Need some help identifying this maple

Hello,

I just started getting into firewood about a year ago. Scored a small amount of cherry from one neighbor and then another neighbor cut down a huge black locust which we ended up splitting 50/50.

I went from having some 15 year old plastic handled splitting maul from HD to.............

(In the order I acquired them)

1. Fiskars X27 splitting maul
2. Fiskars X14 hatchet
3. Fiskars 28" hookaroon
4. HarborFreight 5-ton electric splitter
5. Makita XCU03 36V 14" chainsaw (.043", 3/8", 52 links)
6. Husqvarna forestry helmet and chaps
7. Fiskars 28" chopping axe
8. Fiskars sledge hammer
9. Fiskars Garden pick
10. Fiskars 46" digging shovel
11. 2014 Toyota Tacoma access cab, 6' bed, 6-speed manual with 96K on the clock.
12. Champion 34-ton hydraulic splitter.
13. (4) IBC totes, 2 of which came with the actual tote, 2 just the cages. I'm using the totes to store my kindling. Drilled holes in the bottom and all the sides, cut off the top and will cover on heavy rains.

Starting in October, I started making friends with a whole bunch of tree service guys. That, my friends, is how you score an unlimited amount of wood. 'Round these parts (just north of NYC in the burbs) they have to pay $25 / cu yard to dump or recycle the wood.......So they save about $200+ every truckload they deliver to me......and I get free wood and a great workout.

I now have 15 holz hausen stacks (German for "wood house" for those not in the know). Each stack is sitting on 4 pallets, so roughly 8' in diameter. By my guesstimations each stack holds over 2 cords as I have them 6'-7' tall. Got all the pallets for free from the dumpster of a flooring company. With this coronavirus they've been closed so I had to resort to going to the local paving supply company and asking them for some throwaway pallets. They were very accomodating and let me take 4 but now I need more!!!

I have cherry, black locust, red cedar, red oak (don't know the exact variety), pin oak (a type of red oak that is damm dense, heavy, and impossible to process by axe on the super knotty/crotchy pieces), sugar maple, Norwegian maple, two and a half stacks of spruce that I found on the side of the road and got permission from the homeowner to take, black birch, and finally today received two truckloads of what I think is silver maple but I'm not sure.

Here are a few pics of my "operation" but the first 3 pics will be of the mystery maple.



Here's my fireplace grate from www.gratewalloffire.com (not affiliated at all, just a really happy customer). This grate transformed the fireplace from looking nice to now being able to heat the living room and dining rooms up to 80 if I want. Huge difference now.



Here's the splitter in vertical mode. Only used it once that way but I got it because of the nasty pin oak that I just couldn't do anything with. There's an entire story about the splitter too.......



Here's one of the IBC cages filled with firepit throwaways, mostly pieces cut off of limbs that were bucked too long for my liking (I like 16").



In the front is a stack of the norwegian maple, the stack to the left behind it is pin oak, the stack to the right behind it with the blue pallet is spruce, more maple to the right of that stack, the 1/4 built stack is extra spruce.



Different angle of the same stacks.



Here's me truck loaded up with shorties (4" - 8" tall) that I split into wedges. I've got way too much kindling already and my neighbor has a firepit and needed wood so he helped me out by just taking this stuff away. Norwegian maple.



Dumped next to his driveway. Took 5 minutes to unload. Quite pleasant.



Here's one of the trucks delivering some wood.



Red cedar is amazing holy crap. I was getting high sniffing the fresh splits. Couldn't stop. I even scooped up the sawdust chips from the chainsaw and made potpourrie out of it.



Stack of sugar maple on the side of the house.



Stack of red oak and sugar maple



My firepit setup. I'm going to return that POS from Lowe's. Garden Treasures $100 pit. The spark arrestor is just junk. The "hi temp" paint peeled off immeidately and the screen has disintegrated and I've used it about 7 times. Smh at this crap. Ordered the 27" Layton firepit from FrontGate.com (again, not affiliated) and it should be arriving soon.



Here's one of the kindling IBC totes.





Each IBC cage can hold as much kindling as 5 of those brute 44 gallon garbage cans. It was getting kind of annoying having to keep on putting the lids on those garbage cans every time it rained. Plus I'd forget or be late and water would get in there and there wasn't any airflow. With the holes drilled in the plastic totes of the IBC the wood is getting some nice air now.



Here you can see the holes I drilled in the IBC tote.



Spruce stack on the left, black locust on the right.

 

For the record something like 90% of the wood was split by hand. I used the 5-ton for the knotty pieces but it finally met its match on the pin oak.

Here's the story on the splitter.

34-ton champion splitter, purchased from Home Depot for $1499 + tax + $45 shipping. I had no intention of some yahoo jerk putting it together at HD. It comes unassembled when delivered to your home.

Got $100 off for opening up a HD credit card. $1399.
Got $200 off from Amex Gift cards for HD. $1199.

