Silver Maple - big tree service SCORE

[basswidow]

Two houses up from my son's pre-school, a tree crew was working on a huge Maple. I thought it was a shagbark hickory - but the crew said Maple.

So I ask them for some wood. To my surprize, the let me take 2 pick up loads and then they brought a grapple dump load to my house! This is a big score for me. I'm done scrounging for the year. I'll need to turn my efforts to splitting and stacking now. I will post pictures on the weekend, as it is dark now and snowing - so they wouldn't turn out.

The owner wanted to give it all to me, which makes me alittle curious:

How is Maple? How long to season? Is it good wood? He has a wood business and I wonder why he was willing to give it up? He didn't want a penny for it.

I was taking my second load back to the house when he called me and said he wanted to follow me over with his dump. I explained to him that I hated to be rude and cherry pick - but I couldn't handle the Massive Trunk sections. One was as big as my car. He said I could rent a saw, but I told him it was beyond my capabilities.

To my surprize, he said no problem and put the trunk piece on the street and loaded his grapple dump with the good stuff for me. No kidding! A whole dump truck of log length Maple the size of a large pizza's or 5 gallon buckets.

He was tickled to have a place close by to dump it, so they could finish in 1 day and take the big stuff on to their shop.

I gave him all I had on me, $ 37 for the diesel and his crew of 4 hombre's who did most of the work! He looked at me like I had 2 heads. I'd like to say maybe I made a wood source, but if he calls again..... I may have to pass or give a friend a call. I can't believe how much wood I have. Atleast 3 days of splitting to make a dent in it.

 

[Jags]

Silver maple is a pretty soft maple. Its a good burner, but its not gonna hold fires like hickory/oak/etc. Around my parts, this would be a shoulder season wood.

Still a heck of a score, but don't turn down any of the real hard woods if they show up at your door. You will kick yourself.

 

[Wood Duck]

There is nothing wrong with Silver Maple. It is a mid-density hardwood, and should be seasoned for next year if you get it split soon. I think you found a tree service that was expecting to have to haul the wood and pay for disposal, and was happy to get rid of the wood for free and nearby. Plus, I bet the tree was full of crotches and Ys, which makes it hard to process. The tree service guys have their pick of smaller, straighter, easier to process, higher density wood, so I am not surpised they didn't want the Silver Maple, but that doesn't mean it won't be good firewood for you.

 

[Got Wood]

Great score.... I am trying to talk to as many of these tree guys as I can to get a similar score. What I have found is that getting rid of the wood is time consuming and thus costly for them. If they have a nearby place to dump it they are actually happy. I have a couple guys who said that if they have a load to dump in the area they will call.... I told them dont even call just do it!
I had a friends parents who were getting a tree taken down and called and asked if I wanted the wood. I showed up and the tree guys were working. I stayed out of the way. They were nice guys and said they were close to lunch and would move there truck so I could drive up to the wood to load while they were at lunch. So, while I waited they were cleaning up a bit, so I helped them drag branches to the chipper. Next thing I know they are asking me how long I want the rounds and cutting it all to my length. Got two full loads and as I was leaving the guy gave me his business card and told me to call him at night and he would hook me up. Hasnt happened yet but making contacts is good....you never know when the score will come.
Maple is fine BTW....

 

[wood spliter]

Nice score! Free is for me.

 

[smokinj]

20 million btu per cord very strong for a softwood I will take it anyday!

 

[bren582]

I have a ton pf Silver Maple growing on my property. It seems to be all over the place here in NJ. Each year I prune large trunks from existing multi trunk trees that line my back yard. The silver maple grows fast and large so there's always plenty to prune back to keep it from overgrowing the back yard. Top off a sapling and within a few years it will sprout 10 new branches. I also thin some out from time to time. The stuff is easy to buck and even easier to split and seasons fast and makes great wood for the shoulder season as well as mixing in as kindling with the harder splits like Oak, Hickory and Locust. Gets the fire going real quick as it burns fast and hot. Personally I love silver maple and its has its place in my wood inventory. If these guys are giving it to you bucked up ready to split I would take it in a heart beat..

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Sounds like you got a deal. Hope you will post pictures.

