Tree ID
- Thread starter MRD1985
- Start date
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it wood help to have a pic of leaves and closer pic of bark as well as an end grain pic of a larger section.
There’s nothing wrong with silver maple or red maple. They will both keep you warm.
If I’m going to travel 45 minutes, cut and split it I want to get the most for my time. I’d prefer red maple just for more BTU output. I have enough wood right now I can be a bit choosy thankfully.
I have a line on alot of white ash I came across for free about the same time travel and will probably take instead of that maple
Doublebogey
Burning Hunk
I wouldn’t turn up my nose at silver maple. No way. Easy to cut, easy to split. Dries fast. Silver maple has kept me warm on many a very cold night.
Maybe you’ve been lucky then. The silver maple I’ve split here has been very tough. No straight grain and full of knots. Wouldn’t go with an 8lb maul with a 10 lb sledge behind it. Had to rip it with the saw.
I’ll probably take that guy up on as much ash as I can fit in my truck and I have a bunch of sugar maple and beech to pick up too. I think I’ll be full by then and won’t have room for the maple in the initial photo I posted.
Splitting Maple
Last friday, a tree service dumped a load of Maple logs on my lawn down close to the street. Saturday after my son's Basketball game, I bucked it all. I took me about three hours, since I had to replace my bar (tip sprocket siezed). Most of the pieces were huge for my little 16 inch saw...
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How do you figure? There are times low btu wood is perfect for the job. It can give you a quick, hot burn in a shoulder season. It’s good even in the dead of winter when your house needs a little more heat, but you know if you reload now, your next reload will be 3am. It’ll also burn down coals if they start to build up.
There’s a time and place for every wood.
There’s a time and place for every wood.
Doublebogey
Burning Hunk
I agree, but I have had plenty of overnight burns with silver maple that kept my furnace from running in the dead of winter. Maybe not when it’s 5 degrees out, but it certainly does the job at 25.
I have split probably 10 cords of it, and never found it to be tough to split. I hardly ever use my hydraulic splitter in it. I save that for the hickory and elm.
I have split probably 10 cords of it, and never found it to be tough to split. I hardly ever use my hydraulic splitter in it. I save that for the hickory and elm.
I’ve burnt an awful lot of it too. They planted my neighborhood full of it in the late 40s. Late 2000s there was a bad ice storm and a bunch came down. I was collecting the stuff from all over my neighborhood. I’d flag down tree companies and let them drop their dump trailers in my driveway. That was wonderful.
Doublebogey
Burning Hunk
Yep, same here. They planted them all over my old neighborhood that was built in the 60s. They are weak trees that drop a bunch of stuff in storms. My buddy has a tree service and it seems like silver maple is at least an eighth to a quarter of what they do. Even the HUGE trunks that he drops off to me are relatively easy to split and make manageable.
