Had a job to do for a friends son. He mentioned he had a tree taken down by the utility company last week and if i wanted some wood i could take it. Mostly dead Norway maple next to wires in front. Yard tree. I wasnt crazy about it but the 261 & 500i did take the ride with me so i used them. Couple big logs left up front which a bucked, noodled and quartered. Noticed this roofing nail after i finished bucking. Cant get any closer. The rest had been dumped into a pile in the back. A messy tangle with random lengths. PITA to work it, but i was able to back right up to it. Half a PU full. More wood there which i may grab as he has more work for me.
buZZsaw BRAD Is Norway Maple the trees with the 2" long propellers? I had a huge maple tree at my house in Denver that dropped little propellers. The neighborhood kids loved them.
So buZZsaw BRAD , do you mean to tell me that you loaded the Norway maple in the Fjord? I mean, it only makes sense.
Yep. That sounds about right. I have a Norway maple right off the end of my patio. I swept a whole ton of them away this afternoon.
The Norway is considered an invasive species so cut and burn away. I actually dont mind them even if they are a bit messy.
I've never burned Norway maple before, nor had access to any, however I got a hook up from Asplundh back in May when they were clearing some trees in the village for the power company easement. At some point (decades ago) a lot of Norway maples had been planted along the main drag in the village down the road and the power company finally decided many of them had to go. I was only able to get one tree but it was a decent load. I'll see how it burns in 2023. I was able to get some decent splits from the trunk area but was not overly impressed with the species as being 'firewood-friendly'...lots of knots and twists so I ended up almost filling an ugly bin just from this one tree. Not complaining, it will all burn and it will be decent BTUs, however I wouldn't go out of my way for more.
The silvers make a mess too. I remember doing a roof years back. Bunch of silver maples in the back yard. I had the roof stripped ready for underlayment and the wind kept blowing the seeds like snow. PITA as i had to keep blowing them off.
The neighbors big Box Elder had a billion "propeller" seeds on it when it got blown over. They were a bit smaller than the silver maples in my yard but right about the same size on my Japanese red maple. Looks like you got the hang of noodling Brad. It's just the easiest/quickest way IMO.
We have a silver maple in the front yard. It did leave a lot of helicopters, and the leaves get everywhere, but I think the Norway is messier.
You will like it. Better than red but not like sugar. Splits easily and dries in a year. I havent scored any in some time. Its good firewood. Being a common urban tree it does get gnarly. When i would scrounge years back prior to bucking on site, i would grab the smaller stuff in lengths, leaving the trunk. Now i dont hesitate (or be shy) to buck on site when i can. This stuff wasnt that great. One section i noodled was a gnarly mess. Rather than hydro, ill noodle them to split size. I tire of uglies and shorts. The mound in back was random length so i marked my 16" and left the shorties. It was far from home so i only took half load
I didnt get before pictures but one chunk was this gnarly mass of knots The other section was nice knot free but the maul took several whacks to half. I was ready to noodle that too.
Back in the same location and had a little time to scrounge. There was more buried but too tired to dig through the brush pile. Probably going back to do some chain saw work in the next couple months.
Way to go Brad, nice size to work with and not overloaded for the long trip home I haven’t burned any Norway indoors yet, but the skinnies I’ve been burning outside seem to have dried fast and thrown good heat. Next year will be a huge maple year for me. I have sugar, red, silver and Norway that’ll be ready to go for 2022-2023. Also with a little Manitoba maple (boxelder) thrown in.
Ive only seen that at the dump and scrounged one piece. Strange as it sounds a bucket list wood! Cant say ive seen one in the wild either. ruffage
We’re going to get a lot of miles out of rufhipstere I actually like boxelder (last year I ran about 3 loads of it through the stove). My latest BE score was some large rounds someone ditched in the parking lot down the road back in the spring. They were a bear to split by hand, very very twisted. I’ve been seeing quite a few BE trees roadside in different spots. Kind of an unremarkable twisted weed tree that’s easily looked over.