 

[ChrisNJ]

I. Gets the fire going real quick as it burns fast and hot. Personally I love silver maple and its has its place in my wood inventory. If these guys are giving it to you bucked up ready to split I would take it in a heart beat..

Me too, starting a new fire from scratch in my furnace, wood like this helps tremendously in getting the locust and oak going and heat finally flowing, wish I had a big load of the stuff, hell pine is good also for that.

 

[billb3]

Silver maples can get huge near houses. Don't usually have to fight for canopy space and that downspout water quenches thier thirst.
They're often full of nails, screws, hooks , from kids, clothes lines, dog chains, engine hauling chains, horse fence nails and wire, you name it.
Good for firewood.
Can be a bear to split by hand. As mentioned above; especially crotches - and they can have huge ones, especiallly if it had a wide round canopy growing out in the open by itself with lots of horizontal growth.

I had to pay someone to take one down 15 feet from my back door in my last house. The stump was 5+ feet across where it was cut level with the ground.


Stove won't get quite as hot as with well seasoned oak. That can actually work in your favor in not so cold weather. Certainly burns longer than white pine and willow.

 

[FLINT]

yeah, i got a huge silver maple from a friend who had the town cut one down in his back yard. they blocked it all up and I came and got it - I think 3 full pickup loads so at least a cord.

its pretty light when dry - lighter even than red maple. but its burns really got and fast and I like burning it. mix it with oak and locust, or use it for the first load of wood in the morning to get a coal bed established quickly.

good stuff. oh yeah, i'd say it definitely seasons in less than a year - probably 6-12 months. it will loose a lot of weight in that time.

 

[rdust]

A friends parents cut a huge silver down during the summer that I picked up. I netted about 3 cords and didn't deal with the 4' diameter trunk. Haven't burned any of it yet, I'm hoping some of it will be usable by spring. Everyone always says it seasons fast but the stuff I have didn't season well this last summer it still had a 30% m/c last I checked.

 

[smokinj]

this silver maple went 6 cords

 

[basswidow]

Dang,

So Maple is kind of a So-So wood for shoulder season and mixing in? Heck - I thought I had a big score. I sure have a bunch of it now. Oh well, I'll split it and hope it will season to burn in November (9 mons). Good news is - I didn't have to work hard for it and free is free. It's very heavy wood now.

The sections I got are all the good straight stuff. Everything is bucked into rounds except for the dump load and I will buck that on saturday. I will get this split hopefully before March 1st.

I will post up pic's this evening when I get home from work.

 

[Jags]

Dang,

So Maple is kind of a So-So wood for shoulder season? Heck - I thought I had a big score. Oh well, I'll split it and hope it will season to burn in November (9 mons). Good news is - I didn't have to work hard for it. It's very heavy wood now.

The sections I got are not the crotches. I got all the good straight stuff.

I will post up pic's this evening when I get home from work.

Now don't go looking down the end of your nose at this stuff. It produces heat. Its not always necessary to have a firebox full of white oak and hickory to heat the home. Don't go gettin' snobby on us now. ;-P

 

[basswidow]

Ah you're right. Free is free. It's good enough wood for me. I was mainly concerned about how quickly it will season. Since there's so much of it, I don't want it taking up space for 2 years. I want to burn this next season. The rest of my wood is Cherry, Oak, and Locust. So this maple should work in just fine.

I've got more wood sources for some Cherry and Ash. I didn't need to take this Maple, but I thought what the heck - it's free and they are bucking it, loading it, and delivering it.

Thanks for the info.

BTW, I cleaned my glass this morning with a piece of newpaper dipped in white fluffy ash and the glass was never cleaner. Great tips here.

 

[smokinj]

it season like cherry and about the same btu's

 

[joshlaugh]

I burn a good bit of silver maple every year. Last month my brother in law had his 43"dbh silver maple dropped in his front yard and had me buck it up and split it. I got a 39" silver maple from the next door neighbor too. Biggest tree I have ever worked on. Shame I didn't get around to taking pictures but I was pretty busy with the saws.
I think it burns fine, although it doesn't coal very well but I find it about as easy to split as ash.

 

[basswidow]

seasons like cherry and splits like ash, that's sounding good.

Cherry has been my mainstay. There is so much of it around here - it's easy to get and I like the way it heats.

If I could win the superbowl pool at the office, I just might put the winnings on a splitter.