I know probably been talked about several times but how’s seasoned silver maple for heating? I’m sure I’ll have lots of this for free if I put my boiler in along with ash, birch and sugar maple
Split it on the big side for longevity of burn time. It dries fast, burns hot and fast. In my stove I like to mix it in with other denser wood.
A tote of red oak will last 5-6 days with Temps in the high 20s/low 30s. The same sized tote of silver maple will last 4 days, maybe less, in our H4 Hardy. It requires an extra trip out to the stove on cooler days and usually needs a lot more wood fed to it. I try to keep it separate for the 40° days, but occasionally my son brings one into the wood shed by accident.
It will be blended with the ash and hard maple when I do burn it just was wondering if it’s worth tnt time to cut or not. Birch, ash and sugar maple blend is the most common wood to buy here. Some people burn tamarack in the mix also but not sure that would work well in a gasification boiler
In my experience, the boiler doesn't care what type of wood you put in there as long as it is dry. The only difference it makes is time between reloads. The only exception I've found is when I was burning 100% hedge and black locust and it hard a hard time staying lit between cycles.
If it’s free & easy to get to I would take it, especially since you are going to blend it with other more dense woods. Silver Maple trunks provide lots of easily processed btu’s. It’s not something I go after since I am overrun with other varieties but I take it if it’s there. Here It’s hit & miss with the boiler crowd that I know, some will use it others won’t. Some will burn anything others only specific types of wood.
Lower on the btu scale, but dries fast. Free is gooder. Wish i could get more of it myself. Sounds like a good plan to mix it in. Grab it all!
Silver maple is good shoulder season or mix wood, it seasons fast when split and burns nice and clean. As others have said, it's lower on thr BTU scale but still worth using. I like lower BTU stuff for fall and spring when daily quick fires are the norm....
I scored my first maple a while back and you folks identified it as “silver”. I have burned some in the last couple months and wish I had a lot more of it. My available wood species are pretty limited, and compared to what I do have access to, I like it. Splits easily, dries quickly, stacks neatly because it splits so nice, and is less messy. Beats the heck out of hackberry and elm in all those categories. Maybe don’t have the btu’s but I will definitely grab any I can in the future. Only ones around are pretty massive yard trees
I love Silver Maple...it dries fast and burns hot...any time you can mix some into a load, it just seems to burn better...get all you can get! I've been in a SM drought here the last few years...have very little in stock!
I rate silver maple about the same as cherry. I know some btu charts show it is not the same but that's my personal thoughts on it.
That’s what it is around here too but that’s why the tree guys get it so much, couple towns in the area cut 20+ down to clear some of the streets
I personally like silver maple and it’s black sheep sibling box elder. They aren’t really nice trees so I don’t have to feel bad about cutting them down. As others have said it splits easy and seasons really fast. It’s great shoulder season wood or just to mix in with higher quality stuff when it gets real cold. I wouldn’t turn it away.
Those came out really nice! What clearcoat did you use? Polyurethane or two part epoxy bartop finish?
