Now this is what I know to be red maple. Straight grain, pungent smell, deep, thick yellow sapwood, suuuuuuper easy to split, a little on the lightweight side.....but man oh man does it coal up nice in the fireplace and flame as well. Dries pretty quick. Comparing this to the sugar/red rounds I was confused about, I'd say those confusing rounds were more sugar maple than red. They were twisted and much heavier and also way harder to split. This stuff split like BUTTER.
Red maple is pretty much what I have the most of as I have a few acres of swamp and that is the predominate species there. It's decent firewood, smoke smells earthy , but if you're not downwind it doesn't matter. It is rather easy to process. Fast drying is why I don't stack it with oak.
I can't decide if I love red oak, black locust, norway maple, red maple, juniper, ash, spruce, or pine more!!! Every time I'm splitting one or the other I think "Now THIS is my favorite!"
The majority of Red Maples I've processed had dead straight grain and split like butter. Then again I've come across a couple that really made me earn my keep. I had one back in the summer stubborn as all heck to hand split. The maul just wouldn't touch it. I processed one at my uncle's house yesterday that had grain twisted like the stripes of a candy cane all the way down LOL. Hydraulics got the job done but then came the fun game of stacking all those twisties...
The holz hausen is good for storing those twisties.....but once inside it becomes a challenge to arrange neatly. I'm not a neat freak by any stretch (in fact I'm always fighting real hard to try and get slightly more organized) but I'd prefer my wood not to topple over into my kids if possible!
Red Maple is a good mid range wood. Easy to process, splits easy, seasons fast and provides good mid range heat. It does rot fairly quickly though, and they typically don’t grow very big. I’d rate it a 7 out of 10. I’d put it right about even with Cherry.
i really like messin around with red maple usually pretty easy to split by uand i believe iv had only hout a few that were a pain to deal with but pretty descent
I’ve mainly been heating with a cocktail of red maple and oak this year... makes for a good combination.. My neighbor has a fireplace and his favorite firewood is red maple, says it dries quick, lights easy and makes a nice flame, says oak just doesn’t have those nice big flames like maple.
Same here.. Just ran into one big one that was all twisted and stringy.. Used hydraulics and it left a bunch of twisted splits which were a chore to stack... All the rest split like butter. That's the one I'm burning this year...
I am not aware of burning red maple, in the past. I have about a cord of it, seasoning since the spring. Thinking shoulder wood, if not fall 21, then spring 22.
The T5 loves the red and they get big around here. Still have an acre up the road that a neighbor wants me to bring home.
