ones and a couple of questions will get you.
Good luck as it is a great find for you. Take advantage of it and save some dollars. And yes, have a 12 pack or something to show your appreciation. Even a little gas money will be appreciated and will make you a good friend for a long time.
smokinjay said:
It also dries quite fast. As it starts to season, get a tarp on the top of it. It will have a tendency to blow away in a stiff breeze. ;-)
Jags said:
lol thats not true people love to give silver maple a bad name, but in my handling of it burn very nice for a softwood 20 million btu a cord!
smokinjay said:
Oh - I actually like burning the stuff on low btu days. Nice purdy flames, not a bad job of coaling, easy to handle and split, dries fast, but sometimes on windy days I have to chase it as it bounces across the yard. :lol:
Jags said:
I think the hart wood is pretty dense....Things my change this year in my attitude about it, I have over 10 cords of hardwood for next season.
I talked with the guy this morning and he will drop them off over the weekend. He said there is roughly 20 silver maple logs, a few birch and one sycamore. There is no way I can hand split sycamore so I guess I will just saw it into manageable pieces. He said I was welcome to as much as I could take, at any time, especially in the spring when they are busiest. I will put up some pictures next week
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