Norway Maple, Green to 20% in 2 Summer Months and other drying observations.

Back in July of 2015 one of my tree service friends gave me some Norway Maple. It was when I was weighing wood on a scale trying to figure out the rate that at which it dried and the effects of weather on the process. I weighed a split form that delivery a lot at first, tapering off during the winter of 2016 and then not at all till yesterday when I 'found' it in my stacks and re-analyzed it. I didn't realize back then that it had actually dried to about 20% in the first two months and hit terminal in September.

Some facts around how I handled it. I split and weighed the wood the day that it was given to me. The piece of wood spent the summer on top of a single row of wood in the sunniest part of my yard To the best of my ability I covered it when it was supposed to rain and uncovered it when it was to be sunny. I know I missed at least once as it got heavier on July 21. I'm guessing I moved it to a permanent stack further back in my yard that is under a tree in late August. It was always top covered and out of the rain/snow.

It weighed 4644 grams (10.25 lbs) on July 6 2015. Yesterday when I came across it in my stack it weighed 3136 gm, (6.8 lbs). It has lost an additional 50 grams this past day sitting on my hearth by the insert.

If I assume its moisture content was at 16% when I brought it inside yesterday, then it was 71.83% on July 6, 2015 and since yesterday it dropped almost 2% more to 14.14% sitting on my hearth.

Under the same assumption of it being 16% yesterday it hit 20% on or before September 2, 2015, a few days less than 2 months after it was split.

Half of the total water loss happened in the first 10 days. (By July 16).

When I weighed it in November 2015 and February of 2016 it had reabsorbed a few grams of water. Its weight yesterday was only 7 grams (1/4 oz) less than it was in September of 2015.

This piece of Norway dried out real quick. I knew it was a fast drying species but I had no idea that it could be done this fast. Obviously not every piece of wood will be on top of your stack getting the full benefit of the direct sun. I wouldn't expect the same results on the bottom piece in a stack. And pulling a tarp on/off based on the weather forecast for the day isn't realistic either.

Spreadsheet and graph below. PDF of the same attached.

 

Normal for boxelder...assuming that you have dry weather.

 

You're nuts, and I mean that in a positive way

My hops never took, totally off topic, but kind of bummed. But the carboy is alive and well!

 

Wow real data on fhc!
You deserve a post stickey!

 

My brother in law was growing them from his balcony. Neighbors thought it was some weird kinda pot.

 

Ah, the Rosetta Log.

I've found that Norway maple dries really quickly too, but I never went through the exhaustive amount of data collection you have.

I have a bunch of Norway maple in my stacks that is mixed with Siberian elm and honey locust that has been drying since February 17. I ran across some of that Siberian elm and 1 split of the norway maple. Both are burning very nicely after almost 2 years.

I'd take a norway maple any day over box elder. IME, they have a lot more BTU's than elder, and it smells better. I'd say Norway maple is about like american elm btu wise, but much easier to split.

That said, my cutting buddy told me that I can take a number of box elder at his dad's place. He wants them thinned out, and I'll take that quick drying wood that's easy to get.

Also, a day sitting on the hearth will do wonders for MC.

 

I love Norway Maple, I think it has the best BTU to seasoning ratio next to ash. If I'm not mistaken it actually ranks higher than ash...?

Anyway, it use to bore me because we have so much of it around here. I think I'll keep more of an eye on it since now I also have first hand experience with how fast it dries. Only problem is a lot of the residential norways can get pretty gnarly in the trunk sections.

 

Wow your definitely showed a good scientific approach to a hypothesis and result..good job.

That's the nice thing about most maples.. they do dry quick. Red maple is harder than Norway so mine reached minimum at 8 months split to arm size thickness. 18 in length. Maples burn easy and moderate coaling properties..

 

A good hot Jersey summer sure does wonders for drying firewood.

 

Isnt red considered a soft maple and Norway hard?

 

What type of Ash?
Fhc classifies all Ash as Ash even the unknown what wood is this threads......... but white Ash is the hardest bestest btu closely followed by green Ash then the lowly black Ash that nears the poplar spectrum of if it's worth hoarding or not.
Their differences are similar to the maple species differences

Yes

 

I meant white ash which is less than Sugar Maple on the BTU scale and Norway is tricky to find actual BTU measurements for but I've read elsewhere it is comparable to Sugar Maple.

 

Like you, I weigh a couple fresh splits before stacking and continue to monitor weights for my own knowledge and information. CSS a green red maple in late winter this year, and noticed like you huge moisture (weight) loss in the first couple weeks. Single stack, covered on top, in a great sunny location facing SW, not huge pieces as I wanted it for campfire wood. In a little less than 2 months, it went from 5 pds. to 3 pds., and has not moved since. I don't use as an accurate scale as you, so I'm sure it has moved up and down slightly depending on outside % humidity. Interesting.

 

Not positive but I think hops is a cousin of pot.

 

If you weigh it to the gram you can see it move with the humidity between morning and evening.

 

Since you are a fellow data guy....... have you seen the moisture content increase in high moisture periods? I just went through a warm humid spell and swear my wood absorbed moisture. I was burning great and then not. This is well dried under steel roof, so no direct precipitation hit it. Just curious

 

This is why super hopped IPA beers are often described as dank and riddled with all sorts of weed references

 

I'd agree that it's comparable to sugar maple, btu wise, especially if it's a yard tree.

 

Both of them have terpenoids as the active ingredient, also it looks like the two plants were recently found to be related.

 

That's probably why I don't like extra hoppy beer.