When the splitter arrived, it was all messed up. The crate end was not attached, the hydraulic fluid container leaked, the floor was punctured, the oil filter connection was not bubble wrapped and scratched the hell out of the cylinder, one wheel was scratched, one locking pin was missing, both shelves were scratched.

Needless to say I was not pleased. I called them up and sent them pics. Because it was just sitting in my driveway I had to put it together. It still functioned fine but the paint getting all screwed up like that was unacceptable. They came back to me a few days later and said "Ok sir, management approved a replacement unit for you. Please disassemble the unit, put it back in the crate, and we'll send you a new unit."

I was like "Uh, I don't feel like disassembling it, and then reassembling the new unit, and plus the crate it came in is just destroyed. How about you send me the stuff I really need to operate it safely (two shelves, locking pin, hnydraulic fluid) and a check for $400.....and I'll fix the paint myself.

They agreed. $799. Yes sirree bob!

 

Here's a pic of the mystery maple right after it was delivered.



And here it is a it more organized waiting for the second load to arrive.

 

All I can say is WOW. Nicely done.

 

Thanks Chazsbetterhalf. I forgot to mention I have Mitsubishi electric mini split heat pumps as my ac and heat. The AC part works amazingly well, almost too well, but the heat struggles only when it gets down to about 10 degrees. Ignoring the non-winter we just had, I've had to supplement with using the fireplace. I also didn't want to get a stove insert because a) $$$ and b) I was afraid it would be too hot....and my next door neighbor has one and he has that exact issue. His wife doesn't want to use it because it's unbearably hot.

With this crazy amount of wood I have now I might have to consider putting in a stove in the basement and hooking into the old central air ducting.

Also super glad I decided to pull the trigger on the splitter. I knew that renting it wasn't going to be smart at $350 + tax a week..........The splitter has already almost been paid for (sold a bit of wood) and I just love being able to split whenver I want instead of rushing to return a rental and/or have an issue. Speaking of issues I had the hose leak on me from the oil filter to the control valve. Called up Champion and they sent me a new hose in 2 days. They also sent me a crazy amount of hydraulic fluid. I asked for ONE 2.5 gallon container because that was the one that leaked....and they sent be FOUR of them......plus another 1 gallon container. Unit takes 6 gallons and they include that with your purchase. So now I've got hydraulic fluid for days. They also, for some reason, sent me 2 small shelves and 1 large one.....so I've got an extra small shelf. I asked them if they wanted me to return the extra stuff but they said no!

 

A yard of wooden beehives!!! Very cool.

I wish i could help with the word id. A few close ups of the bark, end grain, and inside split would be helpful for those that know their wood.

Thanks for sharing!

 

First three pics! Heh heh.

The chipmunks and the squirrels are having a blast with all these "forts" around. I even had 2 bunnies living underneath one stack last winter!

 

Looks like daft maple, but others on here are far better than I on id. With that, nice pat sir.... you set the high bar

 

All i can say is WOW as well. Great pictures and documentation. You are well on your way to a wood hoarder. We love pics here and you did great with them.
The "beehive" holz huasens are cool looking. I wouldnt mind being your neighbor and looking at those. Never made one myself.
Splits look like red maple IMO.

 

Thanks!

I took some more pictures. Looks like the bark comes off very, very easily and the wood underneath is very smooth and slimy. Anyone else with an opinion on if it's red maple?

 

I think that is silver maple, but not positive....Nice hoarding going on....

 

Congratulations LordOfTheFlies on your “subtle” intro to firewood making I really like the creativity you use with the stacks and the totes. Looks like you are very intentional with the space you have, and who can beat firewood cut to length being delivered free? SWEET! Great pics and looking forward to even more. Hoard on!

 

I’m seeing red maple especially the smaller rounds because the bark is smooth. Silver maple’s bark is much more flakey.

 

Just say "no" to Holz Hauzens H².
They're pretty ( very pretty ). Save space. People compliment the builder ( gold forehead stars ).
Your neighbors will bring drinks and stare at them.
Butt: OCD for making them, getting the splits out for burning not so nice , the inside splits cry for air,
squirrels and mice and snakes love them for homes.
Even the Germans don't build them.

P.S. Great read : "Norweigian Wood "

 

Awesome stacks Lordoftheflies! Those holz hausens are cool!

 

The Germans DO build them >>> Holzmiete | Infos über Holz & Heizen

 

That's what I'm thinking too. There's a few pieces that look like silver maple, but I'd say most of not all is red maple.

Nice documentation LordOfTheFlies

 

Sure. look at what they're selling . It's like showing a nude model for firewood.
It is pretty....butt not for wood hoarders. Too impractical.
Anyhow, it's a website about wood heating et c....

 

Yep, that's a lot of wood. You can sell some, burn some, maybe find somebody in need to give some to, be a blessing. With that much wood, I would definitely look at getting a hi efficient wood furnace to tie into the duct work. It would save a lot on the heating bill.